One of my favorite forms of conservation is when it comes from the community level and is not forced from top down or from outside organizations. One example of this is Baobeng Fiema Community Monkey Sanctuary near Techiman in Ghana.
This is about 3 hours from Kumasi, Techiman is located in the forested belt of Ghana. Baobeng Fiema is about 45 minutes from Techiman and is surrounded by a sacred grove. Sacred groves are natural areas that usual hold the cemetery for communities and is where the people believe that gods and powerful spirits live.
Baobeng and Fiema are two villages that believe that their ancestors were Mona Monkeys and thus protect the population of monkey that live in the sacred grove and around the villages.
In addition to the mona monkey there is also a population of Columbus Monkeys that have a distinctive black coat with white head and tails that live in the higher tree tops and are less socialized.
When you visit Baoben Fiema you check into the community tourism office and pay a nominal fee that goes towards development of the community and maintaining the office and tourism infrastructure. You will then be taken by a guild for a walk through the forest.
You will take a well worn path through the forest and eventually you will run into your first pack of monkeys. They monkeys are very well socialized. And will come around and let you see them.
Here is a mother and her baby.
They are very funny and cheeky but not a nuisance. Even though they are well socialized they will keep their respectable distance from you unless you offer them some treats.
After the first walk through the forest you will come to one of the communities. Here the monkeys are free to come and go from peoples houses and are treated with respect and protected. It is taboo to inflict any sort of harm on the monkeys as they are seen as ancestors to the people living in the communities.
I am sure at times these guys can be troublesome to the people living here and farmers but somehow they make the coexistence work.
In the community you can get some bananas very cheap and come prepared for more interaction with the little guys.
With a careful eye and a good guide you can eventaully maybe even see the Columbus monkeys high in the tree tops. They do not really come down and interact with people at all they are cool doing thier own thing in the tree tops.
You can see how our driver Kwame is having fun feeding the mokeys some bananas even though they are keen to get the bananas they respect his space and do not become too much.
There are some interesting trees in the forest too. This is a tree that had been taken over by a parasite. The original tree in the inside has died out making a cool exoskeleton tree that you can see me climbing it. This was about 10 years ago if you are wondering why I am looking so young.
There is a grove of trees that look like Giraffes also. You can see Kwame also riding one here.
As is the case with all beautiful life there is death and that life comes to an end one day. When the monkey is going to die it knows it and it will take itself to the village and die where the people can find it. They are then taken to the forest and buried in the monkey cemetery with a simple headstone with they name and they day they were buried.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about another unique community in Ghana. I hope you enjoyed seeing how people and nature can live hand in hand.