African Safari!

Last Thursday a few friends and I made the fourteen plus hour journey to the northern region of Ghana. It was most definitely an adventure. My seatmate on our first bus ride happened to be a Baptist Minister from the North; he was rather delighted about my church membership. He immediately began to set me up with Baptist contacts throughout Accra. He was very interested in how I felt about 9/11 and whether babies were abandoned in the United States the way they are in his country. He was surprised that some of his continents problems are shared by the developed world. After making sure I had a place to stay and was safe, we parted ways as he was traveling farther than me that night.

Anyway, we overnighted in Tomale and woke up the next morning at 3:30am to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer (extremely creepy that early in the morning) so we could catch the next bus. While we were at the bus stop by 4am, unfortunately all of the tickets were gone. So for about two hours we ran around begging trotros and taxis to take us up to Mole for a decent price. At first they would ask for prices up to 400cedi (completely ridiculous), but we ended up sharing a trotro with a bunch of obrunis from Belgium, Germany, and Spain for 120, success! It turned out to be a great morning – I felt like a world traveler.

As soon as we made it to Mole National Park, we saw four elephants mosey across the Savannah and take a dip in the watering hole. It was one of those moments when you think, “wow, I’m in Africa.” And miracle of miracles, the lodge had a pool. Needless to say, we took advantage of that and spent the day in the water. The next morning we set out very early on our Safari with an adorable armed park ranger. It was definitely a success, because we saw tons of African elephants, green monkeys, bushbuck, cob, warthogs (which are so personable and fun), crocodiles, and the craziest stream of army ants I’ve ever seen. I feel like I say this all the time, but it was just like the lion king! I think my friends may be getting tired of me singing The Circle of Life, but when I see things like a line of elephant tracks I can’t really help it.

After that we set out headed to the Hippo Sanctuary, but instead we ended up stranded in the small village of Larabanga. At first it seemed a bit miserable, but we ended up just playing with the village kids for hours and hours. They were all filthy and in rags, but they were the happiest, most smiley little group I’ve ever seen. The village women taught us how to flag down passing vehicles in hopes of rides even though they spoke absolutely no English, and eventually they began dropping off more and more kids for us to play with and watch while they went about their daily chores. One of the little girls clung to me the whole time. Her hair was turning orange from mal nutrition, and her teeth were literally rotting out of her mouth. Very skinny and wearing the dirtiest rag of a shirt, she couldn’t have been more than 5. It definitely put a sour taste in my mouth, just because she was in a situation that is so easily avoidable and yet no one has done anything to help her.

Finally we hailed a bus out of town. We were all cramped, and I ended up sitting on a top of the engine. It was extremely hot and made me very nervous every time it started smoking – I just kept praying that it wouldn’t blow up or break down. By the time we made it to our destination we were so coated in red dirt and sweat we look like different people – I’ve never looked so dark in my life, and all of my blonde friends suddenly had very red hair (picture American Indian skin color). Sadly, we never actually made it to the Hippo Sanctuary, due to extremely scarce modes of transportation. Instead, we just hung out in Wichau for the day and played cards and made friends with the little kids near the village well.

After a sleep-less, fairly miserable overnight bus ride we made it back to Accra. In the process I lost some of the fabric I had purchased on one or our buses. One of the girls in our group also got into a fight with our taxi driver when he couldn’t get us through the gates to the university (didn’t have his license) and we refused to pay him the full amount. He said, “Do not provoke my anger” and ended up grabbing Emily roughly when we tried to walk through the gates. He seemed to be rather surprised when she spun around and said, “Do NOT touch me! Get your hands off me!” I’m not sure how many women he’s had stand up to him like that. Thankfully, a Ghanaian student stepped in and after lots of yelling and refusing to get back in his taxi when the porters agreed to let him through the gates, we walked the mile or so back to our Hostels. So often throughout the weekend we would look at each other and say, “I just love you guys. I’m so glad we’re alive.”

My favorite quote of the trip was by our Belgian friend Demitri. Within the first 20 minutes of meeting him he said, “The thing about you Americans is you’re F***ing up your own language.” It was rather hilarious and pretty accurate.

Apparently it’s time for everyone to get sick. Lots of viruses, bacterial infections, dysentery, and Malaria are being passed around our ISEP group. So far only a few are in the hospital, hopefully I’m not next. And very sadly, my headphones have seen their last days…I’m pretty sure the trotro rides did them in. Hopefully I’ll be able to find some decent ones soon.