Into the Wild

Despite the fact that Ghana is often compared to the size of Oregon, it took 14 long hours to drive by bus from Accra to Mole National Park, in northern Ghana. Although I was uncomfortable bouncing around on the unpaved dirt roads (if you even want to call them that) all I could think about was how much worse it would have been if I was travelling by tro-tro.

Luckily, we made a couple of stops along the way- street vendors for food, forest coverings for bathroom stops, and Kintampo Waterfall. Kintampo Waterfall was nowhere near the size of Wli Waterfall in the Volta region, but this waterfall is especially unique for the rock formations that allow you to climb under the waterfall. Considering I forgot a swimsuit, I made the mistake of attempting to scale the rocks in my clothes. Just after mentioning how I did not want to be wet for the whole bus ride, Ariel came sliding down the rocks and knocked me over like a domino. So much for staying dry. 

The final four hours of our drive up north was spent in the pitch black in the middle of nowhere, driving around 10 mph because of the massive ditches in the road. The best part was that our driver did not even know where he was going- we stopped at every village to reconfirm our location and even made a couple U-turns to stay on track. After using a little bribery to get into the National Park at such a late hour, our group settled into our rooms. The hotel at Mole was definitely a huge step up from the dorms at University of Ghana. However, I have heard nightmare stories about the wildlife “welcoming” the new visitors to their rooms. One of the international students told us about how he woke up to find a baboon on his bed with him. Another girl had a bag of cookies snatched out of her hands right outside her door by a baboon. A couple people have been mauled by warthogs and snakes are not uncommon on the premises. Due to these stories, I brought zero food with me and had my guard up at all times.

The next morning we woke up bright and early for the safari tour. The tour guide forced me to buy a pair of boots because my open toed sandals were apparently a hazard for walking through the jungle where poisonous snakes often cross over feet. Ariel and I climbed on top of a jeep and set off into the bush. The North is actually a completely different environment from Accra. Not only was the air drier than the usual humidity, but the golden elephant grass and leafless trees are not a common sight amongst the greenery of the coast. Within our three hour drive we saw warthogs, bush buck, hartebeest, antelope, baboons- moms with the babies latched to their bellies), crocodiles…..and ELEPHANTS! 

Our first elephant spotting occurred after walking across a dry river bed where massive elephant footprints had dried. When we walked to the edge of a water hole, an elephant was bathing right in the center, surrounded by crocodiles. I gasped when I first caught a glimpse of this gigantic creature because it has been my dream since stepping foot in Ghana to one day see an elephant. On our second spotting, we stood 15 feet away from three elephants who were grazing for food. They were huge! Even though our guide carried a gun, I hung back a bit out of fear of being trampled.

Midway through the day we went to a small village called Larabanga where we saw the oldest mosque in West Africa. An interesting fact about this community is that is it 100% Muslim- Islam is actually more popularly practiced in the North. The mosque was gorgeous with white walls and wooden spikes coming out. As we stood outside learning about the history, a call to prayer was announced and people flooded to the mosque. I instantly had flashbacks to my time in Israel when the call to prayer was a normal event of my days in Jerusalem. We also learned how to make shea butter from raw shea nuts.

Back at the hotel we swam in our first pool in Ghana. It reminded me of being on my 8^th grade Washington DC trip all over again- young people surrounding the pool, splashing, and shenanigans. Warthogs were running around the pool and elephants could be seen in the distance. 

That night I made the brilliant decision to sleep in a tree canopy instead of at the clean, comfortable hotel. About fifteen of us loaded up a bus that took us into the heart of the bush- in the middle of nowhere. When we stepped out of the bus in the dark I thought to myself “this cannot be true.” Built into an enormous scraggly tree was a two-story wooden tree house. We carried our hard mats up the stairs and called the place home for the night. Without our Ghanaian body guard who carried a nice sized gun to protect us from the wildlife, we had been stranded alone in the bush. We built a bonfire, stargazed, and stayed up late telling stories. I slept terribly! It may be hard to believe but I was freezing all night and exposed to the blood thirsty bite of mosquitoes. We woke up before the sun rose, packed up and left one of the coolest locations I have ever slept in my life. On our way back to the hotel, we saw two more elephants hidden in the grass…I guess I did not realize that we were truly sleeping amongst the elephants!

I passed out on the bus ride back. We did make one last stop at Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary where we saw brilliant trees, Mona monkeys, and Colubus monkeys. My favorite was the Colubus monkeys because of their long white tails and shy demeanor. We spent our final night in Kumasi at the nicest hotel yet and ate at a much needed buffet. The next morning we drove the rest of the distance to Accra. Although we were on the go the entire four day trip, my adventures in the North were definitely the highlight of my stay in Ghana thus far.   

As for my daily life at the University of Ghana, I have settled into my second semester classes and picked up a couple of extra activities along the way. My classes for this semester are: 1. Twi 2. Traditional African Dance 3. Ghana in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries 4. Women in History 5. Working with Children- Social Work 6. Working with People with HIV/AIDS

I am currently working once a week teaching kids who live right outside the University with one of my Ghanaian friends. I also recently picked up an internship at Radio Universe on campus where I will be working with a news team to cover the latest developments on campus and in the Legon area. The head of the NGO Exponential Education that I worked for last semester is moving out to Ghana in March this year and I will be working with her to improve, financially fund, and expand the educational program throughout Ghana. Finally, I continue to a play a little tennis here and there and have been invited to play in Nigeria for two weeks for the team…don’t worry I rejected despite their ongoing phone calls at 4AM . 

 Considering our two cats- Soloman and Julie- disappeared last semester, our security guards Uncle Baba and Uncle Lucas got Ariel and I a new kitten. We named her Fufu, after a popular Ghanaian dish. This spoiled kitten sleeps on a chair in our room in order to take full advantage of the fan.

Oh! Yesterday was my 7 months in Ghana anniversary, meaning only 3 months left! Ariel and I treated ourselves to a movie at the mall- it as such a nice movie theatre. Miss you all xoxo