Less than an hour from Cape Coast and on our way home, Kakum National Park protects what is among the most extensive rainforest in Ghana. It covers an area of about 607 square kilometers and has an average humidity of 90%. We decided to take a quick tour (against Gary's protest as he HATES heights and Kakum's Canopy Walk, one of only five in the entire world, is a bit out of his comfort zone).
The Canopy Walk was constructed in 1995, and is unique in Africa. It consists of a 350 meter long wood and rope walkway that is about 400 yards high (about 4 football fields in the air)! It is suspended between seven gigantic trees and is broken up by a number of rickety viewing platforms. It offers a rare opportunity to actually look into the forest canopy, a breath-taking experience in itself. We hiked up the side of a mountain until we were actually high enough in the air to launch out into the walkways. It was quite amazing, balancing on a rope walkway and holding onto the side as you look down into the jungle. It was great fun until Bud Zoll started bouncing on the suspension bridge and then I have to admit even I was a little uncomfortable. Gary was a great sport. He absolutely hated it and was totally sick the whole way, but he actually completed the whole walk and didn't opt out on the chicken's loop, that allows those squimish about heights to go from platform 1 directly to platform 7.
We passed some birdwatchers from Germany who were perched at one of the platforms, scrutinizing the area with high-powered binoculars hoping to catch a glimpse of some exotic bird. Sometimes the foliage was so thick you couldn't even see the ground and at other times, the rainforest floor was completely visible--I'm not certain which was more scary.
It wasn't until after we were securely back on platform 7, that Elder Zoll pointed out the few rusty nails that were holding the wire ropes and the bracing trees that were almost pulled out of the soggy ground. I guess we just assumed it was safe (except for Gary), but it was an incredible experience in retrospect.
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