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Shea trees, rare across the planet, can only be found growing in the wild across a broad swath of savannah in Sub-Saharan Africa.  This region is also known as the Shea Belt region and ranges from Senegal to Ethiopia. The shea tree grows wild in the savannah lands of Northern Ghana. The “picking” of the extraordinary nuts of the shea tree “the preserve of women in the village” marks the beginning of the elaborate, laborious and meticulous extraction of shea butter and its allied oils that constitute a basic and important ingredient in a wide range of skin and hair moisturizers, conditioners, emollients, soaps and cooking oils! The product of the shea tree plays a vital role in the global cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Our Shea Trail tour affords participants the opportunity to experience every stage in the chain of manual activities and processes involved in the extraction of shea butter, as well as an introduction to pure, unrefined shea butter and its traditional uses in traditional communities. During this hands-on tour, participants will become well acquainted with the extraction and determination of premium shea butter and will return home with a sample of the shea butter they made themselves during the tour.  For businesses utilizing shea butter in any of their products, as well as for end-users or customers using products containing shea butter, this tour delivers invaluable insight into the people and methods behind the finished and exported raw ingredient that they purchase and use.

An added bonus of this tour is the inclusion of our guided tours of game and wildlife parks and animal sanctuaries that are a part of the wild, natural savannah ecology where the shea trees thrive.