Making A Difference, Bit By Bit

I was looking for a quiet, relaxing weekend, so when Hannah said we should go someplace near Kumasi, I thought "Ooh! Lake Bosumtwi, the famous getaway!" No, we went two hours further away (for about seven in all) to Techiman (which, to me, sounds like a Japanese cartoon) for HIKING at Buoyem and Tano Sacred Groves.

Okay, so I had to put off the quiet, relaxing weekend for a bit. The nice thing about these places is that they are eco-friendly and community-based tourist sites, so all money goes towards the community. For some reason, Ghana is full of these places (apparently under the direction of USAID, who seems to sponsor all of them) and they are not only highly ethical, but also ridiculously cheap in most cases. The new guesthouse alone was something like $3 per night.

Long story short, we had a guide from the village of Buoyem take us for a long walk/hike through the countryside, telling us about the history. We saw some neat rocks (yes, they can be neat) and went into the sacred bat cave, which was pretty awesome. Better than Shai Hills, if you ask me.

Some walking and tro-tros later, we reached a nearby town which is host to Tano Sacred Grove (apparently we were on some pretty holy ground). The grounds were quite beautiful and the pathway led to a climb up some large rocks to a place that was somewhere between Utah and Mars: A strange rock formation with its own small canyons, peaks and tunnels. Apparently back in the day, when a king was captured, the people he ruled had to surrender (kinda like chess), so this place was where the king would hide when the Ashanti came to wreck their stuff. Not a bad hideout, if you ask me.

That day was nuts, physically and we went to bed quite early, although the rain from the previous day had awoken the crawlies, so our room was literally filled with winged ants and other small odd bugs. A quick sweep of the place with a broom permitted us a peaceful sleep.

Like Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary and Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary, Buoyem and Tano are community-run eco-villages, set up by the US Peace Corps instead of the Ghanaian government. While I have my beefs with the Peace Corps, they do a great job with finding ways to boost the local economy through tourism, especially in Ghana.

And these are places that you can feel good patronizing. For example, our guide Paul told us that proceeds from the project go directly to buying medicine for the local clinic and towards the community library. He himself makes no profit from his work. How great is that?

Ironically, these places that are the most enriching and ethical are the ones that charge the least to experience. They certainly are not Indian casinos, but I find this quite strange... anyhow, if you are travelling, check out community-based eco-tourism, because I'd rather have my money going towards buying medicine for poor villagers than to some rich old Lebanese guy. Not that I have anything against the Lebanese...