Buoyem Bat-caves closed to tourists

The Buoyem Bat-caves has been closed to tourists as a preventive measure of the outbreak of Ebola in some parts of West Africa.

Daasebre Ameyaw Kwarteng Amaniampong II, Chief of Buoyem in the Brong Ahafo Region, said the Traditional Authority had taken that decision to avoid the contraction of Ebola which had claimed lives in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Dasebre Amaniampong, who was enstooled Chief of Buoyem in October 2013, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during a grand durbar to climax the ‘Nwonafiekese Yam Festival’ on the theme: “Unity and Development”.

He said though no case of Ebola had been reported in the area and the country at large, there was the need to take preventive instead of curative measures because “prevention is better than cure”.

He, therefore, advised the people of Buoyem and its environs to observe good sanitation practices by following the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service directives to avoid contraction of not only Ebola but Cholera.

Nana Adjei Ameyaw, Manager of the Bat-caves, said it comprised seven caves of 26 different bat species and that each cave was about 1.6 kilometres (one mile) square radius containing thousands of bats.

He said the closure would remain until further notice.