A butterfly reserve in Kumasi

The outside portion of the guest house at the reserve. 

On the weekend of March 28^th I needed some real time away from Antoa and just people in general. I love my roommates and the village, but sometimes you just need to get away and explore. So I decided I would go hiking in Bobiri Butterfly Reserve in Kubease. The reserve is located in Kubease, a village about 13km from Ejisu, with the reserve being a little more than a 5k walk on a dirt path to the actual reserve.

I was planning on going alone, but at the last minute asked Pat if he wanted to go. Excitingly, he said yes and we met in Ejisu to begin our travels. After saying the name wrong multiple times and losing each other in our attempts to meet at the tro tro station, we got on one and were out. We were dropped of in Kubease and followed the signs to the reserve. IT WAS SO HOT THOUGH. Blaring sun with no clouds in the sky around 11am is not fun times. However, we eventually ended up on a dirt road path that was covered by trees. It was nice at that point walking down the road, talking, and blarring the Beastie Boys as we walked.

After a grueling walk, we finally saw the reserve. It is a small three building place with a family living in the back area to maintain the property. We walked up and were told we would have a guide named Edward take us around when we were ready. They brought us to the guest house and we downed a large bottle of water each and rested up before we went hiking. The guest house was very nice. The whole set up reminded me of the cabins at Camp Marydale that I would sit in when I was a little Girl Scout in Louisiana.

Edward with Patrick going over the trees in the area. 

The hike was nice though. Edward has been working at the reserve for 15 years and is very knowledgeable. We went on the three sister hike that was about 3km through the woods where he pointed out all the different types of trees and identified their uses. The trees are all massive. Huge trunks. A lot of the purposes were for medicine use. Typically you cut the bark off and you would boil it with water to drink it as tea.

THESE TREES ARE MASSIVE

The thoughtful selfie

To prevent animals from eating it, the trees grows little spikes so it can SURVIVE

One tree was really interesting. It was almost like a vine because it doesn't grow vertically. It starts in the ground, then curves around, and will curve around trees and the top will go back in the ground. It is supposedly a tree that has a bark that will cure insanity because it is a spiritual tree. However, you are only allowed to collect the bark in the early morning or late afternoon when your shadow will not fall on it. Also, there is some ritual involving an egg...but I wasn't really sure.

All in all nice place. Sadly butterfly season isn't until June/July when the mangoes start growing so I will need to head back another time. But definitely a nice retreat from Kumasi.