Nature & hiking in Kakum National Park — what to do and where to start

Volta highlands, rainforest canopy walks and Mole savannah — Ghana's natural diversity is wider than most expect. Here's how to experience nature and hiking in Kakum National Park specifically.

May 13, 20263 min readBy the Exohaven editors

Volta highlands, rainforest canopy walks and Mole savannah — Ghana's natural diversity is wider than most expect.

Kakum National Park ranks among the strongest places in Ghana for nature and hiking. Here's what you should know before you go, and how to actually do it.

Why Kakum National Park for nature and hiking

Central Region rainforest reserve with the famous canopy walkway — seven suspension bridges 40m above the forest floor.

  • Wli Falls and Mount Afadja in the Volta highlands
  • Kakum canopy walkway in the Central Region rainforest
  • Aburi botanical gardens an hour from Accra

What to do specifically

  1. Canopy walkway (seven bridges) — Canopy walkway (seven bridges)
  2. Guided rainforest walk — Guided rainforest walk
  3. Forest elephant overnight tour — Forest elephant overnight tour

When to come

November to March (avoid the rainiest weeks of June). The shape of the nature and hiking experience changes meaningfully by season — wet-season nature and hiking in Ghana is different from dry-season nature and hiking, and a good planner accounts for this.

How Kakum National Park's nature and hiking compares

Ghana has multiple cities that handle nature and hiking well. Kakum National Park's particular strengths:

  • Vibe: Rainforest · canopy walk · day-trip
  • Famous for: The canopy walkway (one of three globally on this scale)
  • Best paired with: Hans Cottage Botel (10 min) after the experience

We typically suggest pairing nature and hiking in Kakum National Park with one of these adjacent activities:

  • Canopy walkway (seven bridges)
  • Guided rainforest walk
  • Forest elephant overnight tour

Where to eat after

  • Hans Cottage Botel (10 min) — meals near the resident crocodiles
  • Sammo Restaurant in Cape Coast

Practicalities

  • Getting there: 30 minutes north of Cape Coast. Go early afternoon to beat the morning haze.
  • Where to stay: choose accommodation in Kakum park entrance for proximity to the experience.
  • Budget: nature and hiking in Kakum National Park is mid-budget by Ghana standards — most experiences are affordable; guide fees and transport make up the bulk of the spend.

Putting it together

A focused day of nature and hiking in Kakum National Park should look something like:

  1. Morning — the headline experience (book ahead if needed).
  2. Mid-day — long lunch at one of the spots above.
  3. Afternoon — an adjacent, lower-intensity stop.
  4. Evening — sunset somewhere with food and a cold drink.

That sequence works for almost every interest-city combination in Ghana. The AI planner handles the routing automatically when you set the interest and city as inputs.

Plan nature and hiking in Kakum National Park with the AI planner

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