Located in Kakum National Park in the West African country of Ghana, Africa's only canopy walkway is suspended 100 feet above the ground, offering you what is truly a bird's eye view of the rainforest. At this height, you don't have to be an expert to identify the colorful patterns of tropical birds as they glide through the forest below you.

Among other species, more than 300 kinds of birds and about 550 types of butterflies make their home in the forest canopy, and many of the canopy's inhabitants have never set foot on the forest floor. You can hear the distant rustling of leaves as a troop of monkeys travel through the canopy, but don't expect to see them. Kakum's mammals are known to be extremely elusive.

Exploring the forest with a local guide enhances your experience. Local knowledge of the forest is extensive, as its resources have been fulfilling people's spiritual, medicinal and subsistence needs for centuries. Guides help you identify animal prints found in the mud, and may explain how distinct marks on a tree resulted from a forest elephant scratching its back, or how the juicy contents missing from a fruit casing were a monkey's breakfast.

Walking the ethnobotanical trail, you learn about the hidden properties of Kakum's plant species. In traditional medicine, plants serve to fight infections, heal wounds, increase lactation, ease muscle strains, relieve stomach ailments, and eliminate fevers. Your guide picks up a chewing sponge containing medicinal properties, explaining how it is still used by the Akan people as a toothbrush. You pass the Kuntan tree, which has roots above the ground that extend out and down from its trunk. This characteristic makes it look as if it has been pulled 12 to 15 feet out of the soil with the roots forming a visible stand for the tree. Not only is the Kuntan tree unique in appearance, but the leaves are used as natural, healing bandages.