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2007, and must not be published
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Trip Reports
Butterfly - watching Holidays
Ghana
September 2001
a
private trip
operated by Greentours, and led by Paul Cardy
itinerary
researched and designed by Adrian Hoskins
participants Adrian
Hoskins, Keith & Eileen Gould, Stephen Meredith, Michael Barry
and George Shutter.
a trip report by
Adrian Hoskins
Throughout the tour the weather pattern was consistent, invariably overnight rain would be followed by an overcast and humid morning. By about 0930 or 1030 conditions became very warm and humid, and the sun would burn through to give blue skies and patchy cloud. Sometimes cloud cover would return in mid afternoon and turn to drizzle, but on other occasions it would remain hot and sunny until late afternoon. While the weather itself was not especially enjoyable, and the paucity of sunshine minimised mud-puddling, it did enable the generally placid butterflies to be approached closely. Our first few days were based at Cape Coast, from where we drove daily to Kakum, a journey of about an hour. On most mornings we visited the canopy walkway at Abrafo, from which the Blood Red Glider Cymothoe mabillei, and various brilliant blue Epitola and Hewitsonia species could be observed.A patch of fallen fruit along one of the minor forest paths produced a few Euphaedra species, and a beautiful Sulphur Glider Cymothoe egesta. The trails around the HQ area were generally narrow and produced few butterflies, but the open flowery area surrounding the car park was excellent for several Acraea species.Open secondary forest in the Antikwaa area of Kakum produced several more Acraea species, the stunning green banded swallowtail Graphium policenes, and the interesting Common Scarlet Axiocerses harpax. The most common species were the Painted Lady Vanessa cardui, and the Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus.At Aboabo, on the northern perimeter of Kakum, a dirt road passed through an extensive area of tall primary forest which held many interesting species including the Mother of Pearl, Protogoniomorpha parhassus. Of great interest was a particular flowering bush which seemed to explode with a mass of butterflies as we drove past. Stopping to investigate produced a good variety of Acraea species and Lycaenids, and a remarkable pink mantis. Boabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary was possibly the most rewarding site visited, with a wide dirt road through a small remaining patch of primary forest. This reserve is one of several small Sacred Groves which have escaped destruction due to tribal beliefs that the monkeys within them are sacred. At Boabeng-Fiema, when monkeys die they are buried alongside humans in forest graves. The trails produced a great abundance of butterflies, the star species being the beautiful Forester Euphaedra sarcoptera, closely rivalled by the gorgeous black, orange and white Nymphalid Palla decius, and several very attractive Bebearia species. At one spot the ground was littered with small fallen fruits, where as many as 30 Euphaedra and 20 Bebearia were feeding on one occasion.An insect of great interest was a caterpillar which crawled towards the tip of a leaf, and upon coming to a 'dead end' shuffled backwards a couple of inches, before taking a run and jump to leap across onto another leaf. Amazed by this extraordinary behaviour I continued to watch as the larva repeated the process several times to migrate across the bush. Bomfobiri was a disappointing site, needing a long hike across rocky terrain to reach a patch of relict forest close to a waterfall. There were several interesting butterflies around, including the wonderfully patterned Guineafowl Hamanumida daedalus, and the beautiful mud-puddling Angolan White Lady Graphium angolanum, but the steep habitat was difficult to work in, and we were plagued by sweat bees which repeatedly tried to enter our ears. A day trip was arranged to the Owabi sanctuary, a small reservoir ringed by secondary forest. Butterflies here included the stunning iridescent blue Nymphalid Cynandra opis, the intricately marked Satyrine Elymniopsis bammakoo, and Citrinophala marginalis - a tiny yellow Liptenid which fluttered incessantly around the lichen-covered trunks of the Cola trees on which it lays its eggs. Our final 5 days were based at the lovely guesthouse in the midst of the Bobiri Forest Reserve. The very long dirt track through tall primary forest produced many gorgeous Euphaedra species, including sarcoptera and the red Euphaedra perseis. Amongst many other stunning species were the unusual green Charaxes eupale, and the very intricately patterned Giant Pasha Charaxes castor. A long walk took us to a marshy area a couple of kilometres along the track which was inhabited by huge swarms of Libythea labdaca, a rather dull species but made interesting by its very long palpi. Graphium policenes was one of the most beautiful species present, but I was particularly captivated by a magnificent fresh Mother of Pearl Salamis parhassus, which circled around me many times, with its white wings glimmering in shades of purple and green as the sunlight reflected off the upper surface. Definitely my butterfly of the trip.On the route back to Accra we paused for a couple of hours at Nkawkaw escarpment, an area of secondary hill forest, where we found several Euphaedra species, a fresh Telipna maesseni, the Acraea Mimic Skipper Fresna netopha, 2 or 3 beautiful blue Hypophytala and a Hewitsonia species. Almost all of the primary forest which once covered southern Ghana has been cleared for agriculture, or replaced with teak plantations, but the tiny fragments which remain are still amongst the best butterfly habitats in Africa. Species recorded in Ghana in Sept 2001 and Sept 2003 All species listed below were identified by Paul Cardy ( field IDs, using Carcasson as reference ) and by Adrian Hoskins ( photographic IDs using d'Abrera, and Torben Larsen's Butterflies of West Africa ). I would also like to express my thanks to Jon Baker and Torben Larsen for personally checking my records, as a result of which several provisional determinations were re-evaluated. In addition to the taxa listed below, at least a further 20 species were observed, including several Epitola species seen in flight, but these have not been included as accurate identification was not possible.
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