Welcome to Ghana’s most visited attraction, the Kakum National Park. Tucked away in the Assin Attandanso Reserve are the Kakum National Park and Canopy Walkway which offers visitors spectacular scenery and a fascinating wildlife experience along with modern camping facilities. The park’s best-known feature is undoubtedly its 7 suspension bridges which form a 333-meter long canopy walkway, suspended up to 27 meters above the forest floor from trees that are over 300 years old.
The canopy walk is only one of Kakum’s many delights. There are a variety of trails and guided walks that allow visitors to experience the solitude of the rainforest. It’s also a premier site for bird watchers, with over 300 species including eight species of global conservation concern. Mammals include forest elephants, leopards, bongo, bushbucks, and many primates, but game viewing is difficult. Also, more than 600 butterfly species have been recorded.
The forest has wildlife that can be seen at the night and professional guides are always available to take you on a guided night tour. The park is child-friendly so don’t forget to take the kids along to the newly added children’s park with a supermini and safe canopy walkway swings and play area.
However, in 1931, the area drained by the headwater catchment of the Kakum River was declared a forest reserve and managed by the Forestry Division. During this period, logging operations were prevalent, particularly of the mahogany (Khaya ivorensis) tree species. The logging operations continued till 1989 when the management of the reserve was transferred to the Wildlife Department.
A Feasibility Study and Preliminary 5-year Management Plan for the development of Kakum National Park as an ecotourism destination were developed in 1990 under a project conducted for the United Nations Development Program (Dudley 1990). The Feasibility Study included preliminary biodiversity assessments of the flora and fauna of Kakum Forest Reserve and adjoining Assin-Attandanso Forest Reserve, and an elephant population survey (Dudley 1990; Dudley, Mensah-Ntiamoah,& Kpelle 1992; Dudley 1995). The Feasibility Study and Preliminary 5-year Management Plan were developed in a collaborative and consultative process involving a consulting biologist, forestry officials, wildlife officials, local communities, Ghanaian universities, regional government officials, and other key stakeholders (Dudley 1992).
It must be recognized that one, Mr. Ebenezer Kwasi Agbley, the then Central Regional Manager for Ghana Tourist Board gave birth to this dream under a program he initiated and implemented – Tourism Development Scheme for Central Region (TODSCER)which was expanded and became CENTRAL REGION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM under a later created Commission – Central Region Development Commission(CECECOM). He showcased the TODSCER program in America and drew a number of sponsoring institutions both bilateral and multi-lateral from the donor community for the project to its maturity. The project later brought on board Game & Wildlife to manage and maintain the Park.
In 1992, the Wildlife Department gazetted Kakum to be a park under the Wildlife Reserves Regulations (Ll 1525) as the Kakum Conservation Area including the Assin Attandanso Forest Reserve. After a survey of the faunal richness of the conservation area, it was split into the Kakum National Park and the Assin Attandanso Forest Reserve during the same year. The split was justified with the argument that Cape Coast and 33 other towns and villages continue to need timber from the forest and potable water provided by the Kakum River.