Kakum National Park Holidays

Kakum National Park, located in the coastal environs of Ghana's Central Region, covers an area of 375 square kilometres (145 sq mi). Established in 1931 as a reserve, it was gazetted as a national park only in 1992 after a bird survey was conducted. The area is covered with tropical forest, with the park being established at the initiative of the local people, and not by the State Department of wildlife. It's also one of only three locations in Africa with a canopy walkway, which is 350 metres (1,150 ft) long, connecting seven treetops.

Mammals known to occur in the park include bongo; yellow-backed and Maxwell's duikers, and forest elephants (though those are all elusive, bar Maxwell's duiker). Five species of monkey are resident, of which Lowe’s mona monkey, lesser spot-nosed monkey and olive colobus are fairly common. The other two - Diana guenon and Geoffroy's pied colobus - require more effort. Other mammals occurring in the park include long-nosed kusimanse, western tree hyrax, giant pouched rat and, at night, Bosman's potto, Prince Demidoff's galago and the sought-after Lord Derby's and Pel's anomalures. A star attraction of this rainforest is the black-bellied tree pangolin: it can be sought during guided morning and evening/night walks.

Kakum's Important Bird Area, recognised by Bird Life International, fully overlaps the park. The 266-strong bird checklist includes nine species of hornbill as well as African grey parrot, rosy bee-eater, blue cuckoo-shrike and red-vented malimbe, among many others.

Kakum's butterfly checklist exceeds 600 species, with three - Kakum fairy hairstreak, western kakumia and Kakum diopetes named after the park by leading authority on West African butterflies, Torben B. Larsen. Nine swallowtail species are recorded, and it's also home for a wide range of pashas, including the giant charaxes. The rare Augerger’s glider and magnificent giant African skipper are found here, too.