A9024TBHonestReview
26 Aug 2025
Ghana Birding - Malimbe Tours and Owner and Guide Kalu Afasi -Traumatic Experience, Dangerous, Avoid at all Costs
My story birding with Kalu Afasi and Malimbe Tours in Ghana is hard to share. It occurred in April of this year (2025). Below I recount my story in the interest of the safety of the birding community, the safety of the birds themselves, and in the hopes that my story will help prevent others from having similar traumatic experiences.
The National Park security escort raised his rifle in all seriousness, pointed it straight at Kalu Afasi, and said, “I should shoot you now.” Fed up after numerous years of being berated by Kalu, the national park guard easily could have shot and killed Kalu and clearly wanted to.
This crazy episode, unfortunately, was just one of many negative and several times traumatic experiences being guided by Kalu Afasi with his company Malimbe Tours. Traumatized and not feeling safe with Kalu, I left 1.5 weeks early and lost over $1750 due to changes in my airline tickets, additional hotel costs, lost opportunities, and the money Kalu refused to refund me.
During my 1.5 weeks with Kalu, I learned and saw so many disturbing things from my guide that I have never seen before anywhere else in the world from someone I had to share close quarters with for so long. During the trip, Kalu bragged about his years smuggling cars from Nigeria, his home country, for the police in Accra and the border police and all the intricacies involved with such a life, the people that got in his way, and how they lived to regret it. He suffers from malaria and daily confronted me with visions of being buried alive, staying up all night, and accused me and everyone else of conspiring against him. Kalu’s birding ethics had also been compromised. He accused a number of people of “ruining” the birds by bringing tourists to certain spots when he wasn't there; yet, despite him accusing others of ruining the birds and me asking him to stop, he played the red-chested owlet call for over 1.5 hours. I walked away. The owlet was stressed, moving around a bunch trying to find another owlet calling. I love seeing birds, but not at the cost of negatively impacting the birds. In addition, Kalu was yelling at the guard during this time, yelling at him that he had “ruined the bird.” The list goes on.
Unfortunately, from the first day that I arrived in Ghana, I noticed that something was off about Kalu that I didn’t notice before during our two WhatsApp conversations.
At our first location we visited, the Shai Hills, I asked him innocently enough, if we would see a few species that appeared in the Merlin App with range maps overlapping this area. Kalu laughed condescendingly and with an annoyed look, “That species doesn’t occur here.” He didn’t tell me where we would see it or what species we were looking for in this area. And when I asked him what species we could expect in this area and in this habitat we were walking through, Kalu said that nature would present us with what it would present us and that we could not predict anything.
It is true that there are no guarantees in nature, but generally certain species of birds can be found in certain habitats and some more frequently than others. While I had been studying my birds of West Africa before the trip, I had never birded West Africa, and was just looking for some guidance, a way to connect with the guide and try to hear the guide’s insights and knowledge about the birds, their ecology, and the local habitat and history. In addition, while I had looked at eBird lists and a list from the basic itinerary of birds from the Shai Hills, we were going to several different spots within the area. Sometimes different species are found in different habitats within the same “Hotspot”. I was just looking for some guidance.
I am open and love to learn, but Kalu and his arrogance and disdain, I have never seen. It would be one thing if I was talking a lot and preventing us from seeing the birds because I wouldn’t stop talking, but I am very conscious of the need for quiet at the appropriate times in order to see many of our target birds. This was something else. After so many times trying to ask questions and learn about the birds and always getting annoyed or condescending remarks, I realized my efforts were useless and I chose to remain silent. Which Kalu preferred anyways as he spoke endlessly about his accomplishments, about how he did this for this person and this for that person, and how this person has betrayed him and is guiding independently now or that hotel has made it difficult for him to stay there any more.
Months before going on the trip, I had requested that we tour through Ghana, Togo, Benin, and the Côte d’Ivoire (CI). I also asked specifically about the visas as I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed before arriving in Ghana and the other countries. Kalu said he would talk to the embassy for CI and make sure I had no issues crossing the border. He assured me during our video chat that he has crossed the border many times with clients and hasn’t had any issues. He told me he knew CI and could guide me there and in the other countries as well.
As we got closer to the trip, I was getting anxious because I hadn’t heard from Kalu and needed the itinerary to send to the Ghana embassy to get my visa. When I finally did get the itinerary from Malimbe Tours, Togo and Benin were not included. I tried to find out what had happened. Kalu explained that there was no time to go to those countries. He hadn’t consulted me about it and just unilaterally removed those countries from the itinerary. I was still excited about Ghana and CI, but disappointed I wouldn’t see the other countries and also didn’t like the way Kalu handled this.
Only the week before the trip, Kalu tells me that he is going to have a guide from CI lead us around. Understandably, I was concerned about the costs of having two guides and Kalu said he had guided there previously. Still I didn't have an estimate for all the costs for CI. The day that we were set to cross the border, Kalu told me he wasn't going with me to CI, he missed his family, wanted to go back to Accra and go visit a doctor. This was only 1 week into my trip and I had already paid for 15 days.
