All good things must come to an end
Ahhh... so many things to say, so little time and money for the internet cafe.
I haven't posted since I got back from Mole National Park so I should probably say a few things about it. My friend from Tamale, Faustina, came with us on this part of the trip. She was skipping out of the first few days of school, but who does anything important in the first couple of days anyways? It was WAY more interesting to see animals. The bus ride to Mole was not so fun. The OSA bus broke down so the station replaced it with a smaller bus. They made us sit 6 to a row even though there were only 5 seats so it wasn't the most comfortable ride. Being on tro-tros in Ghana has made me very happy that I was born a small Asian girl. Doesn't hurt that I've lost like 10 lbs this summer too! Felt very sorry for Geoff and Scott who were suffering for the entire bus ride.
Anyways, we made it to Mole late in the evening so all we did was sleep. We took an easy morning because we didn't feel like waking up for the 6:30 am game walk. Yes, we're wimps. We did laundry instead and found out that both Geoff and Scott are BIG wimps when it comes to washing clothes. Both of them didn't have the technique quite down and sort of rubbed their fingers raw! At least they now have an appreciation of what women all across the world have to do on a daily basis, particularly here in the third world.
We did 2 game walks in Mole and saw lots of animals. I can't wait to post pictures! We could get so close to the elephants, baboons, patas monkeys, and warthogs. The cool thing about warthogs was that since the population around Mole is predominantly Muslim, the warthogs aren't harassed or hunted so they wander around the villages like dogs. You can get within arms' reach of warthogs and they don't seem to care. Not like East Africa where all you see of warthogs are their tails in the air as they run away! I have so many cool animal stories that I don't have time to post about. Have 1 funny/scary story though. I watched a tourist getting attacked by a baboon who was trying to steal her food! This male baboon came back 3 times to try to get her food and on the last visit, he chased her and gave her an open mouth threat while trying to grab her bag. She did the right thing which was to drop the food and back off (she fell into the pool which was good for her) but she came pretty close to being bitten by a male baboon.
Me, Geoff, and Scott rented bicycles so we could go to Larabanga to visit the mosque. It was a short bike ride but the heat was intense. My endurance is so much better than at the beginning of this summer. I managed to bike up all the hill sections without stopping! I was especially impressed with myself because everyone else had to stop and walk. The mosque was small but interesting to see because it is reputed to be the oldest mosque in West Africa. However, after seeing the mud mosque at Djenne, Mali last year, every other mosque I see for the rest of my life will be a let down.
We had to catch the 4:30 am bus back to Tamale or risk being stuck in Mole for another day. It didn't help so much that Geoff and I both slept through our alarm and woke up at 4:08 am with the wakeup call. Packed like maniacs until 4:23 am and then ran for the bus. Scott made it there before us but we were basically the first group on the bus! They fixed the OSA bus and the ride back was divine! Everyone who complains about the OSA bus to Mole NP is on crack. Obviously they didn't have to take the small bus and sit 6 to a row. The OSA bus was amazingly comfortable!
We dropped Fausti off in Tamale and almost immediately got on another bus heading to the Volta Region. This was the start of a lot of tro-troing to places that were really off the beaten track. Went to Yendi and then Bimbilla and stayed a night here in the cheapest place ever. They didn't even have running water! Even though I was filthy from the tro-tro ride I refused to take a bucket shower in the water that had been sitting in the bin for so long it was actually warm. I was convinced it was probably breeding bacteria and other single-celled organisms. I waited for over an hour until I had about half a bucket of water from the tap dripping and then it started to pour rain. Perfect timing! I took a power shower using Mother Nature's tap! It was so much fun!
The next morning we got tro-tros to Damanko, Kpasa, and finally Nkwanta. It was too bad that we had to waste an entire day on the tro-tro. The next day we got to see a new national park in Ghana called Kyabobo (pronouned Ch-bobo). Our wildlife officer took us on a 4 hour hike up a mountain to get a great view of the northern extent of the Volta Region. It was a great hike except for my driver ant encounters. Because it's the rainy season the ants are out in full force. Drivers are the worse kind of ants because they swarm up your legs if you step in their ant highways. Problem is that their highways are sometimes 5 m wide! And you never get just 1 ant, you get like 10 all at the same time. They like to wait until they reach a really inconvenient part of your body like your crotch or your neck until they bite! Man, it's days like this that I wish I had my bottle of Raid... Other than the ants, I had a great time in Kyabobo. We didn't see any animals because they're all found really deep in the bush and it takes several days of hiking to find them. We only had 1 day in Kyabobo unfortunately. Another reason to come back to Ghana some time in the future.
OK, we're in Hohoe (pronounced Ho-hoy) now and getting ready to go see some waterfalls and climb the highest mountain in Ghana in the next few days. Then we're going back to Accra and flying home on Sunday. I can't believe the summer is over and I have to go back to life in Calgary/Edmonton. I'm looking forward to lots of things like my own bed, good Chinese food, being clean, washing machines, and running hot water but I will definitely miss the pace of life out here in Ghana and the friendly open attitude of Ghanaians.
Anyways, this post is already too long and both Scott and Geoff have probably abandoned me by now to go find food. I probably won't post until I get back to Calgary because I want to enjoy the rest of my vacation. See you soon!
