The Unpatronized coolest nature reservation site in Eastern Region.

Ghana is one of the countries with great tourism and hospitality potentials but there seems to be a problem of local patronization of our history and culture due to our taste for foreign or western culture.

There are countless number of tourism sites across the breadth of this country but the question is the citizens aware of all these places? Only few have knowledge about about these recreational facilities since the Ghana Tourism Board failed to do the necessary public education on how Ghanaians should patronize their own things.

As an Explorer,hiker and a student currently pursuing Journalism and Communication;exploring is one of the hobbies I do and it is so amazing and feeling seeing how beautiful our country is as it has been bounded with great natural forests,vegetations,water bodies,mountains and to mention few.

One of the best recreational or tourism sites that one could talk about when he or she visits the Eastern Region is the Bonsu Eco-tourism Park but how do one get to explore there? Most of us only know of Aburi Botanical Gardens since that is the only place that’s been hyped the more but neglecting the Eco Park in Bonsu which is in the heart of the region.

An Eco Tourism site and an ideal place for adventure, picnics and relaxation located in the Abuakwa south municipality of the Eastern region of Ghana. The site has over 600 species of trees used for used for various medicinal purposes.

 Knowing Little About The Town

Bunso, just two hours from Accra, offers visitors a combination of semi-deciduous native forest and species introduced to Ghana by the Plant Genetic Resources Centre of Bunso, which uses the facility for research.

 The site contains over 110 species of birds, 30 species of butterflies and a herb garden with over 40 species. Tour the arboretum with a guide to learn about the native and exotic plants, including their medicinal properties for traditional healing, or go on an indigenous foods tour to learn the many ways in which local people harvest food from local plants. Guests can also experience village life and cocoa farming on a tour of the nearby village.

The 40-acre forest reserve that hosts the Aboretum which belongs to the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council who leased it to a mining firm in the early twentieth century for surface mining but later given to another company known as African Products Department for rubber and cocoa plantations in 1917.

After the company left, two British bought the park on which they built a guest house in 1935. The guesthouse is currently serving as the official residence for the Vice Chancellor of the University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies; an institution established by the Okyehene, Amoatia Ofori Opanin II.

In 1946, the facility was then acquired by the Plant Genetic Resource and Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which has been managing it ever since.

The forest reserve has some of the rare tree species including Garcinia Kola, known locally as Twepea, reputed for its health benefits. Garcinia kola is said to be used in many tropical countries to fight infectious diseases and also known to possess anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antiviral properties.

Other tropical tree species found at the centre include Okure, mostly used for dugout canoes as well as the Alpha and Omega trees used for the local sponge (sapowie).

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