Jacque Kofi photo
Our fearless leader warned us about traveling across the swampy land to see the elephants, but we couldn't resist. Neither could she. Parasites and other dangerous critters be durned! Ha! We made it across, of course, but guess who would be the one to fall into the muck - twice. Sorry, Mardea. :-( You are a trooper, though.)
Day 8
Oh man, how tiring was that ride to the Mole Game Reserve! Incredibly bumpy red dirt roads for miles and miles in the middle of the night. We passed through areas of different terrain, trees, etc. And then at night, we passed areas where communities exist, with people still out talking, music blaring and others traveling by foot or on bicycle or motorbike.
All sorts of trucks were stranded, in need of repair with people working on them using only the light of firewood set on the road in the otherwise pitch blackness.
It was grueling. Not for the faint of heart at all. Then, on top of that, it was 11:30 p.m.-ish and we hadn't eaten dinner and we had to get up at 6 a.m. for the 7 a.m. walking safari. No breakfast, just a swig of water (OK, we had bread and peanut butter and juice before we went to bed). But that was it! :-)
Day 9
Didn't know how I was going to survive this day on such little sleep. But I knew I was going to enjoy it anyway based on the incredible view we had overlooking the reserve. We couldn't see it when we arrived last night, but this great view was right outside our rooms. The walking safari was great. Baboons, deer, green monkeys, antelope and then the biggest thrill of all, literally, was the elephants! We walked a clear pathway as the baboons scattered to the sides, then saw the pigs (complete with tusks). Then we went over to a single elephant eating from grass and trees by itself. We took photos, then made our way through the rest of the reserve.
We stopped at a big tree fort-like structure. I was sweating up a storm, grasping for air and happy to have a chance to stop and rest. I swear I must have been sick with something. One visitor in a group ahead of us had to be taken back to the headquarters earlier. He didn't look so good.
Across the lake from the tree fort, we saw about 15 to 20 elephants gathered hundreds of yards beyond the lake/swamp. At first, we weren't going to go over to them because it meant traveling through the swamp, getting wet and exposed to different insects and maybe parasites or something in the water.
After sitting a while, enjoying the view of the lake, scattered deer and the elephants in front of us in the distance, we couldn't resist. The guide led us across the swamp and finally, right up to the elephants. Unbelievable to get that close to a wild elephant - about 18 of them!
By that time, we'd crossed another part of the reserve and could see them from a long distance.
We continued through the reserve and had an adventure crossing over a creek, awkwardly holding onto branches overour heads as the logs and branches in the water we stood on shifted. Close calls for some of us but we made it OK.
I was dang near desperate for water through most of the safari and couldn't wait to lay down. Great relaxation after we got back to the rooms. Laid down and slept right away -- in bits and pieces anyway. Took a shower and headed to check out of the place, then ate outside overlooking the pool and the reserve - great view!
Finally, cold water! Cold water! Yes! The first taste in what seemed like forever. Had everybody's favorite - Fanta Orange - and it was great, too. But the cold water was hands down better. ... Then a monkey showed up while we were waiting for our food. This thing just sauntered over and - all of a sudden - jumped onto our table and up the wall behind us. Shocked the mess out of folks. Ha-ha! It was after this big old Praying Mantis, which it happily munched on while perched above our heads on the wall.
We had to chase old boy away. Sucka was too aggressive. And we wasn't havin' it! ;-) Ha!
...
After eating some excellent food, we hit the road for Tamale. Tamale is the capital of the Northern Region of Ghana, with a population of 305,000. It is mostly populated by Dagomba people who speak Dagbani. They are followers of Islam.
Rough, rough, rough, rough roads again. Brutal. Was two hours or something like that of rough road. The bus swayed wildly at one point trying avoid huge potholes at a considerable speed (lol). But we made it to a paved highway! Yes! High-five?!
Day 10
Today, we went to the market in Kumasi. Wow! Tons of shops in small spaces, packed in. Food everywhere. Fish heads and all. Stuff I'd never seen before hanging up and stacked up all over the place.Funny, though, I bought nothing at the market. It was kind of overwhelming and I had already spent so much money at the other shops. For some reason, I don't think anybody bought much there. Just soaked itall in. I think we may have been tired from the traveling and there was just so much there it was overwhelming.
So, it was on to the the Royal Mansion - the king and queen's home - a museum now. It was beautiful inside and out. An old aircraft in the gated yard off the street, an amazing, huge tree tucked over to the left, (photo at top) leading up the entrance of this ornate, white building.
Inside, there were 135-year-old drums,stools -- the real things -- wax figures of queens and kings, photos, including one of EthiopianEmperor Haile Selassie and other greats who have visited there.
Two other things which stand out are: 1. Our tour guide showed us the platform that the king and queens workers carried them on, including a special trip from Accra to Kumasi, which must have taken weeks or months. 2. One room showed the kings and queens, and the guide explained how the women chose the next king in Asante culture.
At the end was a nice gift shop. Picked up a few things. lol And on the way out, these beautiful peacocks paraded around outside and folks scrambled to get the cameras out.On the way to the hotel, we stopped at a roadside strip of shops with loads of kente cloth. Lots of vendors calling you over, asking what you liked -- aggressive but still nice. There were so many choices, and keeping the money exchange rate clear in my head was a challenge when bargaining. lol And, oh, they do love to bargain, to go back and forth on the price. It's expected. Like it's almost insulting if you don't try to get them to bring the price down some. It's just the custom.
During all this, it started to pour rain, and I do mean pour rain down and you could get soaked going from shop to shop. These shops had little room if anyto go inside. And lots of folks crowded outside the shops with little room under the little roof to escape the rain. I went from shop to shop hoping for the right pieces of kente cloth. Finally, I got some help finding and bargaining on two pieces -- one traditional and one non-traditional.
One thing is for sure -- striking to me -- is that there are a lot of churches and missions most everywhere we go. They seemto be the largest structuresin each town. Even the police have their own church in one town!
We continued on the road to Accra.
Day 10: Part II
We arrived in Accra at night. The hotel was nice, up on a hill with a nice entrance, lobby with a television and a restaurant. Briefly met the owners, Richard and Joyce, who were great. Nice folks who had Central New York ties at one point.The next day, we were scheduled to visit the Cape Coast dungeon, one of the more historic focal points of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade -- the Maafa -- or Afrikan Holocaust. I went with Ellen, theartist and videographer extraordinaire, to check out the fort that night, before the group's scheduled visit the next day.
It was pitch black out, though, and the castle was hard to find. One young brotha with some "official'' paperwork in his hand insisted on following us. He waited a good while before springing his request for money on us. But we were pretty much spent out. Still, he kept walking alongside us as we pretended to know where we were going in the dead of night with hardly a soul around for blocks.
Finally, we lost him and shortly after that, gave up the search and turned around.
Getting back was crazy, though. We got lost, then got caught in rain so bad we had to stop and take cover under an store's roof overhang. We finally found our way back to the hotel. Funny thing is, though, in the next day's light, we realized we had stopped searching right at the mouth of the dungeon we were looking for. It was so dark there, though, you couldn't see a thing.
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