想要在加纳寻找真正未被开发的荒野,迪吉亚国家公园(Digya National Park)是绕不开的一站。这里占地面积大约3478平方公里,是加纳面积第二大的国家公园,也是全国最古老的受保护区。公园位于沃尔特湖(Lake Volta)西岸,呈半岛状深入湖中。与其说它是个景区,不如说它是一片由于交通不便而幸存下来的原始生态孤岛。如果是追求奢华营地和成熟路线的游客,可能会对这里的简陋感到失望,但对于想要观察原始生境中非洲象和灵长类动物的人来说,这里的孤独感恰恰是其最有魅力的地方。
迪吉亚国家公园的地理位置非常特殊,它像一只伸入沃尔特湖的巨大手臂,三面环水。这种典型的半岛地形构成了天然的物理屏障,保护着内部的森林与稀树草原过渡带。虽然加纳有很多国家公园,但迪吉亚的植被覆盖非常丰富,从浓密的画廊林到开阔的湿地应有尽有。公园海拔普遍较低,主要受到大面积湖泊微气候的影响,水汽充足,即便在干旱季节,这里的植被也比北部的莫莱国家公园(Mole National Park)看起来更具生机。
这片土地的保护史可以追溯到1900年。早在殖民时期,它就被划定为野生动物保护区。直到1971年,它才正式被确立为国家公园。尽管名号响亮,但由于地理位置偏远且缺乏基础设施投资,它在过去半个多世纪里几乎处于半封闭状态。根据官方非正式统计,这里的年游客量极低,有时一整个月都见不到几张外国面孔。这种疏于开发的状态反而给了野生动物喘息的机会,让它保留了加纳少有的原始生态秩序。
象群是迪吉亚的灵魂。虽然在这里观察大象不像在莫莱国家公园那样能近距离保证看到,但那份在茂密灌木丛中突然偶遇巨兽的紧张感无可比拟。除了陆地上的庞然大物,沃尔特湖沿岸的沼泽地里还隐藏着极其罕见的西非海牛(West African Manatee)。这种温顺的水生哺乳动物对水质和安静程度要求极高,目前仅在迪吉亚等少数几个受保护的湖区有目击记录。想要看到它们,通常需要凌晨五点左右搭乘巡逻人员的独木舟悄悄靠近岸边。
这里是猿猴爱好者的天堂。公园内至少栖息着六种灵长类动物,其中最容易看到的是黑白疣猴(Black and White Colobus)和橄榄狒狒。清晨在林缘地带走动,常能听到疣猴那类似低沉鼓声的叫声。此外,这里还有数量不详的豹子出没,不过它们极其机警,普通游客能看到新鲜爪印就已经算运气爆棚了。鸟类资源同样丰富,作为迁徙候鸟的重要经停点,湖岸线附近随处可见翠鸟、苍鹭以及巨大的非洲海雕。
去迪吉亚从来不是一件轻松的事,建议做好心理准备。最常规的路线是从阿特布布(Atebubu)出发,向东前往塞内(Sene)地区的边界。由于缺乏铺设公路,雨季时这段路会变成泥沼,普通的轿车完全无法通过,必须租赁四驱越野车并携带备胎。另一种更有趣的方式是从湖对面乘船进入,从阿科松博(Akosombo)或者耶吉(Yeji)雇佣当地渔船,这种方式虽然耗时更久,但能从水路一窥公园壮阔的轮廓,还能避开陆路颠簸。建议出发前查看官网最新信息,或直接通过加纳野生动物司(Wildlife Division)联系驻地护林员。
迪吉亚内部基本没有标准意义上的酒店或度假村。大多数深度旅行者会选择在公园边缘的村庄借宿,或者直接在指定的野营地露营。这意味着你需要自带滤水装置、防蚊帐以及足够的干粮。这里的旱季(12月至次年3月)虽然酷热,但蚊虫相对较少且道路易行,是观赏大象的最佳时机。雨季时节草木生长飞快,大象会钻进密林深处,观察难度会直线增加。在这里请务必听从护林员的指挥,切勿独自进入未标记的灌木丛。
建议至少提前两周通过加纳林业委员会野生动物司预约。由于公园不具备大规模接待能力,护林员需要根据排班安排向导,临时前往可能会面临无人带路的情况,且门票建议携带加纳塞地(GHS)现金支付,外籍游客票价通常在30至50塞地左右,不含向导费。
迪吉亚属于热带稀树草原气候,气温长年维持在24到35摄氏度之间。12月到3月的旱季是动物聚集在水源地的时期,也是最容易看到非洲象的季节。雨季虽然风景更绿,但洪涝可能会切断通往公园的唯一陆路,导致行程被迫取消。
除了防范野外环境中的象群和野生动物,防疟疾是头等大事。由于紧邻沃尔特湖,这里的蚊虫密度极大,必须在出发前服用预防药物并涂抹强力避蚊霜。此外,由于通讯信号在公园内部极不稳定,务必向当地联系人报备你的预计返回时间。
Alasane Diallo This national parc is bit "underground" no clear informations and tough road to get there but totaly worth it. First go to the office at Atebubu, ladies welcome you but don't really know the process, just get a ranger phone number there and deal with him. Main entrance is at Kwadjokrom to reach the 'camp' wich is across the lake, take 2.5-4h from Atebubu depend on you vehicle and driving skills. (Last 2/3km are very sandy) The camp is quiet place with everything you need, from there you can choose to explore the parc on boat or hiking. There is no guarantee to observe wild animals but the view is nice and the feeling to be isolated in nature enough for a 24h to 48h good time. The fees for the guards count when you're are on expedition, the camp is 'free to stay'. Well the food is bit overpriced but fair for this access situation, nicely cooked with big portions. I suggest to cross back the lake by swimming if you feel it, no crurents, about 1500m my best moment there !
