Travellingman reisverhalen - - Kintampo - Bui National Park
Day 27: 25 februari 2006
Kintampo - Bui National Park

The heat still keeps me from a good and nice sleep. I woke up at 7 am and had a cold shower. The room is all equipped (except for air conditioning). I was not hungry so I skipped breakfast and did some writing and started the day relaxing. Around 9 am Emmanuel came to pick me up and we left Kintampo. We passed a small blue mosque which was situated in the city centre.

The roads became more and more unpaved. We drove towards Bamboi, but just before the village (on the other side of the Black Volta River) we turned left. This is a wide unpaved road with a reasonable quality. We only could use it for about 4 kilometers. At a small village we turned right to get to Bui National Park. This road is about 52 kilometers long and not all the time of a good quality. After a few kilometers we passed a bridge build by the Japanese. The bridge crosses the Black Volta River, one of the rivers that feed the Volta Lake.

Emmanuel tried to travel as fast as possible, but much faster than 50 to 60 km/h is not possible. As a driver you have to be aware of sudden potholes in this unpaved road. We drove a Renault Clio, which is surely not always the best option for this kind of road. But Emmanuel is used to drive these kinds of roads, so not much happened. The area we passed is burned down on many places by hunters. This way they hope to find the wildlife easier. This is not a loose story, because halfway the road we saw about 40 hunters who were just dropped off there. Actually they are not hunters but poachers because there is a regulation for hunters. Due to the illegal hunting a lot wildlife is about to get extinct. The government tries to educate the local people that hunting endangers the wildlife, but it's not easy to change the attitude of people whose families hunted for ages. But nowadays the amount of forest is tremendously reduced and hunting should be reduced in the same amount.

After 1½ hours of driving we arrived at the site of the Wildlife Division of the Bui National Park. The Wildlife Division is responsible for this park of about 1800 square kilometers. They work with about 35 people all over the park, which is by far not enough. The campsite is the only place you can stay in the southern part of the park. They have a few cabins where you can sleep (for 20.000 cedis or 2 euro per person per night). After we installed us in the rooms, we drove a little bit by car into the park. We passed Bui, a small village with only a few 100 inhabitants in about 30 traditional houses. For Emmanuel it was also the first time he was here and thought Bui would be much bigger. At the next village we parked the car. The road towards this village is very bad and it is not advised to do what Emanuel did, driving with a non four wheel drive. We went on by feet and walked through a forest, but also here a lot of the low shrubs are burned down. We didn't see much wildlife. After a few kilometers we reached the river. Halfway the river there were about 8 Hippo's, although we only could see the heads. Peter, our guide, told us that some of the poachers also hunt the Hippo's. Sometimes they don't kill them but only cut of a piece of meat that they can carry. The wounded Hippo goes back to the river but dies because off fishes eating from the open wound of the Hippo. Pretty cruel I should say.

Peter also told us that they sometimes arrest the poachers and the punishment is a fine or an imprisonment (jail sentence) up to one year. This seems to be just a small punishment, but for people who are very poor, this still can be quit harsh. But there are by far more poachers who get away, which does not surprised me. The poachers (an estimated few hundred) are in a majority considering there only 35 people of the Wildlife Division. Obviously the government wants to do something, but because of the lack of money, the precautions they take are not enough. I guess some support from outside the country is necessary.

We sat down near the river and enjoyed the Hippo's and the quietness. It was very warm so the shade of the trees was more than welcome. But we had to go back. On the way back a dog approached us. It was clearly a hunting dog and Peter told us to wait, but he couldn't find the hunter. We walked back to the village and by 3.30 am we were back at the campsite. I talked to supervisor of Wildlife Division. He told me the government is not really making too many efforts to protect the National Parks (NP's), although creating the NP's is a major step forward. He shared my concerns that if nothing happens, the children of this generation probably won't have any NP to go to.

After some reading, I walked to a hill just outside the campsite. From there I watched the sunset, which was not really spectacular. Besides the many flies their where also a few clouds. Also from this hill I could see some bushfires. After one hour enjoying the view, I walked back to the campsite and had a shower (again with a bucket, which actually saves quit a lot of water). Peter made me a dinner with rice and sardines in tomato sauce. It was about 8 pm and Emmanuel went to bed. I just sat down with an oil lamp (the generator broke down, so there was no electricity) and smoked a cigarillo.

Just as I thought nothing would happen anymore, a taxi drove into the campsite. Five volunteers were travelling around just for the weekend, but the taxi driver wanted more money. The problem was that they didn't have any more money with them and the driver didn't want to drive further. Still they wanted to see the park. I told them that the park is not really interesting, but watching the sunrise from the hill might be something for tomorrow morning. After negotiating with the driver, they decided to stay in a room. After everything was settled, they had something to eat and we talked a little bit. They were teaching English to young children (3 to 8 year). They worked for an organisation called ESF. They came from all over the world (Germany, Belgium, French and Australia). Around 10 pm they went to bed and so did I.

Initial publication: 14 augustus 2008
Last update: 10 april 2010
© A. Heeroma

  • Travel route

Goto previous trip Mali tour

Mali - Ghan 2006 tour
ğDay 17 Bamako - Accra
ğDay 18 Accra
ğDay 19 Accra
ğDay 20 Accra - Ho
ğDay 21 Ho (Tafi Atome - Wli fall)
ğDay 22 Ho - Koforidua
ğDay 23 Koforidua - Bonfobiri
ğDay 24 Bonfobiri - Kumasi
ğDay 25 Kumasi
ğDay 26 Kumasi - Kintampo
ğDay 27 Kintampo - Bui National Park
ğDay 28 Bui National Park
ğDay 29 Bui National Park - Mole
ğDay 30 Mole
ğDay 31 Mole
ğDay 32 Mole - Tamale
ğDay 33 Tamale - Sunyani
ğDay 34 Sunyani
ğDay 35 Sunyani
ğDay 36 Sunyani - Ankasa Resource
ğDay 37 Ankasa Resource
ğDay 38 Ankasa Resource - Elmina
ğDay 39 Elmina - Gold Coast
ğDay 40 Cape Coast - Accra
ğDay 41 Accra
ğDay 42 Accra - Shai Resource Reserve
ğDay 43 Shai Resource Reserve - Aburi
ğDay 44 Aburi
ğDay 45 Aburi
ğDay 46 Aburi
ğDay 47 Aburi - Accra
ğDay 48 Accra
ğDay 49 Accra - home!

  • Overige info

  • Ghana







    Click photo to enlarge