As my day in the coastal city of Elmina, Ghana continued, I got my first taste of some truly exotic African street food called bush meat before I headed out to explore Kakum National Park in southern Ghana! Come with me as I continue my incredible road trip through Ghana!
My afternoon began with me and my guide Isaac from Jolinaiko Eco Tours riding one hour north to Kakum National Park! The park is famous for its seven suspension bridges, which give you a bird’s-eye view over a forest. It was a forest preserve from 1931 to 1992, when they converted it to a national park.
Kakum National Park is home to tons of wildlife, including endangered species as well as elephants, monkeys, and birds. The scenery on the way to the park is very diverse and ranges from bush to villages. The road was recently paved, so it was nice and smooth!
The lush, thick forest as we approached the park reminded me of El Yunque National Park in Puerto Rico, which I visited back in 2018. It was beautiful and bright green! It only took us 30 minutes to get to the park.
It costs 2 cedi per person to enter the park. They offer two activities: a canopy walk and a nature walk. I’d only be doing the canopy walk for 60 cedi. There’s also a hotel, a restaurant, and a gift shop there.
We headed out on an uphill walk along a stone path through the forest. I highly recommend being in good shape if you want to attempt it, as it’s steep and pretty tiring.
We entered the primary forest and continued on to the canopy walk. The bridges were built in 1994 and sway when you walk across them. Between the bridges are wooden platforms. If you want to walk all seven bridges, take a right at each platform. They’ll take you in a big loop!
The bridges are about 40 meters above the forest floor. The surrounding trees are massive, and the forest is gorgeous. This area reminded me of a zip-line I went to in Hawaii and another forest I visited in Malawi. Surprisingly, there were lots of flies this high up!
What a beautiful place! After you do the canopy walk, you can continue on with a nature walk. But instead, I went to get some food!
Five minutes later, we arrived at a blacksmith’s shop in a nearby village. He was making a farming tool used to cut the roots of trees! Then, we headed on to Tourist Spot Restaurant, where they serve fufu, fish, ampesie, rice package, bush meat, and more!
First, I washed my hands as I listened to the music playing. Inside was a small bar serving a strong, bitter medicinal drink. There’s seating both inside and outside. They have two types of bushmeat: grasscutter and antelope. I’d be eating the antelope with a rice ball called emotuo in a peanut sauce!
The antelope meat was fatty and gamy but tasty, and Isaac let me try some of his grasscutter. I liked it a lot!
The emotuo and peanut sauce were outstanding. The emotuo reminded me of Japanese sticky rice. I liked it better than the banku and fufu I’d been eating! Everything was so flavorful!
The ribs are always the best part of any animal, and the antelope was no exception. It’s my favorite dish I’d had in Ghana so far! After the meat and emotuo were gone, I drank the sauce. It was like a yummy peanut soup! Three drinks and three bowls cost less than $2 USD!
Best of all, the people at the restaurant were so friendly and let me film everything!
Next, we drove to a village where people were roasting cassava flour (gari). I tried some. It was nice and crunchy. The people there were too nice! After we left, it only took us another twenty minutes to get back to Elmina.
Overall, it was a fun and eventful afternoon of trying exotic African street food and visiting Kakum National Park in Ghana! Huge thanks to my friends at Jolinaiko Eco Tours and the Golden Hill Parker Hotel for making my time in Elmina so memorable.
I hope you liked coming with me to try exotic African street food and visiting Kakum National Park in Ghana with me! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell so you don’t miss any of my travel/food adventures around the world!
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