EarthStory in Ghana Part 1: Kakum National Park (Video)
by Will Rand. Featuring Joseph Acquah and Sampson Kofi Nani
Kakum National Park protects one of the world’s great providers: the rainforest. The first canopy walkway on the African continent was constructed for visitors to experience the rainforest from above. These bridges are connected around towering trees that rise hundreds of feet from the forest floor.
Stepping out on the first bridge takes you away from the certainty of solid ground and into the aerial realms of birds and treetops. Each step wobbles the other planks of wood that are mere feet above the lower canopies of the forest. Elder trees that are hundreds of years old surround you on all sides. It is a completely breathtaking experience.
My group was guided by Joseph Acquah, a thoughtful teacher who explained that nearly every plant in the forest is food, medicine, or poison in some combination depending on what kind of creature you are. As we walked, he showed us many bushes, trees, shrubs, types of bark, edible pods, herbs that cure diseases, and explained the history of the park.
Sampson Kofi Nani lives in the village of Berekuso and is a research assistant at Ashesi University. He thinks about the power of trees and how they relate with the human world. He will share in his podcast about how he has experienced generational differences between human outlooks on natural spaces. He is concerned about the necessity of caring for natural spaces that will one day take care of the generations yet to be born. As he says in the video, “If you love something, you tend to cherish it.” If we love the natural world, then we should do everything in our power to care for it.
Ghana’s Forestry Commission from the Department of Wildlife along with the NGO Conservation International (funded by USAID) saw the potential of opening a window to the wonder of the rainforest. They worked with builders from Vancouver, B.C. to construct the first canopy walkway on the African continent in 1995. Ever since, millions of visitors have come to experience the rainforest from above.
These efforts slowed and virtually halted the mining and logging operations that were threatening this remarkable forest. The bridges allowed many more people to enter into relationship with a forest that was in danger of being destroyed. The love and admiration of each visitor became a defensive shield against any commodifying actions threatening to endanger the forest.
Kakum National Park and the adjacent Assin Attandanso Reserve are major conservation success stories. The protection of this land is not simply guarding a resource, it is rather an act to cherish part of the body of the Earth. As Sampson and Joseph wisely shared, our responsibility is to live harmoniously with the Earth who provides for all of her creatures.
