Kakum National Park is a home for nature lovers. Trained guides are on hand to explain the economic, cultural, and medicinal values of plants and farming. Fifteen kilometers from Cape Coast is the serene, golden beach of Brenu Akyinim, a 3-kilometer stretch of sandy beachwhich provides an excellent site for swimming, sun bathing, and bird watching.
Tourism numbers have increased over the years: 2,000 in 1992; 27,000 in 1996; over 70,000 tourists in 1999; and it attracted 135,870 visitors during 2009.
In 2007 there were 100,000 tourists at Kakum, according Ms. Ernestina Anim, a director at the park.The total number of visitors to the park, 70 per cent were Ghanaians. “Of the 70 per cent Ghanaians visitor, 15 per cent are adults and 55 per cent are children and of the 30 per cent foreigners, 20 per cent are adults
and 10 per cent are children,” she said.
There are other special charges for persons wishing to take still or moving pictures in the park. People taking still pictures are charged GH¢200 and GH¢500 for moving pictures. Revenue generated from the park is distributed between the Wildlife Division and the GHCR.
The Wildlife Division manages the reserve while GHCR takes care of some resources like the canopy way and the camp site.
| The Kakum National Park has been established in 1932 and used for the last fifty years for thee extraction of timber. |
Officially opened the park in 1994. USAID/Ghana provides institutional support to the Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust to ensure the sustainability of Kakum National Park.
Located in Central Region of Ghana, about 20 kilometres north of Cape Coast and covers 360 square kilometres of Ghana’s rapidly dwindling rainforest.
| WILDLIFE AT KAKUM NATIONAL PARK | Also an Important Bird Area recognized by the Bird Life International with the bird area fully overlapping the park area. The bird inventory confirmed 266 species. – Wildlife – |
Kakum is Ghana’s first protected area which has received major support for visitor facilities. The visitor centre opened on Earth Day 1997 and the park received the Global Tourism for Tomorrow Award the following year.
Tourism numbers have increased over the years: 2,000 in 1992; 27,000 in 1996; over 70,000 tourists in 1999; and it attracted 135,870 visitors during 2009.