Thamon Van Blokland Digya is an absolutely beautiful and pristine natural park and definitely one of the most amazing places in Ghana to watch wildlife. With that said, it is also one of the more adventurous parks to get to and to sleep, especially if you compare it to facilities at Mole national park. There's a lack of proper infrastructure (mainly roads) to enter the park. But don't let the hours of bumpy roads stop you from coming to Digya. Once you get there you'll know why you came all this way. If you're up for some adventure, Digya is your place to go. Before planning our trip to Digya I noticed there wasn't a lot of information online that would inform us more about what we could expect from the Park and where to enter exactly. I decided to write this review to supply some more up to date information and encourage travellers to go and visit the park. Our first mission was to get more information and a place to enter the park. Online I found out that the town of Atebubu has a Wildlife office for the park. So we decided that would be our first stop. We drove from Wiamoase, which is a 2,5 hour drive to Atebubu. On arrival we got escorted by a very friendly immigration officer to the Wildlife office. There we were invited into the office and got more information about the park, it's animals and what to expect from our trip by again a very friendly employee of the park. This is where we found out that the park actually has multiple places to enter and that the place where you decide to enter determines the kind of animals you'll see. There's a map in our photos that kind of shows you what to expect on which side of the park, but bear in mind this is a bit outdated (it shows hippo's which are currently not present at the park). There's a southwest entrance which is best reached by going through Mampong, a south entrance which can be reached through Donkorkrom and there's the entrance on the northeast side of the park at Kajaji. Because we drove far north to reach Atebubu and didn't feel like driving back south we choose to enter the park through the northeast entrance. Which meant another 3,5 hour drive over mainly bumpy dirty roads before reaching the village of Kajaji where there is a guesthouse for visitors. This is probably a good time to say that it's wise to buy a full yellow jerrycan of petrol at the Goil filling station in Atebubu. As you enter the park by boat from a small lake village close to Kajaji, you are asked to buy fuel for this boat to take you into the park and to go bird watching with that same boat. The employee of the wildlife office at Atebubu told us that we could decide in Kajiji how much petrol we wanted to buy at the local filling station. This was true, the only problem was that as we woke up before sunrise to go into the park early, the lights were of in Kajiji and the filling station wasn't able to pump petrol for the whole village. We had to wait for at least two hours for the lights to go back on and fill our jerrycan with petrol. Therefore my advice would be to get petrol for the boat at Atebubu. The drive from Atebubu to the next wildlife office in Kwame Danso is probably the worst part of the trip as the road is 90% dirt road with a lot of bumps. But the office in Atebubu already informed the next office in Kwame Danso of our arrival and we were welcomed there by two very helpful and friendly officers. We exchanged numbers, were connected with the rangers that would pick us up from our guesthouse in Kajiji and we were ready for the next stage of our journey. Kwame Danso is also a good place to get some groceries, snacks or other amenities you think you'll need on your trip. The drive from Kwame Danso to Kajaji is much better as the first part consists of an unbelievable smooth road. But don't get to comfortable, this road goes about halfway before it transforms into a bumpy dirt road again. When you enter the town of Kajaji the guesthouse is on your left hand side, it's a two story building and has great accomodations facilities. I'll continue the story in my next review
Kofi Amponsah-Mensah Ghana's oldest Protected Area and arguably the least developed in terms of tourism . Not to say some do not exist . Most parts of the park are bordered by water and the canoe/ boat rides into the reserve can be fun if you like rides on the water 😅. Vegetation is mostly transition between forest and savannah. Most areas are grassy with trees but a few areas have tall emergents and some.portions with dry forest. Species include elephants ! Primates and several duikers species. Manatees have been reported in some fishing communities around the park. If you like a good hike then Digya can be fun. Kettle access routes in the park so most movement will have to be on foot once you enter the reserve . Good bird species including some water birds. Friendly staff too. It has huge potential for tourism and from an ecological perspective, it presents an important ecological zone and ecosystem.
Abdul suleman Digya National Park Digya National Park which can be located at the Sene East District offers an unforgettable experience to interested tourists. This National Park is recommended for adventurous tourists since its accessibility proves to be a bit difficult. The park covers an area of 3,475km of undulating terrain with sandstone inselbergs. Lying on the Western border of the Volta Lake, it is found to be divided between the Bono East Region through Ashanti Region to the Eastern Region. Six (6) primate species especially the black and white colobus monkeys, elephants and varieties of antelopes inhabit the park to give the tourist a notable experience.
Asare Kwadwo Digya National park offers adventure tourism and boat cruising. You can also sleep over in tents. There is very almost no tourist user facility here as at now. But if you are in for wilderness exploration then you must visit and you will have a great experience with some of the best guides you will meet.