Kakum National Park, Ghana

This is one of the postcards my friend William sent me from Ghana a couple of years ago. This is one of my favourites, too - I like pictures of national parks! Kakum National Park is also a tentative Unesco site.

Kakum National Park, located in the coastal environs of the Central Region of Ghana, covers an area of 375 square kilometres. Established in 1931 as a reserve, it was gazetted as a national park only in 1992 after an initial survey of avifauna was conducted. The area is covered with tropical rainforest. The uniqueness of this park lies in the fact that it was established at the initiative of the local people and not by the State Department of wildlife who are responsible for wildlife preservation in Ghana. It is also the only park in Africa with a canopy walkway, which is 350 metres long and connects seven tree tops which provides access to the forest.

The most notable endangered species of fauna in the park are Diana monkey, giant bongo antelope, yellow-backed duiker and African elephant. It is 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 in the park, including eight species of global conservation concern. One of these species of concern is the white-breasted guineafowl. Nine species of hornbill and the African grey parrot have been recorded. It is very rich in butterflies as well, and a new species was discovered in 1993. As of 2012, the densest population of forest elephants in Ghana is located in Kakum.

Ghana

The Aikido group I'm a member of is pretty multicultural; we have and have had members from a bunch of different countries. At one point we had a guy from Ghana. He was really really nice as well, I miss him a lot. Maybe one day I'll get to meet him again...? Anyway, when he was about to move back home to Ghana I asked him if he could do me a favour and send me a postcard from Ghana. Cheeky, I know, but there we go :P He agreed to send me one - well, I thought it would be just one but instead he sent a bunch of postcards in an envelope. So many great views! (I wonder if it would be just a tad too cheeky to ask him for a written and stamped card (I don't have any yet...)? :P)

I'm rather fond of map postcards so I really like this one - and it's nice to see all the different regions of the country. I have no idea what the four places on the right are, there's no info on the back of the card. Shame, I'm curious, especially about the white structures in the bottom right corner.

Ghana

Another swap card, from the lovely Helen in the USA.



Helen told me she was supposed to go with her college friend to Ghana, but decided against it at the last minute as she's already used up so many vacation days. I wish I could say the same personally... *sigh* I'd really love to travel more and see a bit more of the world, but there's no way I could afford that. Postcards are a nice substitute, though (and books!).

I don't know anything about the place shown on this card, except that it's quite obviously an open air market. Looks really nice, too! A little bit about the country...:

The Republic of Ghana is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan Kingdoms, including the Akwamu on the eastern coast, the inland Ashanti Empire and various Fante and non-Akan states, like the Ga and Ewe, along the coast and inland. Trade with European states flourished after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874.

The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the first sub-Saharan African nation to do so and the name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa. Ghana is a member of the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union, and an associate Member of La Francophonie. Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world and is also home to Lake Volta, the largest artificial lake in the world by surface area.



This postcard was mailed from the USA, too. Here are two more stamps from the "Sunday Funnies" issue from earlier this year, and a definitive stamp "American Clock".