Bobiri Forest Reserve and Butterfly Sanctuary

Bobiri Forest Reserve and Butterfly Sanctuary is a 54.65 km² semi-deciduous tropical rainforest reserve in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, gazetted on 11 November 1939 while still unexploited primary forest, with operations beginning in 1946. It lies in the Juaben Municipality, roughly 35 km southeast of Kumasi and about 3 km from the village of Kubease off the Kumasi–Accra highway, on gently undulating ground between 180 m and 245 m above sea level. CSIR-FORIG describes it as one of the richest forests in Ghana and the closest forest reserve to Kumasi, with 104 commercial timber species, 209 plant species and a reported concentration of mahogany.

The reserve is managed as an outstation research station by the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana under its Forest and Climate Change Division. One third of the forest is protected and managed by CSIR-FORIG, while the two-thirds production zone is managed by the Forest Service Division of the Forestry Commission. It is divided into 73 compartments: 49 production, 24 conservation and research, plus an ecotourism zone. The Butterfly Sanctuary was established in 1998 near the guesthouse through a joint initiative of Prof. Joseph Rexford Cobbinah, former Director of CSIR-FORIG, and Prof. Michael Wagner of North Arizona University, with fruit trees and nectar-producing host plants planted to draw butterflies from the forest. Recorded fauna includes African buffalo, pangolins, bongo, bushbuck, black duiker, mona and colobus monkeys, African civet and many birds.

Visitor facilities include a visitor centre and guesthouse, a 1.5 ha labelled arboretum, a two-acre bambusetum established in 2002, six named hiking trails — Three Sister (1.1 km), Onyina (3.0 km), Denya (3.1 km), Emire (5.2 km), Emma & Palm (3.2 km) and Mahogany (0.5 km) — apiaries established from March 2020, and picnic grounds. The guesthouse is a six-room lodge of modern construction accommodating 10 guests, with kitchen, dining/conference room, lounge and library/seminar hall, running water and solar power with standby generators. Meals are prepared by an onsite cook with one to two hours' notice, and camping is available.

The operator states there are no formal opening hours because of the guesthouse on site; guides are available from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The forest is drained by streams including Bawura, Wurapon, Anwiasu, Abofre, Juabenika, Enunu and Abobiri, from which the reserve takes its name, all joining the Anum River east of the reserve. Fourteen fringe communities enclose it, among them Kubease, Odumase, Wuraponso, New Apaaso, Juaben-mma and Tetekaaso.