Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary – Watch out!

I was really looking forward to visiting this Monkey Sanctuary as I’d seen some cute pictures of it on-line. The reality was a bit of a scary experience and tinyteddy for the sake of self preservation refused to come out. The sanctuary is not far from HoHoe which I discovered was a little difficult to reach as there was no direct bus from Accra. I came here as part of an overnight tour to nearby Tagbo lodge and the sanctuary was included.

The sanctuary was established in 1993 as a community based ecotourism initiative under the direction of the Peace Corp. The monkeys that call this place home are mostly of the Mona and Patas breed.

They have inhabited these forests for the last couple of hundred years and are considered sacred as the locals thought of them as messenger to the gods. When you arrive you will be assigned a guide who is skilled in tracking the monkeys. Armed with a large bag of bananas which you will need to purchase before you arrive your walk through the forest begins. Btw the forest is also stunning. Look out for the butterflies.

I thought we were not going to find a group until suddenly a group jumped out of the trees. The idea is to hold a banana at the end of an outstretched arm and the monkey will jump on you arm and eat it.

Unfortunately this didn’t go according to plan. I held out my first banana expecting a wonderful experience when suddenly the whole group of about 5-6 monkeys jumped on me. Not only did I get nicked on the hand it was a very scary experience and a far cry from the lovely reviews on TripAdvisor. Apparently the reason for this was because the monkeys had not found enough food in the forest and were very hungry.

Tinyteddy’s feedback: “You’re nuts if you think I was going to come out around this lot of savages”