HOLY MOLE and Is it a goat or a sheep? The trip up to northern Ghana

Throughout the entire trip Emma, Katie, and I would look at goats and sheep and try to decide what they were…it was more like Katie and I because Emma was always spot on.  Sheep in northern Ghana do not have the thick coats…understandably BECAUSE IT IS HOT.

Travel to Mole National Park

When this journey began everyone on the trip: 9 girls (including me), our driver, and our guide (Moses) woke up at 2:30 in the morning and left campus at 3:00 in the morning to get to our destination, Mole National Park.  This park is famous for its large mammals: ELEPHANTS.  The park takes about 15 to 16 hours to get to from Accra.  For our group the dirt road added on an EXTRA TWO HOURS…but these dirt roads are especially bumpy, yet the scenary was beautiful and unique.

So we made it to Lindador Rest stop (this is the known rest stop) along the way to Kumasi. Then, we got a pee break in Kumasi and then headed another 5 hours to Kintampo, which is a region that I had not been to before.  The Brong-Ahafo region is the heart of coca and kola nut production.  The foliage is very tropical, but does not have a beach sense to it like Kakum.  As we approached the northern region the environment drastically changed.  Looking outside, there were less trees and more shrubs.  We were indeed in the savannah.  Naturally, since the was my first time in the savannah (although the prairie is similar it does not have the same animals) I took WAY TOO MANY pictures…trying to record this moment in my life…fairly similar to the first time I saw I tropical rain forest in Ghana. We then ate lunch in the Brong-Ahafo region in Kintampo.  After this long journey we started on the bumpy road…the suppose to be 2 hours…that ended up being 3.  When we saw the sign for MOLE NATIONAL PARK…everyone in the bus went stir crazy.  We had been on the bus WAY TOO LONG…and just wanted to get to our destination.  Something neat along this dirt road was the high presents of mud circular huts and the constant sight seeing of more traditional clothing.  In my head, before I embarked on the journey to Africa, this indeed (the north) was what I thought Ghana was. While on this dirt road, I checked off another region: the northern region (full of dirty savannah).  Goats, sheep, and donkies are the animals that dominate this territory.  There was also a different attitude towards obrunis (white/foreign people).  If I waved passed everyone in Accra to say hello, most of them would give me a dirty look or be really surprised, but in the north everyone smiles and waves back treating us like equals…not some outsider.

We finally reach Mole National Park and it is dark outside, so we really can’t see around us.  We eat a dinner at the mediocre restaurant at Mole.  This restaurant is known for being slow and not efficient.

SAFARI…so far away

So we go to bed with elephants in our dreams, hoping that we will see one the next day.  Unfortunately, throughout the night I got sicker and sicker taking over the health that I had acquired.  By the morning, I was super weak and could not really walk to far without feeling light-headed.  I sucked it up…this was the WHOLE REASON why I signed up for this trip…so I HAVE TO SEE AN ELEPHANT.  We load into the car…me with some new boots (all I brought were my chacos and apparently you need toe covered shoes so I got some fancy rain boots from the park that I returned once we were done).  We saw many types of animals: wart hogs (I was expecting it to break out in Hakuna Matata…but it did not), two types of antelope (one was water buck and the other I was too in and out of to catch but it looked like my high school mascot…THE IMPALA), a monkey with a baby on her back, several beautiful species of birds, cat foot prints, and ELEPHANTS (ya we saw a herd of them at breakfast at a watering hole and another one we got VERY CLOSE TO, like 50 ft away from).  During this safari I went to the bathroom in the woods from being sick…I feel like I can check Mole National Park off my list of places I have pooped.  The elephant that we got super close to we tracked down to get to.  We started off by looking for elephant footprints.  Then, we started to see poop…that got fresher and fresher,  All of the sudden, we saw an elephant appear out of the bushes and there it was…a GIANT ELEPHANT, in its natural habitat.

After this highlight OF MY ENTIRE ADVENTURE in Africa, we ate a breakfast of toast and eggs.  I did not eat much because I was under the weather.  We packed up and left for the next adventure.  Along the way, the van stopped various times so I could relieve myself.  After this long experience, I think I got some sort of food poisoning because it was relieved pretty fast (within 48 hours).

