Ghana

Ghana, my country is a small West African country that is bordered to the north by Burkina Faso, East by Togo, West by La Cote d' I voire and south by the Gulf of Guinea. Ghana has been among the top three producers of cocoa worldwide and also among the top 10 producers of gold. Has produced great leaders such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Kofi Annan, Wold boxing champions such as Azumah Nelson (three times world champion in two weight classes), Alfred "The Cobra" Kotey, Ike "Bazooka" Quartey, Joshua Clottey, Agbeko Joseph, Kofi Jantuah and D. K. Poison among others.

In soccer Ghana has won the African cup 4 times and several Junior world cup trophies; The Black meteors (under 23 team) won  bronze in Barcelona 92, The Black Satellite (Under 20 team) won Gold : Fifa world cup in Egypt in 2009, and The Black Starlets (Under 17 team) won the Fifa world cup twice, 1991 in Italy and 1995 in Ecuador and were runners up twice in 1993 in Japan and 1997 in Egypt.

A map of the world showing Ghana can been seen by clicking on this link. 

Ghana is rich in natural resources including, gold, timber, cocoa, diamond, bauxite, oil and biodiversity among others. 

Biodiversity here refers to the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems (microbes, plants and animals). There are about 3000 indigenous plants in Ghana, over 850 butterflies, about 728 bird species, 225 mammals, about 91 snake species and 71 amphibians.

There are several forest reserves and wildlife protected areas in Ghana to protect and conserve our plants and animals (biodiversity). There are about 23 well established wildlife protected areas in Ghana.  These include: 7 National Parks, 6 Ramsar sites (Wetlands of International Importance: 5 coastal and 1 inland), 6 Resource Reserves, 2 wildlife sanctuaries, 1 Biosphere Reserve and 1 Strict Nature Reserve.

All of these have been established with engagement of the local of the areas these sites are found to help conserve our biodiversity. There are other smaller locally managed wildlife areas for tourism such as the Paga crocodile pond, in the Upper East Region of Ghana, where the locals who are in charge of the pond and crocodiles are able to call the crocodiles out of the water to engage with tourists. At this pond tourist are able to handle and even ride on crocodiles and take pictures. The crocodiles are given fowls by the attendants to initiate communication which finally ends with the crocodile coming out of the water for tourist to engage with them.

The Buabeng-Fiema Monkey sanctuary is a safe place for over 700 monkeys, mainly the pied Colobus and Mona monkeys, which live virtually with the human inhabitants of the twin towns of Buabeng and Fiema. The monkey visit human homes for food sometimes. The relationship between the inhabitants and the monkeys is so close that when a monkey dies, a funeral is organised for it.

In several other communities in Ghana, some animals are totemic hence, killing them is forbidden. These animals are considered to be relations or animal incarnations of ancestors of the people of the community, hence, such animals are protected. Animals such as monitor lizards, crocodiles, pythons and some large mammals are protected this way in some Ghanaian communities. 

There are also days in some communities in which hunting, fishing or even going into the wild are forbidden. This ostensibly is to create a break for the animals to prevent over hunting or fishing. When a person violates any of these taboos, there are sanctions, including, buying of sheep, goats or fowls for rituals to be performed to appease the gods or fines to be paid. In time past, offenders could even be banished from the community.