ovenbird43
Well-known member
I've tentatively settled on taking a 2.5 week trip to Ghana this fall. My husband will be coming along, and although he enjoys birds and nature he's not really a birder, so rather than the standard circuit I'll be cherry-picking sites for my highest priority species, staying longer than usual at each to maintain a relaxed pace, and building in some time for other activities.
To stay within our budget we're opting to do all or most of the trip using public transport. I'd really like to get up to Mole, lots of new birds there for me and my husband's first opportunity to see some of the charismatic African mammals. So I'm trying to maximize my chances at the southern specialties, knowing that I can't hit all of the typical sites and will have to sacrifice my chances at some of them. What it's come down to is likely omitting Ankasa, given that it's out of the way from the rest of our planned itinerary and difficult to do independently (though I've found a couple of reports on cloudbirders that describe how to do so).
My tentative itinerary is:
arrival, transfer to town of Kokrobrite
day at Kokrobrite, maybe canoe trip or bicycling
Kakum National Park - 3 nights
New Edubiase/Bonkro - for Picathartes, 1-2 nights
Lake Bosomtwe - 2 nights - relaxing, hiking, paddling
Bobiri Butterfly Reserve - 2 nighs
bus to Tamale, overnight, day trip to look for Egyptian Plover
Mole - 3 nights
return to Accra, end of trip
I'm a bit torn about leaving Ankasa off the itinerary, but I fear it will just result in a lot of extra hassle and time on the road - or extra cost if we hire a car and driver to take us around for several days. We could theoretically fit it in by moving faster through the other areas or cutting out another site, but I've found that my husband has a more enjoyable time when we're not moving somewhere new every single day.
I'd appreciate any thoughts people have about this itinerary and any experiences folks could share about traveling through Ghana independently. I've bookmarked a few key reports from Cloudbirders and just got the Bradt travel guide to Ghana.
To stay within our budget we're opting to do all or most of the trip using public transport. I'd really like to get up to Mole, lots of new birds there for me and my husband's first opportunity to see some of the charismatic African mammals. So I'm trying to maximize my chances at the southern specialties, knowing that I can't hit all of the typical sites and will have to sacrifice my chances at some of them. What it's come down to is likely omitting Ankasa, given that it's out of the way from the rest of our planned itinerary and difficult to do independently (though I've found a couple of reports on cloudbirders that describe how to do so).
My tentative itinerary is:
arrival, transfer to town of Kokrobrite
day at Kokrobrite, maybe canoe trip or bicycling
Kakum National Park - 3 nights
New Edubiase/Bonkro - for Picathartes, 1-2 nights
Lake Bosomtwe - 2 nights - relaxing, hiking, paddling
Bobiri Butterfly Reserve - 2 nighs
bus to Tamale, overnight, day trip to look for Egyptian Plover
Mole - 3 nights
return to Accra, end of trip
I'm a bit torn about leaving Ankasa off the itinerary, but I fear it will just result in a lot of extra hassle and time on the road - or extra cost if we hire a car and driver to take us around for several days. We could theoretically fit it in by moving faster through the other areas or cutting out another site, but I've found that my husband has a more enjoyable time when we're not moving somewhere new every single day.
I'd appreciate any thoughts people have about this itinerary and any experiences folks could share about traveling through Ghana independently. I've bookmarked a few key reports from Cloudbirders and just got the Bradt travel guide to Ghana.