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Ecotourism
Bobiri Forest and Butterfly
Sanctuary which is 25 minutes drive
from KNUST on Kumasi-Accra road, is
one of FORIG's Ecotourism Sites. It
has been awarded outstanding Tourist
Support in 1999 and Visitors
Attraction of the Year in 2001 by
the Regional Tourist Board.
With its lush greenery and
mystifying atmosphere, the Bobiri
Forest Reserve is the largest
preserve parcel of land administered
by the Forestry Research Institute
of Ghana (FORIG). It is one of the
most beautiful Forest Reserves in
West Africa. It harbours tall and
ancie nt
trees.
The reserve was created in 1939 when
it was still an unexploited primary
forest. It falls within the Tropical
Moist semi-Deciduous Forest Zone.
The Reserve lies between latitude 60
40’ and 60 44’ North of
the Equator and longitudes 10
15’ and 10 22’ West of
the Greenwich. The total area of the
Reserve-for ecotourism is 54.6 sq.
Km (21.1 sq. Miles) and falls under
the Juaso Forest Reserve District of
Ashanti Region.
Bobiri is the closest Forest Reserve
to the city of Kumasi - the garden
city of West Africa-and the capital
of Ashanti Region. It is located
about 35 Km southeast of Kumasi and
about 4 Km off the main Kumasi-Accra
road at the village of Kubease.
The Reserve hosts the Bobiri Forest
Arboretum- with about 100 indigenous
species on 1.7-hectre of land- the
Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary- with
about 340 butterfly species
identified- and the Bobiri Guest
House.
Along the road, about 120 bird
species have been identified (Dr.
J.R. Cobbinah, Perscom). The Reserve
is also rich in biodiversity, flora
(80-100) plants species per acre.
In short, the Bobiri Forest Reserve
offers the following: Adventure
travel; Outdoor recreational
activities; Avenue to learn about
the environment; A chance to
discover new cultures and locations;
Environment in which to observe
nature; Remoteness; Uniqueness;
Desire to study nature
Bobiri Forest Reserve has a total
land area of 54.6 square km. The
Reserve is situated in the Juaben
Forest District of the Ashanti,
about 35 kilometres South-east of
Kumasi and about 4 kilometres off
the main Kumasi-Accra road at the
village of Kubease. The Reserve is
surrounded by six communities, which
are Krofofrom, Kubease, Ndobom,
Koforidua, Nkwankwaduam and
Tsetsekaasum.
In 1936 the Juaben stool, which
holds the largest portion of the
Reserve land, lifted a formal ban on
farming activities and the area that
now contains the Bobiri Forest
Reserve was partially occupied by
farmers. Due to the increased demand
for logs by the government saw mills
during the World War II, the
Juabenhene was allowed to fell 75
Mahogany trees in the Reserve from
1943-1944. To restore order in the
exploitation of the Reserve, the
Forestry Commission (FC)
incorporated a Working Plan between
1945 and 1950. During that stage,
the total area was divided into
three; namely, Productive,
Conversion and Conservation areas.
Different extraction systems were
applied by the FC in order to
determine the most appropriate
extraction technique to be applied
in the productive area. Eventually,
the Girth Limit Selection System (GLSS)
was chosen as the most suitable
approach.
During the period 1948 to 1960s, the
FC started a tree nursery within
Bobiri Forest Reserve. A great
diversity of species of many forest
types in Ghana was collected for
this nursery. However, this nursery
was eventually converted into an
arboretum (of approximately 1 ha).
In 1963, the Forestry Research
Institute of Ghana (FORIG) was
created and immediately started
using the Reserve to carry out
research activities under the
permission of the FC. At some point,
a portion of the Reserve (5
compartments approximately) was upon
request put under the full
management of FORIG.
In the 1990s FORIG constructed a
guesthouse in the reserve to
accommodate the researchers.
Originally, the decision was to
build this guesthouse within Kubease,
but due to political reasons, it was
eventually created within the
Reserve. Thus from 1995 onwards, the
area including the guest house and
around it measuring about 5
compartments of unknown extension
has been under the full management
of FORIG.
In 1995, realising the high richness
of butterfly species in the area, a
butterfly sanctuary was created by
FORIG. Later, the possibility of
turning the Reserve into an
eco-tourism site without
compromising its research activities
was considered. Hence, in 1997,
FORIG decided to create an
eco-tourism development plan for
Bobiri. Under this prospective,
requests for funds were sent to
several organisations, which
resulted in the inclusion of Bobiri
within a national eco-tourism
project in 2001, including other 13
sites in Ghana.
FORIG together with several other
organisations, notably Nature
Conservation Research Centre (NCRC),
Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) and US
Peace Corps, made a joined effort to
improve the existing infrastructure
at Bobiri and also organise
workshops for the community using
funds provided by United States
Agency for International Development
(USAID). Despite the efforts made by
these agencies for the development
of Bobiri into a first class
eco-tourism site, much more needed
to be done to make possible the
realization of the full eco-tourism
potential of Bobiri.
In September 2004, Tropenbos
International-Ghana Programme
organized an interdisciplinary and
intercultural student research
project, dubbed, the Students’
Platform Project (SPP).
The SPP aimed at providing practical
experience in working in an
interdisciplinary setting,
integrating participants from
different cultures. It also aimed to
provide the participants with skills
in teamwork and cooperation, new
concepts in research and how to
apply these in professional work.
There were three groups in all,
which worked in the Bobiri Forest
Reserve, on the Lake Bosomtwe and in
the Goaso Forest District. The
Bobiri group, as they were
affectionately called, comprised
four students who just completed
their first degree from Universities
in Ghana [Fatima Eshun and Edem Honu,
University of Ghana, Legon-Accra;
Jonathan Lanudune, University of
Development Studies, Tamale; and
Albert Armooh, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and
Technology, Kumasi.], an
undergraduate [Maarten Vekeen,
Amsterdam School of Business,
Amsterdam.] and a master student [Adriene
Deelder, University of Wageningen,
Wageningen.] from Universities in
the Netherlands and a Spanish
post-graduate student [Elena Lobo
Lopez, University of Aberdeen]
studying in the United Kingdom. The
disciplinary backgrounds included
Leisure, Tourism and Environment,
Natural Resource Management,
Economics, Forestry, Geography,
Integrated Development Studies and
Business with Market. They worked on
community-based ecotourism promotion
in the Bobiri Forest Reserve.
At the end of their research
project, they recommended the
formation of the Friends of Bobiri
Forest Reserve [FoB] among others to
support the development of
ecotourism in the Bobiri Forest
Reserve, which has come to stay. On
the 3rd February 2005,
FoB was duly inaugurated with the
aim of supporting the development of
that improves the welfare of the
local people and conserves the
environment in the long-term.
Facilities
-
Beautiful landscape
-
Butterfly Sanctuary
-
Arboretum
-
Rainforest
-
Research Trial Plots
-
6-room unique guesthouse
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