Bunso is a small but rapidly developing town in the East Akim District of the Eastern region of Ghana.
The town is about thirty minutes drive from the regional capital, Koforidua, and lies some few kilometres off the Accra-Kumasi highway.
Bunso is most famous for its afforestation and agriculture research programmes. The Cocoa Research Institute, responsible for conducting research on cocoa seedlings and how to enhance cocoa production is situated in the town. More famously, the ever popular Bunso Botanical garden is also found in the town as the name suggests.
However, over half a decade ago, a new tourism attraction was added to the town in the form of a canopy walkway which is found in the Bunso Botanical garden known locally as Bunso Arboretum.
The canopy walkway upon its completion in 2014, became just the second of its kind in Ghana after the Kakum Canopy Walk in the central region. The Bunso Walkway was built by local engineers who spent over a year on the project. It is approximately 40ft high from the ground and 280 metres long, with five bridges and stopping point, making it extremely exhilarating and breathtaking.
Aside the canopy walk at the garden, the forest is also home to over hundreds species of birds, most of whom can be seen perching on the tall trees while on the canopy walkway. The garden is also one of the few forest reserves in Ghana that can truly boast of huge number of timber trees, with the garden having about 600 trees, all of which are of varied species.
Since the introduction of the canopy walk in 2014, the Bunso botanical garden has seen an astronomical increase in the number of visits it receives and is gradually becoming one of the most visited tourism sites in Ghana. The canopy walk construction was an initiative of the Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Source: www.jetsanza.com
