Ghana -- Kakum National Park

This is Kakum National Park, which preserves a rainforest area in southwestern Ghana. The park has a unique canopy walkway about 100 feet up from the forest floor, which is the only such walkway in Africa and apparently only one of four in the world. It's quite fun to visit if you're not afraid of heights, as the walkway sways and creaks quite a bit, and you get a unique perspective on the rainforest.

Ghana -- Kumasi

This is Kumasi, Ghana's second-biggest city, which has the or one of the biggest open-air markets in Africa. As you can see there are swarms of people and vehicles -- it was one of the most overwhelming places I've been since arriving in Africa, especially when most of Togo is not exactly bustling on this scale.

Outside of the market, the city isn't quite as busy, and has a number of pretty interesting museums about the colonial history of Kumasi and the Ashanti empire, which has its home here.

Ghana -- Lake Volta

The first photo is actually the river Volta, which has been dammed to form Lake Volta, the largest artificial lake in Africa (in the second photo). My sister and I spent a couple of days here relaxing and taking a cruise on the lake, which was more interesting because of the number of middle-class Ghanaian families out for a Sunday excursion together, than for the ride itself, which was pretty but a little boring after 6 hours.

Ghana -- Tafi-Abuipe and Tafi-Atome

Here are pictures from two neighboring villages, Tafi-Abuipe and Tafi-Atome, both of which have so-called community-based tourism projects. The first is centered on the town's kente cloth weaving industry and the second is on a monkey sanctuary.

Ghana -- Wli Falls

I just returned from a two and a half week trip to Ghana with my sister, and the first sight we went to see was Wli falls, supposedly the highest waterfall in West Africa (which is actually 2 waterfalls, upper and lower). As you can see from the picture of me, the upper falls are quite high -- and that captures only about two-thirds of their height. My sister called the upper falls the most beautiful waterfall she had ever seen.

The only drawback to seeing the upper falls is that it requires about 2 hours of hiking up a very steep mountain on a rather uncertain trail, which was especially difficult since it was the hottest and most humid time of the year. But in the end it was worth the effort.

The second picture is of the lower falls, which are much more easily accessible via a 45-minute hike on a basically flat path.