I haven't posted since I got back from Mole National Park so I should probably say a few things about it. My friend from Tamale, Faustina, came with us on this part of the trip. She was skipping out of the first few days of school, but who does anything important in the first couple of days anyways? It was WAY more interesting to see animals. The bus ride to Mole was not so fun. The OSA bus broke down so the station replaced it with a smaller bus. They made us sit 6 to a row even though there were only 5 seats so it wasn't the most comfortable ride. Being on tro-tros in Ghana has made me very happy that I was born a small Asian girl. Doesn't hurt that I've lost like 10 lbs this summer too! Felt very sorry for Geoff and Scott who were suffering for the entire bus ride.
Anyways, we made it to Mole late in the evening so all we did was sleep. We took an easy morning because we didn't feel like waking up for the 6:30 am game walk. Yes, we're wimps. We did laundry instead and found out that both Geoff and Scott are BIG wimps when it comes to washing clothes. Both of them didn't have the technique quite down and sort of rubbed their fingers raw! At least they now have an appreciation of what women all across the world have to do on a daily basis, particularly here in the third world.
We did 2 game walks in Mole and saw lots of animals. I can't wait to post pictures! We could get so close to the elephants, baboons, patas monkeys, and warthogs. The cool thing about warthogs was that since the population around Mole is predominantly Muslim, the warthogs aren't harassed or hunted so they wander around the villages like dogs. You can get within arms' reach of warthogs and they don't seem to care. Not like East Africa where all you see of warthogs are their tails in the air as they run away! I have so many cool animal stories that I don't have time to post about. Have 1 funny/scary story though. I watched a tourist getting attacked by a baboon who was trying to steal her food! This male baboon came back 3 times to try to get her food and on the last visit, he chased her and gave her an open mouth threat while trying to grab her bag. She did the right thing which was to drop the food and back off (she fell into the pool which was good for her) but she came pretty close to being bitten by a male baboon.
Me, Geoff, and Scott rented bicycles so we could go to Larabanga to visit the mosque. It was a short bike ride but the heat was intense. My endurance is so much better than at the beginning of this summer. I managed to bike up all the hill sections without stopping! I was especially impressed with myself because everyone else had to stop and walk. The mosque was small but interesting to see because it is reputed to be the oldest mosque in West Africa. However, after seeing the mud mosque at Djenne, Mali last year, every other mosque I see for the rest of my life will be a let down.
We had to catch the 4:30 am bus back to Tamale or risk being stuck in Mole for another day. It didn't help so much that Geoff and I both slept through our alarm and woke up at 4:08 am with the wakeup call. Packed like maniacs until 4:23 am and then ran for the bus. Scott made it there before us but we were basically the first group on the bus! They fixed the OSA bus and the ride back was divine! Everyone who complains about the OSA bus to Mole NP is on crack. Obviously they didn't have to take the small bus and sit 6 to a row. The OSA bus was amazingly comfortable!
We dropped Fausti off in Tamale and almost immediately got on another bus heading to the Volta Region. This was the start of a lot of tro-troing to places that were really off the beaten track. Went to Yendi and then Bimbilla and stayed a night here in the cheapest place ever. They didn't even have running water! Even though I was filthy from the tro-tro ride I refused to take a bucket shower in the water that had been sitting in the bin for so long it was actually warm. I was convinced it was probably breeding bacteria and other single-celled organisms. I waited for over an hour until I had about half a bucket of water from the tap dripping and then it started to pour rain. Perfect timing! I took a power shower using Mother Nature's tap! It was so much fun!
The next morning we got tro-tros to Damanko, Kpasa, and finally Nkwanta. It was too bad that we had to waste an entire day on the tro-tro. The next day we got to see a new national park in Ghana called Kyabobo (pronouned Ch-bobo). Our wildlife officer took us on a 4 hour hike up a mountain to get a great view of the northern extent of the Volta Region. It was a great hike except for my driver ant encounters. Because it's the rainy season the ants are out in full force. Drivers are the worse kind of ants because they swarm up your legs if you step in their ant highways. Problem is that their highways are sometimes 5 m wide! And you never get just 1 ant, you get like 10 all at the same time. They like to wait until they reach a really inconvenient part of your body like your crotch or your neck until they bite! Man, it's days like this that I wish I had my bottle of Raid... Other than the ants, I had a great time in Kyabobo. We didn't see any animals because they're all found really deep in the bush and it takes several days of hiking to find them. We only had 1 day in Kyabobo unfortunately. Another reason to come back to Ghana some time in the future.
OK, we're in Hohoe (pronounced Ho-hoy) now and getting ready to go see some waterfalls and climb the highest mountain in Ghana in the next few days. Then we're going back to Accra and flying home on Sunday. I can't believe the summer is over and I have to go back to life in Calgary/Edmonton. I'm looking forward to lots of things like my own bed, good Chinese food, being clean, washing machines, and running hot water but I will definitely miss the pace of life out here in Ghana and the friendly open attitude of Ghanaians.
Anyways, this post is already too long and both Scott and Geoff have probably abandoned me by now to go find food. I probably won't post until I get back to Calgary because I want to enjoy the rest of my vacation. See you soon!
posted by Avatamsaka Monastery Choir at 10:43 AM
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