Saturday morning, back in the Trotro. This time we don‘t drop for the monkeys but continue until we see the big sign for Kakum National Park. Through the entrance gate we walk a short distance along a road past a lodge and a picnic area before we reach the visitor‘s centre. There are many tourists here, waiting for a tour of the popular canopy walk. We all get a card on a thread around our necks identifying us as Non-Ghanaian students, adults respectively and then the tour starts. A chubby Ghanaian woman introduces herself as Kate, our guide and leads the way along a well-prepared path through the forest. Soon we reach the entrance to the canopy and climb up the stairs. Visitors who are afraid of heights, should turn left after the first bridge and take the shortcut, Kate explains. The long way is across seven bridges, pending up to 40 metres above the ground. One by one, camera ready, we step onto the bridge. It is wobbly. Between the bridges are platforms where we can stop and take our pictures. All we see is forest. Tall green trees in every direction. That is why it is called the canopy walk. Ilse, Morgan and I are the last in the group and when we arrive at the last platform, most of the tourist are already ready to go. Everyone who is interested can join the Nature walk now. The group becomes very small. The canopy seems to be the only thing visitor‘s are interested in. Good for us though, as we continue the tour along smaller paths. Kate stops now and then, explains how locals use or used leaves or the bark of trees to cure asthma, head aches or impotence. The bark of one tree they use to increase the appetite, Kate says. That is what women take if they want to grow fat. I recognise some trees from Ankasa, but here everything is less gigantic. We pass one enormous tree though and Kate gives us some minutes to take our pictures. This park is perfectly set up for tourists.
After the tour, Ilse, Morgan and I go to Hans Cottage Botel for lunch. It is a hotel with a pool and a restaurant - and crocodiles. The restaurant is suspended above a lagoon, where they float in the water. Some are also laying on a terrace where we can come closer to them. A woman keeps us from coming too close. We can take pictures, but if we want to touch a crocodile and take a picture with one of them, we have to pay. She is not really friendly. I am not very excited about these creatures, to be honest. It is a little bit scary though when they suddenly start walking in your direction when they haven‘t moved for ages. In the middle of the lagoon is a tiny island with a tree and this tree‘s branches are full of nests. These spherical nests are inhabited by the same birds we saw at the monkey sanctuary. Small, colourful and very noisy - weaverbirds. This is definitely an exceptional place.
