On Saturday morning I took a tro-tro westward from Koforidua for about an hour. It left the main road to Kumasi at Tafo and a couple of kilometres further on, it passed the entrance to Bunso Arboretum. Like the botanical gardens in Aburi, it was marked with an avenue of tall palm trees. I asked the mate to stop and I walked back to the arboretum. The back road was not busy and I was immediately struck by how peaceful the place was. To the right was a small wooden building and on the veranda I found Ben (26), the guide and Philip who managed the guesthouse. I later found this was two-thirds of the park’s staff. The third man was a Seventh Day Adventist and therefore understandably unavailable.
After a chat, Ben took me on a walking tour. We wandered through the trees for a couple of hours while Ben told me something about them and their various uses. It was fascinating and I only wish I was able to remember half of what he said. Early on we found an unusual type of cherry tree which had produced a couple of fruit. Ben picked one, washed it in bottled water and passed it to me to try. It was vertically ridged and looked like a tiny tomato but tasted good. We then moved on to a bush with small capsule shaped, radish coloured berries. Ben peeled an orange he had brought and gave me a quarter to eat. He asked me how it tasted and I said it was fine but a little sharp. He invited me to suck the flesh from a couple of the red berries and wait for four minutes. I then ate the remainder of the orange. Because of the berries, it tasted a lot sweeter. Ben explained that these berries had been used to make very bitter medicines, like those created from tree bark, more palatable. Sadly, although an excellent natural sweetener, also suitable for diabetics, there was no interest in using these berries commercially in Ghana. There had been some overseas interest but it not amounted to anything yet. This seemed to me particularly strange with Ghana’s cocoa research institute only five minutes drive away. (So far it has only diversified into cashews.)
We moved on to a tree with very large buttressing roots at its base. Ben demonstrated the alarm that could be raised by striking the roots with a large stick. They produced a very satisfactory booming sound. The gaps between the roots also provided sufficient shelter for his ancestors to live in. All the time we were walking we were surrounded by flittering butterflies. Ben said that there was an unusually large number this year and that a visitor that morning reckoned there could easily be 500 species present. Unfortunately they were particularly energetic and did not want to sit still and be photographed. We moved on to a tall tree from which dangled lengthy fronds some of which had reached the ground and burrowed in to become routes. This plant, monstera had a symbiotic relationship with the host tree but unlike a parasite did not draw from the tree. It just used the tree for accommodation. The fronds grew very fast and Ben happily demonstrated their strength by hoisting himself up and swinging his 70 kilo weight from them. We returned to the visitor centre via the hill top guesthouse. It was set in a secluded opening in the tropical vegetation and enjoying good views of the surrounding scenery.
Although the visitor book showed a flow of visitors into the place, it was clearly a very modest trickle. The place has no publicity budget and no website. It receives a good entry in Bradt – the only comprehensive English language guide to Ghana - and is briefly listed in a Ghana Tourist Board leaflet for the whole of Ghana. It is situated only 3 kilometres from the Linda Dor Service Station on the main road from Accra to Kumasi and the north and easily accessible by car. The guesthouse was reasonably priced and had electricity and running water but could provide no food. The whole place is sadly one of many missed opportunities in Ghana. The potential there is huge.
After a chat, Ben took me on a walking tour. We wandered through the trees for a couple of hours while Ben told me something about them and their various uses. It was fascinating and I only wish I was able to remember half of what he said. Early on we found an unusual type of cherry tree which had produced a couple of fruit. Ben picked one, washed it in bottled water and passed it to me to try. It was vertically ridged and looked like a tiny tomato but tasted good. We then moved on to a bush with small capsule shaped, radish coloured berries. Ben peeled an orange he had brought and gave me a quarter to eat. He asked me how it tasted and I said it was fine but a little sharp. He invited me to suck the flesh from a couple of the red berries and wait for four minutes. I then ate the remainder of the orange. Because of the berries, it tasted a lot sweeter. Ben explained that these berries had been used to make very bitter medicines, like those created from tree bark, more palatable. Sadly, although an excellent natural sweetener, also suitable for diabetics, there was no interest in using these berries commercially in Ghana. There had been some overseas interest but it not amounted to anything yet. This seemed to me particularly strange with Ghana’s cocoa research institute only five minutes drive away. (So far it has only diversified into cashews.)
We moved on to a tree with very large buttressing roots at its base. Ben demonstrated the alarm that could be raised by striking the roots with a large stick. They produced a very satisfactory booming sound. The gaps between the roots also provided sufficient shelter for his ancestors to live in. All the time we were walking we were surrounded by flittering butterflies. Ben said that there was an unusually large number this year and that a visitor that morning reckoned there could easily be 500 species present. Unfortunately they were particularly energetic and did not want to sit still and be photographed. We moved on to a tall tree from which dangled lengthy fronds some of which had reached the ground and burrowed in to become routes. This plant, monstera had a symbiotic relationship with the host tree but unlike a parasite did not draw from the tree. It just used the tree for accommodation. The fronds grew very fast and Ben happily demonstrated their strength by hoisting himself up and swinging his 70 kilo weight from them. We returned to the visitor centre via the hill top guesthouse. It was set in a secluded opening in the tropical vegetation and enjoying good views of the surrounding scenery.
Although the visitor book showed a flow of visitors into the place, it was clearly a very modest trickle. The place has no publicity budget and no website. It receives a good entry in Bradt – the only comprehensive English language guide to Ghana - and is briefly listed in a Ghana Tourist Board leaflet for the whole of Ghana. It is situated only 3 kilometres from the Linda Dor Service Station on the main road from Accra to Kumasi and the north and easily accessible by car. The guesthouse was reasonably priced and had electricity and running water but could provide no food. The whole place is sadly one of many missed opportunities in Ghana. The potential there is huge.
1 comment:
In regards to the red berries, you're right that they seem to be gaining favor internationally and perhaps something will come of that. Not sure if you saw this piece in the New York Times last May: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html
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