Aburi Botanical Gardens

Photo credit: Jim Adamson

In our early days of living in Accra, we made a list of places we wanted to see during our three-year stay in Ghana. Now, with less than two months remaining, we are still working on completing that list. One of the places we finally visited was Aburi Botanical Gardens. Located on a high hill, the gardens were made in the 1870's for the refreshment of British officials back in the days when the Brits ruled Ghana. They picked a wonderful location; it was beautifully cool. 

I loved the entry with its stately palms

photo credit: Jim Adamson

Ghana, like most of Africa, has a lot of carved art, so it was fitting to come across a tree trunk carved full of animals and people. I wasn't sure if my children should be allowed to climb on it, considering the artwork, but then I saw that it was oiled and shiny from a thousand hands before theirs. 

One of the most unique trees, ever. The branches grow down,
making it confusing to know if they are roots or branches.

Our children's favorite tree was a hollow one they could climb in. 

Photo credit: Jim Adamson

Photo Credit: Jim Adamson

If you didn't mind getting dirty
(or risking a fall), you could climb all the way
up the inside of the tree. 

The sign explains the hollowness.
The strangler ficus surrounded, then strangled the host
tree, killing it and leaving nothing but this empty shell.

Darling little ice cream shop we patronized.

He is too skeptical of food to try my
ice cream but loved marching around
the veranda. 

Ghana doesn't have much evidence left of the British (Ghana won its independence from them in 1957), but the old buildings in the gardens spoke of an earlier era. So did the few interesting flowers. In their prime, the gardens used to be full of orchids and other flowers, but today there are hardly any remaining. 

The helicopter no one knows much about. Possibly a relic
from WWII.

One of our brilliant decisions of the day was to invite friends to go with us. Not only were they great company, Jim and Diane Adamson knew exactly where to find the gardens, eliminating detours we most surely would have taken. At our request, Jim took pictures of my two children with August birthdays and a couple bonus ones besides. 

Six years old!
photo credit: Jim Adamson

One year old!
Photo credit: Jim Adamson

Photo credit: Jim Adamson

Photo credit: Jim Adamson

Photo credit: Jim Adamson