If given the proper and needed attention, there are numerous tourist attractions in the country that have the potential to flourish and promote Ghana internationally.
One of such is the Natural Monkey Sanctuary at Duasidan, a town in the Dormaa Central Municipal of the Bono Region.
The history, mystery, myth, and uniqueness of the Duasidan monkey sanctuary makes it arguably one of the best, if not the best tourist sites in the country.
Tucked away in a closed forest reserve, near a sacred grove, where ancestral ceremonies and sacrifices are offered occasionally, it is home to thousands of monkeys of diverse species and the history behind their very existence and occupation.
The forest is a host to three known monkey species in the forest; the campbell monkey or locally known as ‘Kwakuo,’ the spot-nosed monkey (Ahenhema), and the oliver colobus monkey (Asibe).
Community members still hold the belief that the primates are sacred thus a taboo to even harm any of them. It is believed that one can lose his/her life for failing to respect their right to life.
Therefore, if any of these monkeys is deprived of life or even injured, there could be grave consequences, perceived to be the wrath of the gods revealed supernaturally in the form of strange chronic diseases, or culprits suffering deformity, especially those guilty of having killed or injured a monkey at the sanctuary.
It will require confession, ritual interventions and pacifications to the gods for forgiveness to reverse or revoke such self-inflicted curse.
Visitors and observers who often patronise the site give an unusual reverence, good treatment, and respect just like to any other god, to the monkeys. The same is extended to the natural vegetative cover which harbors various species of trees, bamboo, and animals.
Kwabena Badu, a tour guide at the site in an interaction indicated that one of the last things the community would ever do is to allow hunters and inhabitants to hunt down the monkeys.
“It is completely forbidden! The inhabitants with one purpose gang up and chase recalcitrant people who flout directives not to kill these animals. The natives also hold these animals in high esteem and regard them so much. The monkeys at the sanctuary bear funny local names such as ‘Abrewa’, an Akan word to wit ‘an old woman’ and some foreign names such as Comfort, and Vida,” Kwabena Badu said.