Separately, I had paid $200 for a visa to CI to cross at the border between Ghana and CI; however, when we arrived, I spent over 4 hours with the border police who wouldn't let me in. They said I had to fly in. I had asked Kalu in advance if there needed to be pay offs or if there would be any issues and he assured me he never had problems with clients in the past. Clearly this was not the case. In addition, the guide and driver from CI were waiting during all of this. I had to pay off the driver and the guide and deeply apologized for the issues. So, I lost more than $550, plus most of that one day which I had paid for to be birding.
Being in the border police station for hours while they discussed my fate was unnerving. Luckily, I speak French and they took some pity on me, but told me, I still couldn't enter. In addition, the price that Kalu had told the guides in CI I would pay was $150 just for the car and then more for the guide and that I would have to pay petrol as well! Kalu had told me I would have to pay $150/day total for all of these things. So the driver and guide from CI were also upset and it put me in a very awkward, vulnerable, and even dangerous position. Not wanting to cause a seen, I paid off the driver and the guide from CI.
Kalu told me I needed to carry a bunch of cash and pay in cash and people knew I had a lot of money on me.
Things only got worse.
So, I’ve lost time, lots of money, opportunities to see other countries and some species I can only see in CI for instance and felt uncomfortable and at risk with Malimbe Tours and Kalu Afasi. And as I said, things got worse.
While we were driving to the north, Kalu told me about a couple of guards at the border crossing between Togo and Ghana who tried to stop him at the border while he was smuggling cars for the Accra police. Kalu told me that he made sure that those people no longer had jobs. He also told me that other things also happened to these people which were bad, but he didn't elaborate, just saying that these people messed with the wrong person. Thus, Kalu is vengeful as well. Vengence, paranoia, and arrogance are a dangerous combination.
A few other notable very sketchy moments:
As we drove north for over 10+ hours on a remote road we entered new habitat which I knew had new species to me. I asked if we could stop to check out any of these areas we were passing. Birding trips often stop at the side of roads and you often can see lots of new species just from the road. Kalu then laughing said that we don't want to get shot. Excuse me? What?! He said the Fulani tribe in this area was known for shooting up cars, killing the people, and robbing them of everything. Then why the hell were we driving here!! Not ok?! I found out later when I was fleeing from Kalu’s unpredictability and paranoia that cheap and easy 1 hour flights were available to a location fairly close to the National Park to which we were going. And there was nothing I could do. Who takes clients into dangerous areas like this. Clearly he lives a life of danger smuggling from Lagos, Nigeria, and is used to it, but putting others at risk is inexcusable. In addition, since this incident, I've read up more on the Fulani people, the conflicts with Ghana police, and the stereotypes and discrimination they face. There is a history of violence and discrimination here that I didn't know about. Kalu was perpetuating the stereotype and scaring the hell out of me. I had told him before the trip that I felt vulnerable as a solo traveler and he was taking full advantage of that fear.
The night before we headed up, Kalu had the driver pull off on the side of the road suddenly and told me I had to take out money from the ATM. We had been driving all day, it was night time and I had already paid for an extra week of time with him that would cover our trip to the north. This really shakes me. In the middle of a dark area in the City at nighttime and he is telling me to take out money. I felt very vulnerable and threatened. He said if I didn't take out more money, he would leave the next day to Accra. Yet, I still had a week more for which I had already paid.
I had paid prior to the trip using a bank transfer. I said I could do another bank transfer, but then he started complaining that the bank would steal his money and I had to get out cash. But I had already paid through a bank transfer? He kept making up excuses and I felt very uncomfortable. The banks and ATMs were closed and so the next morning we drove out of our way to Cape Coast so I could take out cash. He knew a black market cash dealer and I had to exchange my US dollars in a market area along the side of the road in a dense urban market area. Again, another sketchy moment with Kalu. It wasted our morning and it was another morning without birding.
Despite paying him more than his asking price online, he continually complained about money and said that with what I was paying, he wasn't earning any money. Prior to the trip, he told me he had no concern about the money or how I paid, but every day I was on the trip he complained. And this was despite the fact that I had already paid him everything. As I mentioned previously, he clearly has financial issues. At the National Park we went to, we took a 4 hour break from birding because he didn't want to pay the driver.
With all the people I saw Kalu pissing off, he is going to get himself, his family and maybe even the tourists he guides in trouble. I am so disappointed with this experience. Ever since I was 18 and studied Ghana as an undergraduate at Cornell University, I had dreams of going to Ghana. Hopefully, someday I can return, but I am afraid to do that with Malimbe Tours and Kalu Afasi still around and his known vengeful and paranoid state of mind. What Kalu really needs now is some psychological help and medical help with his malaria. He is a danger to himself and those around him.
I had reservations about writing any of this for my own safety, because of Kalu's vengeful tendencies and because I know he will make up many lies about me and the trip. He already told many lies to the couple who helped me get away from Kalu in the northern part of Ghana. However, I felt it very important to warn people in case they are not as lucky as me to get away.