Like many other nations in West Africa, Ghana can’t match countries in the east and south of the continent for safari spectacle. But its rainforests are “prolifically biodiverse”, said Mike Unwin in The Telegraph, making up for a relative dearth of wildlife “A-listers” (lions and so on) with no end of “little-known gems”.
On a nine-night trip with Rainbow Tours, I visited several of the country’s national parks, and saw an amazing array of beautiful animals, from colourful birds to mammals such as the potto, a short-tailed primate “like a cross between a sloth and a teddy bear”. And there was also time between forest walks to take in some of Ghana’s culture and history, including tasty local cuisine and a visit to a colonial fort once used by slave traders.
My trip began triumphantly, with the appearance of a white-necked picathartes – better known as a bald crow – perched on a “bungalow-sized boulder” at the Bonkro Community Reserve in the south of the country. This rare bird “launched the career” of Sir David Attenborough, as the prime target of his 1954 series “Zoo Quest”. With its black-and-white body and naked yellow head, it’s far more striking than its nickname suggests. And another lucky sighting followed – a black-bellied pangolin sitting on a nearby branch. The smallest of Africa’s four pangolin species, this elusive creature has a long prehensile tail and big protective scales that make it look like “a giant polished artichoke”.
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As we crossed the 340-metre-long canopy walkway at Kakum National Park, my guide pointed out further wonders, including spot-nosed monkeys, a Pel’s anomalure (a long-tailed flying squirrel) and a glistening green bush viper. And though we saw none of the chimpanzees, leopards or elephants that inhabit the Ankasa Reserve, our trek along its steep, muddy paths (ducking wasp nests and hurdling “liquid ropes of driver ants”) proved worth it even so, with sightings including an akun eagle-owl, hammer-headed bats, and a single palm civet, spotted slinking off into a thicket of bamboo.
