A day spent at the Shai Hills Reserve refreshes the soul leaving you yearning for more, and wishing you could live there forever. With the water cascading down the voluminous rocks with the cool breeze embracing you as you step into the area, presents the true definition of, ‘Heaven on earth’.
The Shai Hills Reserve, comparatively small fenced area, about 48km2, made up largely of savanna covered plains, with a mosaic of forest covering the 5 separate hills in the reserve, is about an hour north of Accra bordering the Akosombo road. This makes this location one of the closest wildlife viewing areas to Accra and one of the most easily accessible in Ghana, with about, 31 mammals, 13 reptiles and 175 bird species identified in the reserve.
The best time for wildlife viewing is early in the morning. Besides baboons and birds, a morning visit may include sightings of Kob antelope, bushbuck or monkeys, although the monkeys here are not habituated like those at Tafi Atome or Boabeng-Fiema.
Nearby accommodations are available that are comfortable and convenient for an early morning arrival to the reserve.
In addition to the natural beauty and game viewing potential of the reserve, one could also enjoy the pleasure of visiting Obonu tem and Se yo caves on the Hioweyo and Sayu hills, while learning from tour guides the history of the Shai people’s ancestral caves. According to the land’s history, these were used by the Shai king until the end of the 19th century. The primary cave was defendable in times of war due to the abundance of great stone rocks, a tunnel-like openings, and overhangs.
A memorable day can be spent walking through the cool dry evergreen forest to the caves to see relics of old Shai settlements in the reserve. The loud bat colony that resides at the cave is an amazing site as well.
Nearby is the village of Dodowa, where a refreshing forest hike to a fetish shrine and the 250 ft. Tsenku waterfalls is possible. The Dodowa Forest is where the Ashanti warriors were defeated by the British on the 7th of August 1826, marking the end of Ashanti domination of the then Gold Coast, now Ghana.
The Dipo fertility festival is normally performed between March and May and it is an added attraction for visitors to Shai Hills. Dipo is a Ghanaian traditional festival celebrated by the people of Odumase in the Eastern region of Ghana. The festival is used to usher into puberty or adulthood, girls who are virgins and it signifies that a lady, who partakes in it, is of age to be married. Parents upon hearing announcement of the rites send their qualified girls to the chief priest. However these girls would have to go through rituals and tests to prove their chastity before they qualify to partake in the festival.
On the first day of the rites, the girls have their heads shaved and dressed with cloth around their waist to just their knee level. This is done by a special ritual mother and it signifies their transition from childhood to adulthood. They are paraded to the entire community as the initiates (dipo-yo).
Early the next morning, the chief priest gives the initiates a ritual bath. He pours libation to ask for blessings for the girls. He then washes their feet with the blood of a goat which their parents presented. This is to drive away any spirit of barrenness. The crucial part of the rite is when the girls sit on the sacred stone. This is to prove their virginity. However, any girl found to be pregnant or not a virgin is detested by the community and does not entice a man from the tribe.
The girls are then housed for a week, where they are given training on cooking, housekeeping, child birth and nurture. The ritual mothers give them special lessons on seduction and how their husbands will expect to be treated. They learn the Klama dance which will be performed on the final day of the rites.
After the one-week schooling, they are finally released and the entire community gather to celebrate their transition into womanhood. They are beautifully dressed in rich kente cloth accessorised with beads around their waist, neck and arms. With singing and drumming, they perform the Klama dance. At this point, any man interested in any one of them can start investigating into her family. it is assumed that any lady who partakes in the rites not only brings honour to herself but to her family at large. It is done to initiate young women into knowing their responsibilities before stepping into marriage
NB: There is a baboon troop at the front gate which can be very amusing, but be warned these are dangerous animals and they love to snatch your unattended personal belongings!
REFERENCES
1. Available online at, https://www.easytrackghana.com/tour-ghana-shai-hills.php.
2. Available online at, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipo
