Northern Region: Mole National Park, Larabanga

After getting home from the gold mines on Thursday night, I came back to my room and slept for a few hours before getting up again at 2:30 am to leave for Mole National Park at 3. The ride was going to be approximately 14 hours to get up to the North. It was a really long day and we did get to the hotel in the park at around 5 pm. It was perfect timing because the hotel is literally in the park overlooking a waterhole and we got there just in time to watch the sunset. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The place smelled like dirty dog (makes sense, a bunch of animals around) but you quickly got used to it. The rest of the night was just for relaxing and we got a nice surprise when a family of warthogs decided to sleep underneath our bus.

Driving Through Mole

Waterbucks

Larabanga

Saturday was probably my one most favorite day here in Ghana. We started the day off early and were greeted by families of Mona monkeys and baboons behind our rooms. At 7 am, we went on our first safari of the day and a group of us rode on top of the bus to get a better view. During the next two hours we caught glimpses of warthogs, baboons, bushbucks, waterbucks, and more in their natural habitat. We didn’t see any elephants though, but it was all right because our guard assured us that we would catch them on our second safari in the afternoon. After getting back to the hotel, we had a few hours to ourselves before heading into the nearby village of Larabanga. During this time we got breakfast, observed the beautiful view and hung out in the same area as many baboons because apparently they are not afraid of people. In Larabanga, we visited the historic mud and stick mosque that has been around since 1421. We walked around the village, visited the school and saw how much they depended on revenue from tourism. Most of the children weren’t even asking for our money but rather the water bottles in our hands seeing as since they are so far north even drinkable water is in short supply.  I don’t think any of us had a problem with giving them our water. Once we left Larabanga and went into the park we got lunch and waited for our next safari at 4. This one was much more eventful. 15 minutes into our drive we spotted an elephant. We immediately left the bus and headed toward him with our armed guard. I thought once he started to walk away that would be it, but we followed in pursuit. For a good 30 minutes we walked through the bush following this young elephant with every few minutes or so he would turn around and push us to back off some. This was absolutely exhilarating. How many people can say they chased an elephant around with the only in between you and him is the bush and a guard armed with tranquilizer. Once returning to the bus, we continued to drive around and we spotted another elephant (even though I didn’t see it) and some decided to pursue that one but it was a waste of time because it was too far ahead. The rest of the drive just consisted of seeing more families of waterbucks, bushbucks and antelope which was cool too because they were extremely fast and delicate creatures. After getting back to the hotel, we rested and had some dinner because that was enough adventure for the day. The next morning we left the park at 4 am and got back to campus at 9 pm.



Mom and Baby



This was without a doubt my favorite trip in Ghana of the whole year. It was amazing being able to see all this natural beauty that is protected from the damaging effects of the outside world. It was an unforgettable experience that renewed my love for what I am going to do for a living. If it wasn’t so far, I would be there every weekend J



Larabanga Mosque



Central & Ashanti Regions: Assin Manso Slave Site & Anglogold Asante Gold Mine

This past week, my CSU program decided to take us on our last and final trip as a group to Assin Manso Slave Site in the Central Region and to the Anglogold Asante Gold Mine in the Ashanti Region.  Because of different reasons only about half the group was able to go on Wednesday morning when we left for the slave site. The Assin Manso slave site was in a very remote area in the Central Region 3 hours away. This site was important because it was a major traffic area during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Here is where slaves from all over West Africa were priced and auctioned off to the highest bidder. This was also the location of the last bath these slaves would ever take before being sent to the slave castles at Elmina or Cape Coast before being sent to their final destination. This was the fate for those whose lives were spared. For others such as the weak, elderly, sick, pregnant women and children, they were sent behind a bamboo bush to be executed and buried because they wouldn’t be able to be sold for anything. The whole thing was pretty informative and even found out that according to our guide, Jamaicans are actually descendants of Ghana. Jamaica is where a large portion of these slaves were taken to and these would be the people to form a new nation. After the tour ended we headed to Kumasi where we would be sleeping for the night.

Early Thursday morning we left to be at the gold mine in Obuasi by 9 am. Of course things don’t go according to plan and we actually ended up getting lost for 2 hours. Every time we got directions from someone it took us further and further away and by the time we got the right directions we realized we were on the right track in the beginning and the first wrong set of directions started this whole domino effect. We got to Obuasi in an hour but since we were late we missed the time to go underneath into the gold mine so we would only be able to get a tour above ground. We were all really upset but there was really nothing we can do because there was no convincing the director since they were going to start blasting by the time we got there.  Since we didn’t get to go underneath, the whole thing was kinda a waste of time. the director started by giving us a 2 hour spiel of pure propaganda about how much good this gold mine has done for the community and Ghana. We could all see that it was a load of crap considering the community looked like every other run down rural town in Ghana despite him saying they contribute “hundreds of thousands” of cedis into the community. After that the rest of the tour consisted of just showing us whatever was above ground like elevator shaft and where the gold was processed. It honestly would’ve been amazing to see where the gold was actually extracted but oh, well. After that, we left for home and arrived at ISH 6 hours later.

Volta Region: Mount Afadjato, Tagbo Waterfalls

This past weekend me and Des decided to head northeast to visit the Volta Region which really is my favorite region in all of Ghana.  We caught a tro-tro from Madina to Hohoe on Friday morning and the trip should have gotten us there in 4 hours so we would get there by 2. Of course, there has never been a time where we have gotten to any of our destinations smoothly so why should it start now? With that being said, when we reached the bridge that crosses the Volta river to get us on the other side, it was closed so we had to wait in traffic for 2 hours before getting across. After 6 hours filled with catching a cockroach on my leg, sitting on the seat directly above the engine so it was super uncomfortable and traffic, we finally got to Hohoe. It was too late to try to do anything that day so we got our hotel and went out for dinner. We just happened to get there when there was a city wide power outage so after dinner we had to hang outside of our room because unless the fans are on, it’s too hot to be inside. Eventually the power came back on so all was good.

The plan for the weekend was climb Mount Afadjato, the tallest mountain in Ghana, see the Tagbo waterfalls on the backside of the mountain and visit the nearby kente village at Tafi Abuibe. Saturday we got up early, got a power breakfast in, bought about 6 bottles of water and caught a taxi to the village of Liati Wote where the mountain was located. It takes about an hour on an unpaved road to get there from Hohoe so we got there by 9:30 but once we did the mountain didn’t look as ferocious as we thought it would. We signed in at the visitor center and they gave us our guide but they said it would only take 45 minutes to an hour to get to the top. We were slightly disappointed because we were so pumped for the challenge. Compared to our last hike in the Volta Region to the Wli Waterfalls where we hiked for 6 hours in the pouring rain and in sandals, we were really prepared this time. We had the proper attire on, sweatrags, bandannas, sunblock and loads of water and we were just worried it wouldn’t be put to good use. Once we started hiking the first 10 minutes were ok under the sun then the trail turned vertical real quick. I regretted thinking this wouldn’t be as hard as we thought. The entire trail was like a steep staircase and we literally stopped every 5 minutes to catch our breath and the sun wasn’t helping even though it was only 10. I thought I was gonna pass out or throw up a few times and I really wanted to quit halfway through but I didn’t come all this way to quit. At the final stretch, we caught a break and a cloud covered the sun so we finished hard to get to the top before it went away. The minute we got to the top the cloud went away so I figured that we were close enough that God heard my thoughts ha. It was so beautiful at the top and we could even see Togo on the other side of the mountain. We chilled up there and caught our breath before heading down again. It took us another hour to get down then from there we hiked/walked to the backside where the falls were at. After 45 minutes of that we got to the waterfalls and even though it wasn’t as big as the Wli waterfalls, it was still pretty gorgeous. It was secluded and covered in different types of butterflies. I even actually got to hold one when I put my hand down and it climbed on top and stayed for about a minute. We hung out for a bit before walking back into the village from where we caught a tro-tro back to Hohoe. We still had some time left in the day so we figured we might as well try to get to the kente village that day. It was a failed attempt considering our taxi driver couldn’t figure out where it was and kept getting false directions and we ended up at an even smaller kente village where they were done for the day and weren’t making it anymore. By that time it was getting late to keep trying so we had to walk to the nearby junction to catch another tro-tro back.

Most of the adventure was on Saturday because we left early Sunday morning and got back to campus by noon. Luckily, that was a much smoother ride but then again it’s almost always smooth getting back, just not getting there.

 

Western Region: Beyin & Nzulezo Stilt Village

waiting in Takoradi

Beyin

    
This past weekend me and Des decided to kick off 2nd semester traveling by heading westward to visit the Nzulezo stilt village next to Beyin. We left campus Friday morning and headed to Nkrumah Circle to catch the earliest bus to Takoradi where we would be staying for the weekend. Luckily there was a bus leaving at 12:30 pm that had seats available and would get us to Takoradi by 6 so everything was good. The bus left the station at 1 pm (which is on time over here) and of course, an hour into the drive we stop at this town called Kasoa, which is still technically in Accra. At first we thought that we just stopped as a bathroom break/chance to buy food but after a while we found out our bus had actually broken down and they were trying to fix it. Only in Ghana. After an hour of waiting, another bus was supposedly on its way to pick us up and take us. Of course this bus that arrives to "take us" only had space for about 7 people because it was already full so that was basically useless too. Thankfully, after 2 hours of waiting they got the bus to start up again so we were able to get on the road again. We got to Takoradi around 8 so we got our hotel, ate some dinner and got ready for an early day ahead.
    
       Because we read in our guide book that it takes 3-4 hours to get to Beyin from Takoradi and another hour to canoe to the stilt village from Beyin, we wanted to leave early so we get back early. We left our hotel at 6:15 am and headed to the tro-tro station to try to get the earliest tro-tro out to Beyin. Of course the earliest one was leaving somewhere between 9-10 and every other way of getting to Beyin was leaving around the same time so we had no choice but to wait. Tro-tros don't leave until every seat is taken so ours didn't actually leave until 11:30 which sucked but at least it was still somewhat early. Thankfully the trip only took 2 hours instead of 4 so we were able to get to Beyin by 1:30. There was a school field trip there too so we had to wait for our canoe so we had a chance to eat lunch and hang out on the beach for a bit. Around 4 we got our canoe and guide and headed to Nzulezo.

       Nzulezo stilt village is located in the Amansuri Wetlands and is a village completely built on water. The only way of getting there is by canoe that takes roughly 45 minutes to get there. There is a man-made channel leading into the wetlands which are natural and is covered with jungles and until it widens into open water. I think getting there was actually more fun than the village itself because of how serene it is once you get out there. Anyway, once we got there I realized how small it was for a population of 450 people. We met the son of the chief of the village and got a little history lesson of the place. The ancestors of the village came from Mali and they believed in a higher power that told them where to settle down. At first when they migrated to Ghana they chose a site further north but when they reached the wetlands, these gods told them to settle down on the water so they did. There is no electricity running through this village and only obtain power through generators. There is a small classroom on site that allows children to attend primary school but once they finish that they have to attend secondary school in Beyin so every day they have to row back and forth into Beyin. The main way locals make a living is by fishing and the income that comes in from tourism. In order to promote tourism, a homestay was also made in the village so that tourists may stay overnight if they like as well.

      The whole thing was pretty cool and we ended up getting back in Beyin by 6 and Takoradi by 8. We got back to our hotel and had dinner at the same place as the night before. At that restaurant we had the best pizza we've had since coming to Ghana. A bit small, yes, but it had actual cheese and tasted like a real pizza. I know I sound really dumb getting excited over a small pizza but when you haven't had anything resembling pizza since August, little things make you happy. Well, this is besides eating pide in Istanbul, which tasted alot like pizza but this was actual pizza. Anyway, we left Takoradi on Sunday at 9:30 and got back in a record time of 4 hours and caught a tro-tro back to campus to be home by 3. Despite minor road bumps at the beginning, I would call this trip very successful.

Going through the 2nd jungle