Goldmines & Kakum National Park

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Disappointed at missing out on the sacred lake, we headed south on new year's eve, for Kakum National Park and their canopy walkway in the jungle. The roadside scenery was getting pretty spectacular by now and we passed through miles and miles of jungle - palm, banana, plantain and cocoa trees stretched for as far as the eye could see. I was also starting to struggle with the humidity. ...and started feeling quite faint and nauseous every time we stopped driving.

We passed a sign for 'Wexford Goldfields Limited' and, although we thought it highly unlikely, Neil decided to go and ask if there was any chance of a guided tour....but no, we didn't have an appointment...so on we drove...until we reached another Goldfield and a road junction. We were just deciding which route to take, when a guy in a mitsubishi jeep pulled up to offer assistance. Jim, an Australian from Perth, was Project Manager for the Gold Mining company, and had been living and working in Ghana for 9 years. After a bit of a chat he offered us lunch at the staff cafeteria followed by a personal tour of the mines. How could be resist? He'd travelled up to Timbuktu by motorbike a few years ago and we swapped travel stories over lunch (which was fanastic in the air conditioned restaurant). After lunch he drove us up to Wassa Goldmine in his wonderfully air conditioned Jeep, and gave us a guided tour...it was amazing as we drove around the site and were told about all the different processes involved. We also learnt that the margins for gold mining are very small,and not surprisingly, the guys doing all the hard work on the ground are unlikely to ever get to see the end product! Dropping us back at the cafeteria, Jim departed for his new year eve's party...and we discovered that the front right shock absorber on the landrover had shorn through...and that the front left one was looking well on it's way to shearing off as well. Neil decided to remove the broken shock and we decided to take things slowly until we could find a mechanic.

So, back to our snail's pace on the potholed red dusty roads, it was dark when we finally arrived at Kakum National Park that evening, where we discovered a nightwatchman and not another soul. Yes, a tad depressing for New Year's Eve...just us...and the sounds of the jungle...which were mostly monkey's screeching, screaming and calling out throughout the night. We decided to walk into the small village about 2km away, to see what the locals would be up to at New Year, but it seemed they were all in church singing and praying. We chatted to some kids for a while, but then decided to head back for the jungle and the monkeys...

The next day we woke bright and early for our canopy walk tour. We walked through the jungle for about 15 minutes with our guide...and marvelled at how all the flora and fauna seemed to be giant versions of things back home...gigantic snails crawled up trees whilst huge ants crossed our path. Even the bamboo was enormous, about 6 or 7 inches in diameter. It truly felt like being in the 'land of the giants'. We duly reached the canopy walkway, a series of 7 connected ladder rope bridges suspended high over the canopy of the jungle. We were assured by the guide that they were checked by the maintenance team every day, and gingerly stepped onto the first bridge - which was very wobbily and a tad scary, although with the tops of the trees beneath us, it was imposible to deduce how high up from the ground we actually were. I pretended I was on I'm a Celebrity...and Neil got his swiss army knife out...

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