Hiking Above the Trees: The Canopy Walk At Ghana’s Kakum National Park
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When visiting Cape Coast, Ghana, one of the major tourist attractions is visiting Kakum National Park and doing the canopy walk.
While the park itself has a lot to offer, you are not permitted to just walk around alone.
You must hire a guide that will take you around, and you cannot wander off of the main path, which, for someone as exploratory and curious as myself, was a bummer.
However, the canopy walk itself makes the park worth the trip itself. It’s definitely a fun experience when visiting Africa, especially if you’ll be in Ghana.
The canopy walk is a swinging bridge set above the trees of the Kakum National Park forest. As you walk, the bridge shakes and wobbles, and at times leans completely to one side, making you feel as though it was flip you right over the edge to your death. There is an option to take a long path or a shorter path (which still consists of 4 swinging bridges). The walk is not one at a time, so it will shake a lot. Expect to pay 30 Ghana Cedis if you are a foreigner (15 Ghana Cedis if you have a student ID, I used my friends German bus pass and said it was a student ID and they accepted it).
Getting to Cape Coast
From Accra, you can take a tro-tro from Kaneshi Station for about 5 Ghana Cedi and it will take you about 2-3 hours (just remember, the tro-tro won’t leave until it is full, so this may add time to your journey). Personally, I departed from Swedru at the bus station located behind the Shell petrol station. The ride was about 2-3 hours as well and cost 3 Cedi, 50 Pesawas.
Where to Stay
One popular resort for backpackers is the Oasis Beach Resort, located right near Cape Coast Castle. If you give your taxi driver this information he will know exactly where to take you (and remember, don’t accept the first price they tell you, as the local taxi fare is usually much lower than what they try to charge tourists). Expect reggae nights on the beach, strong cocktails, and a laid-back beach atmosphere at a hostel-style accommodation. A shared room costs 10 Ghana Cedi per night. From here, Kakum is about an 45 minutes- an hour away.
If you want to get a bit closer, stay at Hans Cottage Botel. From here, you will be able to get a taxi driver to take you to Kakum National Park and wait for you while you hike and do the canopy walk to take you back to your lodging. They advertise the price as being 40 Ghana Cedis but my 2 friends and I were able to talk our driver down to 30 Ghana Cedis. This hotel has private rooms and is home to a crocodile pond where you can see tons of crocodiles. There is also a pool and tennis courts, although no beach.
