Trip to the North

Hey everyone,

I am sorry that it has taken this long to update you on my recent adventures. It seems that time has got the best of me. I have been busy this last month with the end of classes and a few trips that I will tell you about in a little bit. Plus, the 90 degree weather makes it a little hard to focus. :P That is one major advantage of studying here, except it is starting to get very hot. If it is a sunny day, you really shouldn’t go out in the sun between 10-2. It totally beats the cold though. Except I am not really sure how I am going to adjust to a Michigan winter. I guess that I won’t worry about that quite yet. Well let me update you on my last month.

Classes finished here on Nov. 18. So, I spent the last few weeks before that trying to finish up all of the work for my classes. There wasn’t a ton that I needed to do, but I still had some quizzes to take and a few presentations. It is always a fun time giving presentations, because no one understands my accent. (Weird, I thought that I didn’t have an accent) I did manage to get everything done. Now, I just have my finals to finish. In Ghana, they give us a month for finals, so I should be able to be prepared. I have my first final on Wednesday, so we will see how that goes. In addition to the classes, I spent most of my time playing basketball, going into town and just hanging out with some of the Ghanaians. I did make another trip with Nate, which was a good time. We went to Accra, to visit his uncle and his family. It was very similar to the trip to see his parents, but in the big city. It was fun thoguh. Other than that, I am just waiting to take my finals.

We did manage to take an amazing trip to the Northern part of the country. The week after classes end is called a ‘revision week’ so that the students can study and get ready for finals. This means that there are no classes or finals that week, so we decided to take advantage and see the country. There is a national park called Mole Park in the North, and they have safaris. So, that is where we decided to go. I left UCC on Thursday morning with Shelby and Malin. We left early because we wanted to see Lake Bosumtwi, which is the only natural lake in Ghana. Steve and Madeline met up with us later. We barely made it there before sunset, but we managed. We spent the night in Kumasi and traveled the entire next day (including a 2 hour stint on a bus where I had to stand the whole time as we went over a very bumpy dirt road) and arrived in Larabanga. It is a really cool Muslim village right outside the park. The next morning we woke up early, rented bikes and rode to the park just in time for the morning walking safari. It was 2 hours long and we saw a bunch of really cool animals. There were gazelle, antelope, monkeys, baboons, tons of birds and we even saw an elephant in one of the ponds. Elephants are the main attraction, so I was pumped that we got to see them. I was really amazed at all of the different animals that I was able to get close too. After we got our room, I came outside and there was a warthog walking on the sidewalk. I could have petted it if I wanted to. Also, when I was sitting by the pool, 3 baboons ran right by me and sat on the fence right next to the pool. It was crazy to see all the animals that close. Since I was at the park, I decided to take a night safari. Might as well take advantage, right? I didn’t see much else, but it was still cool. In the morning, Steve and I decided to take a riding safari. I just really wanted to ride on the roof of the jeep. We saw mostly the same animals, but we saw 2 different elephants at a different pond in the park. We were probably able to get within 30 yards of them. That was by far the coolest thing I saw at the park. Once we got back from the safari, we headed out at around noon.

After we left the park, we decided to split up. Madeline and Shelby were not feeling well, so they went with Steve back to Cape Coast. Malin and I were feeling pretty good, so we decided to try and make it to Weichu to go to the hippo sanctuary. I figured it would be far more epic to continue, so that was all the convincing that I needed. We stayed in Larabanga and attempted to hitch a ride to Swala. It took a while, so I took a tour of the oldest masque in Ghana (700 years old) and one of the oldest in West Africa. Then we waited around for about 4 hours doing nothing. Finally Malin talked with the guy in a pickup truck who agreed to let us sit in the back and drop us at Swala. So, we rode with 4 other tourists in the back of a truck on a dirt road through small villages in Ghana. It was actually really fun and the kids reactions when they saw us was priceless. We did make it to Swala, and then got a ride to Wa. We spent the night in Wa and made it to Weichu the next morning. However, the hippos are not in Weichu, they are 18 Km past Weichu (which is 12 miles past no where). After some arguing with the guy at the park, we decided to ride bikes there. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but the riding was basically through sand. It took us every part of 2 hours, but we made it.

We set up camp at the hotel, which is basically one building by itself with nothing else around. We ate lunch and took the evening tour with the other guests staying there. There were 2 guys from India and a Spanish guy who we saw at Mole, along with our guides. We got to the river at 3:30 and found out someone stole the boat. However, there was another boat across the river, so the guides went and got it. Then they spent the next hour bailing all the water out. Finally, they got the water out, but it was still leaking. They had a rock solid solution though… put some mud in the holes and bring one guy along to bail water. So, it was the 5 tourists and 2 guides, one bailing and one rowing down a crocodile infected river in a leaking boat (I was just excited that my story just got that much more interesting). We set off down the river and went to the place where they heard the hippos were. It is a really cool river too. It is the Black Volta that is the border between Ghana and Burkina Faso, so at a few points I was able to touch Burkina Faso. We got to the place were we thought there were hippos (we could hear them as we came closer). Sure enough, we saw a group of 12 hippos (13 if you include the baby). I really didn’t realize how big and cool hippos are until I got close. One came out of the water a little and I could see that its body is massive. We all were pretty awestruck at the sight. We stayed and watched them for about 20 minuets. Then, right before we left, one of the hippos gave a huge yawn, so we could see its teeth, then it crashed back down into the water. It was awesome. At this point, it was getting dark, so we paddled back and went back to the hotel.

The next morning, we started back. We were going to get a ride in the Indian guy’s truck, but it broke down. So, back on the bikes! After another 2 hours we got back to Weichu and spent the rest of the day and most of the next day traveling back to Cape Coast. I found out after the trip that we traveled for over 40 hours on this trip. A little too long in a bus for my blood. So, I am now back at Cape Coast and getting ready for exams and getting ready to leave. I have less than 3 weeks left here… weird. I will miss Ghana, but I am ready to be back in the U.S. I will try to let you know about exams if I can. My computer charger died, so it has been a little difficult to do anything on my computer, which is another reason why this blog took so long to post. However, I will try to keep posting. I will also try to have photos on facebook later today. Until next time J

Jordan