Larabanga Mosque and Mystic Stone

A village on the way back…with the bumpy road is a famous Mosque and rock.  The Mosque is the first EVER BUILT in Ghana.  I found this fascinating (even though I felt like I was going to pass out at any moment) because I am in an Islam in Ghana class and we talked about this Mosque.  It has black points sticking out and is painted in all white.  The children of the village swarmed us wanting to hold our hands and practice their English.  I felt completely embraced at this site. 

After the Mosque, we made a quick drive over to the “Mystic Stone”.  It is known for having healing and spiritual guidance powers.  It was neat to touch it…I did not feel anything…but I secretly hoped it would help with me feeling really sick.  Travel and sick do not go together.

Travel to Tamale

We hopped back in the van and journeyed to Tamale, the capital of the northern region.  It is like the 5^th largest city in Ghana.  On the way, we were all gazing out the window excited to see something new at every turn: from motos (they are WAY more prevalent in the north) carrying too much stuff, to trucks with people on top of them, to children carrying logs on their head. When we finally made it to Tamale we went to their craft village…where I might have gotten a few things…and socialized with the people.  I attempted at learning the local language around there…but I failed…because it was too different to Twi.

We then ate some dinner and fell fast asleep knowing the next day will be just as filled with adventure.

Paga Crocodile Pond

We hopped on the van again (this seemed to be the trend on this journey…LONG CAR RIDES) and went further up north, to the upper east region of Ghana.  This allowed me to say that I have been in every region of Ghana…except one.  We made it to a border city: Paga and touched some crocodiles…THEY WERE HUG…AND I WAS VERY SCARED.  It was odd to think that these locals raised these animals so it could be used for tourism.  The lake that the crocodiles lived in children fished at with not caring that crocodiles were in their mix.  But, I can say I have NOW touched a little crocodile and A BIG crocodile. 

BURKINA FASCO

After the croc adventure, we drove to the border of Ghana: Burkina Fasco.  Our guide, Moses…who was AMAZING…convinced the guards of Ghana and Burkina Fasco to cross over and stand in Burkina Fasco.  I know it is not the LONG DRAWN OUT TOUR OF B.F. but hey that is as close as I could get (I have looked into traveling there…but the visa is 100,000 CFA which is A LOT OF MONEY).  So, at that very moment, I had been to four countries in 2 weeks…not bad…not bad at all.  I was feeling a lot better as the day went on…happy that by body pushed out what ever toxins I ate.

Bolgatanga and crafts

We then, went to Bolgatanga, which is the capital of the upper east region of Ghana and had some lunch.  We then went to the craft village there…and shopped around.  I did notice a difference in crafts there, with a high presence of basket weaving.  And then we headed back to Tamale.

Dance like a Ghanaian…dance…dance

On our way back to Tamale, we happened to see a village dancing.  I spotted that they were doing OUR DANCE…yes the northern dance I learned at the beginning of the year.  So, we stopped and watched of a little bit.  Yet again our guide Moses stepped up his game and asked the locals if we could join in…so Soul, Alexandra, and I danced away.  The dance was not exactly the same as the one we learned in our class…but it was pretty close, WHICH WAS SUPER AWESOME!  At that very moment, I knew…everything about studying abroad was perfect.  I have learned so much…and here I was applying what I have learned to connect to local Ghanaians, beautiful indeed. J

The LOOOOOONGGGGGGG JOURNEY HOME

The next morning, after eating and sleep, and saying goodbye to our sanity…we took the 13-15 hour ride home.  There was a lot of seat changes and hair pulling.  I would like to make a shout out to my mother who wrote a book…and I was able to listen to it on tape for our voyage back.  If it weren’t for this book on tape…I WOULD HAVE GONE INSANE. My mother, with the pen name Ainsley Davidson…wrote this amazing book: Lesserblood Lies…check it out…hehehehehe (I am not trying to advertise at all) :D Love you mom!

But we had it back alive…and I recovered from being sick..all in the course of 4 days.

Facts:

HOURS ON A BUS FOR 4 DAYS? 40 HOURS!

Countries I went to in 2 weeks: 4.

Regions of Ghana I have been to: all but one, so 9.