Day 5 - Kakum National Park

Jamie, Ian and I had decided that we would venture down to Kakum National park to go on the Canopy Walk. It was our last day in Ghana and we didn’t want to waste it. This was a bit daring because of the length of time that it takes to travel there and back. We had to be back on the ship by 6:00pm but the line can be quite long on the day we depart so we usually like to allow 2 hours for the line alone.

At breakfast we met a girl who lives down the hall who wanted to go with us so the four of us met in the gangway and were on our way. It was drizzling a little but we were not discouraged (and I had Nana’s poncho so, clearly, I was good to go). We headed down to the main gate of the port and then took a taxi to the passenger van station. We got on a passenger van and took it to Cape Coast where we took another taxi to Kakum National Park. We had just missed the tour and didn’t want to wait an hour and a half until the next one so Ian and I put our negotiation skills to work. We convinced the man at the counter to let a different tour guide walk us to the current tour group. The hike was more than I expected but once up at the Canopy Walk, I understood why. The canopy’s were over 300 feet in the air and were really long. They connected to different trees. Some people in the tour group were nervous and scared but we were just fine. I took videos and pictures but the true height can only be depicted through physically being there. After hiking back down, we found our taxi driver and he drove us the passenger van station. We loaded a passenger van back to Takoradi. I made sure that I stayed awake for the drive because the villages alongside the road are something that I wanted to take in one last time. The atmosphere was like nothing that I had seen before. People selling goods and hand crafted items, children and babies playing in the dirt, women cleaning in unclean water, and others waiting for rides on the side of the road. As we neared Takoradi the time was 4:00pm and I was getting nervous. Would we make it back to the ship without getting dock time (a penalty for being late)? Would I get to spend the rest of my money at the port like I had planned or would I just have to call it a wash?

When we arrived back at the main gate of the port I was in “hustle mode.” I found someone to make me two bracelets that I wanted and then looked around for a shirt. I never found the shirt that I was looking for but I had the bracelets made and they look great. While waiting for the bracelets to be made we missed the shuttle van and had to walk nearly a mile back to the ship. There was a large array of vendors right in front of the ship so after practically running to the ship and realizing that there was no line to get on, I began to bargain. I’m all about getting the most bang for my buck so I looked around and priced out the items that I wanted. Then I bargained. I was able to buy everything that I wanted. I was really happy with my purchases and headed back on the ship with a huge smile on my face…and without dock time!

Back on the ship we ate dinner and watched as we sailed away from the coast of Ghana. I was so sad to leave but so grateful for the multitude of activities I was able to do while in town. Ghana, I will be sure to visit again!