Birding and Nature Tours in Ghana
Ashanti African Tours offer year-round scheduled small group departures including a range of birding tours in Ghana ranging from 9 days up to 25 days. In addition, we also offered tailored private tours that can be designed around target species and to include other areas of interest and number of days for individuals, couples and small groups.
Ghana has 750 bird species that include 12 of the 15 Upper Guinea Endemics, almost 1000 species of butterfly, 225 mammalian species and 221 species of amphibians and reptiles recorded to date making it a must-visit for anyone looking to travel to West Africa on a holiday focusing on natural history.
Our award-winning locally-led, nature and birdwatching tours in Ghana are designed to connect the communities we visit, to the conservation of their environment through ethical tourism and our company have built 2 schools to-date giving over 600 children access to education in birding locations we visit on our tours.
Our team of 15 full-time expert local guides have been described by several international companies that use our services here in Ghana as the best they have encountered.
We constantly strive to improve wildlife tour itineraries and venture into areas no other operators visit, our team of expert guides are constantly researching new locations in search for quality species to enhance our tour participants birding and nature tour experience.
Our local leaders are employed full time by our company and are experts in birds, mammals, butterflies, culture and history of Ghana and will focus on your areas of interest during your tour. Our 100% record of seeing the White-necked Rockfowl (Yellow-headed Picathartes) and Egyptian Plover (recently placed in a family of its own) ensures a spectacular trip awaits our potential tour participants.
From the coastal lagoons, grassland savannah, upper guinea rainforest moving northwards through the broad-leaved guinea woodland finally touching the Sahel savannah plains in the far north, Ghana offers thorough coverage of all the core west African habitats. Ghana’s safe, friendly and hassle-free environment and the most developed infrastructure of any West African country adds to its appeal for travellers.
Our Guides:
Paul Mensah – Senior Tour Guide
Paul Mensah is an excellent birding and wildlife tour leader and has led many tours for international companies and private groups. Paul has an amazing ability to spot species in the most difficult habitat and he is also excellent at bird identification and knows all birds by song/call. An extremely popular leader with our clients, his professional attitude, logistical excellence and personable and social character are complemented by his calm leading style, enthusiasm and love of his work. His desire to always offer his best to clients ensures all his tours are highly productive and enjoyable. Paul lives near Kakum National Park and is always in the field researching species and new locations to find them. He is also one of our cultural tour guides as he loves sharing his exceptional knowledge of Ghana’s culture and history.
William Apraku – Senior Tour Guide
William is also Head of Training and Research for the birding and wildlife section of our company. He was born in Hwidiem, a town in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana and previously worked with the Ghana Wildlife Division for ten (10) years prior to joining Ashanti African Tours as a full-time birding and wildlife leader/guide. William is what we would call a 24/7 birder he loves his work, is an outstanding bird and wildlife tour leader and has conducted more ornithological research in Ghana than anybody spending many months with renowned researchers Bob Dowsett and Francois Lamire. William was the first to discover a nesting site for the rare Black-headed Bee-eater and was introduced and trained in bird guiding by a renowned South African birder Andrew Hester many years ago. As are all of Ashanti African Tours bird guides and leaders Williams knows all birds by song/call and is an expert at identification, general natural history, and culture of West Africa. He is blessed with a wife, four sons and a daughter and his infectious love of his work is reflected in his tours and feedback from clients.
James Ntakor – Senior Tour Guide
James is Head of Birding for our company, he was born and raised in a village close to Kakum National Park an area of approximately 360 square kilometres of upper guinea rainforest habitat. James has worked full time with Ashanti African Tours for the past 12 years and is an exceptional bird and wildlife tour leader. It is clear to see Kakum was James’ playground as a child, James has an immense passion and love for wildlife and is often heard having a private chuckle whilst looking through the scope. As he grew up surrounded by upper guinea rainforest James had no problem learning the birds and their song/calls and he has a natural ability to find the target species of the groups he leads. Undoubtedly one of Africa’s finest nature tour leaders his reputation speaks for itself. An expert in birds, wildlife and culture coupled with his excellent logistical ability and personable nature makes all his tours highly productive and enjoyable for our tour participants.
Victor Owusu – Senior Tour Guide
Victor is always a favourite with our clients and simply loves his job and wildlife. An experienced guide with over 200 tours as a leader, his calm and professional style ensures a smooth and enjoyable trip for tour participants. Now in his late-thirties Victor was born in Eziama in the Western Region of Ghana close to Ankasa Reserve surrounded by upper guinea rainforest. His childhood was spent exploring the forests around his community and is the main reason for his exceptional ability to identify and find the most difficult species. Victor knows all birds by song/call and can identify all West African species, he has a love of all nature and is deeply knowledgeable on the culture and history of Ghana which he enjoys sharing with clients. The only negative we can find with Victor is his second love of Manchester United Football Club.
Ashanti African Tours are focused and committed to ethical and responsible travel here in West Africa. A percentage of our profits goes into our NGO Rainforest Rescue Ghana where we connect communities to the conservation of their environment through ethical tourism. To date, we have built 2 schools giving over 600 children access to education. Our company are also protecting Upper Guinea Rainforest, endangered birds, mammal and butterfly species through an eco-tourism project we are establishing where we have donated accommodation, reception centre, restaurant and school to a community showing them the immediate benefits of protecting the surrounding rainforest where the Yellow-headed Picathartes is found along with mammals like Long-tailed and Tree Pangolin.
Our groups pay an entrance fee, local guide fees, purchase food and drinks and rent the accommodation to sleep in with 1005 of the funds generated going into the community fund. There are 3 local communities that surround the forest benefiting from this fund. Prior to us starting the project we would hear a continuous chain saw operators cutting trees and also local hunters killing the wildlife, we are happy to report these have now stopped since we started our project. Booking with Ashanti African Tours helps conservation.
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