These are the royal palms at the entrance to the Bunso Arboretum.
For the last year we have been saying we will stop at the
Bunso Arboretum one of these days. We finally decided our "one of these days" are running out. This lazy cat at the visitors center made sure he kept one eye on us while he slept.
We had two young guides. This man was the assistant.
This was our tour guide. He was very
informed about the forest. The first thing he showed us was the coke tree and its coke pod.
Inside the pod are four nuts. These nuts are extremely high in caffeine and are chewed by the local people to ward off hunger and to celebrate certain events.
The peel is taken off and the red nut is exposed. These nuts are exported to be dried, powdered and used to flavor Coke, Pepsi and such.
So if you reach for a cola drink, think of the coke tree in Ghana that helped make it possible. (Elder Max brought the pod home but I don't expect him to be chewing on it any time soon.) The guide was also telling us how many people have gone blind from chewing the nut. It has only been in the last few years doctors have made the connection between the two.
This is a picture of the coke tree on the left. It is a very beautiful tree.
When we came to this tree the guide had us take some leaves and rub them together. Then we smelled them. Cinnamon! The bark is what is used for the spice but the leaves also smell great.
We came to these wonderful old trees. I wish I'd written down all the names so I could use them, but I didn't. The guide said hunters used to sleep between the exposed roots at night at the base of the tree. This was their way of protecting themselves from wild animals. These trees are also used to send out a warning or distress call by the way someone beats on them with a stick. The sound echoes through the forest.
These trees were huge and amazing but not the same species as The Big Tree we saw near Oda.
Then we left the open area and went back into the forest. The guide promised me no snakes come on the wide trail, which was not wide at all. I was giving him a hard time because he was wearing snake boots, but we soon learned they might better be described as "ant boots." We stood a little too long in one place and were dancing to get them off us.
It was fun to see the hanging vines which made us think of Tarzan movies. This one was all twisted.
There is a plant which "lives" on the host tree you see in the center. Its roots hang down to the ground so it can get moisture and nutrients. (You might see it up there at the top of the photo. It has big broad leaves.)
The guide was telling us men working out in the forest sometimes find the vines useful.
They can use them to pull themselves up into the tree away from danger. (You can see why this young man was the "assistant." He had to do all the hard stuff.)
One other interesting plant we saw had small red berries. The guide gave us each one and told us to put it in our mouth. (So much for washing everything in soap and then soaking it in bleach water.) Then the assistant came with two peeled oranges. I guess first he had us taste the oranges. Then we put the berry in our mouths. (I also wondered what the machete had been used for before it peeled my orange. Oh well, we didn't get sick.) Then we took out the berry and tried the orange again. It was amazing how sweet the orange tasted. The berry is a catalyst that totally changed the taste by changing the citric acid in the orange. Very interesting.
This is the Brazil nut tree. The nuts are inside the pod. When you eat your Brazil nuts you'll know now where they grow. This is a close-up from a very large tree.
This pod is on the monkey nut tree. The nuts are gone from this pod. The pod may look small but is actually quite large. I'd say the opening is about eight inches across.
These are the flowers that were starting to fall off the monkey nut tree. The guide said the tree got its name from someone finding a monkey who had found a pod on the ground and had stuck his head inside to get the rest of the nuts. His head was stuck in the pod; thus, monkey nut tree.
This red tree is very pretty this time of year. The leaves are red and the flowers are just very small on the ends. It reminds me of the poinsettia, but not exactly.
This preserve was set up by a European company who was mining gold in this area. The forest is a great place to just get away from noise and see how Ghana looked before so many of the forests were cut down.
There is a guesthouse here where people can spend the night.
The flowers are lovely.
This photo actually wasn't taken at Bunso but on a drive home from Oda. It just stood out against all the green of the bush.
We'll have to notice if other trees in the area also bloom or if this one is different from all the rest. (Very pretty color of pink.)
As we drove out of Bunso I noticed these bird sitting on the plantain. We will miss the beauty here almost as much as we will miss the people.
(Just finishing the rest of the photos I couldn't do yesterday.)
We drove up to Boti Falls to see if there was still water flowing. It was small but still very pretty. Elder Mattinson used to work with a lumber business so he was taking photos of all the interesting trees and roots.
Then we ventured into the Koforidua Marketplace. I don't recommend that on the day before Christmas. The place was so crowded. The sellers were very merry as they danced in the aisles. We were being bumped and pushed from side to side as we tried to move along and tried to stay together.
I was buying plastic bags but I heard my companion was showing these ladies a few moves of his own. They are such fun people who enjoy life even though they have few material possessions. We soon got claustrophobic and left the marketplace to go have lunch at the quiet Mac Dic Hotel.
