Mona Monkey Sanctuary

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This weekend I went back to the Volta Region with the girls from my group to see the monkey sanctuary. It was our first time taking a trip on our own and I felt like I had a “real” African experience because we spent the night on the outskirts of a village called Tafi Atome and interacted with the local people as well as the monkeys. And it helped that we didn’t pull up in a huge air conditioned tour bus with a guide. It took three hours by tro-tro to arrive, and then the sanctuary was 5km down a dirt road. Three local girls helped us down the road until we found a pick up truck that gave us a ride the rest of the way. Once we got there we met Emmanuel who would be our guide for the weekend. He gave us a bag full of bananas and called the monkeys out of the trees and they came right up to us and peeled the bananas in our hands and then ripped off a chunk of fruit and ate it right in front of us. Some of the monkeys, especially the alpha male, would fight other monkeys for banana. It was funny; they were acting just like little kids - shy to approach us at first, then really friendly until they decided to run back into the trees.

For lunch we tried a native Ghanaian dish called Banku. I believe it is made of corn and cassava flour. It takes a long time to make because it has to be mashed together for a long time in a bowl with a wooden pestle about 5 feet tall. I see people preparing it in the market every morning, but I haven’t been brave enough to try it. It hasn’t gotten good reviews from other Americans/Europeans I know because it is very sour and has a slimy texture. You eat it with your right hand by scooping some of the dough ball and then dipping it into a soup or some people eat it with fish (which is served whole - bones, head, tail included). I did not enjoy it very much, in fact at one point I gagged a little because the texture is so slimy it is hard to swallow and impossible to chew. Luckily the five of us were sitting by ourselves so we didn’t offend anyone or embarrass ourselves.

The rest of the afternoon we spent playing with the local kids. First they were excited to take pictures with us and braid our hair. Then I was pig piled by about five kids at once trying to climb onto me for a piggy back ride. They were all so light; it felt as though only two small kids were climbing on me. Most of them had bloated stomachs, probably from being hungry, so we decided to buy the kids ice cream. It was a little bit awkward as we paraded through the village with 12 kids holding our hands and leading the way because all of the adults were doing chores and many of the other children in the village were playing and we got a few strange looks from most of them. But, the kids we did play with were very excited to have a treat!

After our snack break, we played jump rope with vines from the jungle. The girls were very good and they swung the rope around faster than I ever remember playing. They wanted us to try, but we just embarrassed ourselves because none of us could even make the first jump on time. Then kids taught us different games they play which pretty much all involved dancing and clapping in a circle. The older (ages 6-10) girls did not want to let the younger kids play with us and kept pushing them out of the circle. They behaved just like any other kids I’ve ever played with fighting for our attention and showing off to impress us.

After our dinner (which was uneventful compared to lunch) we went back to the guesthouse and played cards until the power went out around 9pm. It was the darkest darkness I have ever experienced. I literally held the palm of my hand to my nose and wiggled my fingers but could see absolutely nothing. Luckily we had a flashlight and used our cell phones for light, but it was still a scary experience being somewhere so isolated and not being able to see a single thing. We survived the night and the power was back on by sunrise when we woke up for our tour of the sanctuary which consisted of feeding more monkeys and walking through the jungle.

To leave the sanctuary we rode on the backs of motorbikes to the main road. At first, I was terrified, but it was actually a lot of fun and I felt safe the whole time. When we arrived back on the main road there was a tro-tro already there heading to Hohoe, the “city” we needed to get to in order to catch another tro-tro home. The driver was very nice and offered to take us back to Accra when he would be heading that way later in the afternoon. However, he ripped us off by offering a ride to a “Talking River” close to the city because he overcharged us probably by 200%. Frustrated we tried looking for lunch, but every stall was closed for church. To add to our frustration, every single taxi and tro-tro that passed beeped at us and offered to take us to the Wli Waterfall which we had visited two weeks ago. Many would not take no for an answer and drove slowly alongside us as we searched in vain for a kebob stand. Eventually we gave up and bought a loaf of bread and a pineapple to eat as we boarded an air conditioned tro-tro back to Accra. We also had some crackers from earlier in the day to hold us over, but no cheese or peanut butter (aka groundnut paste) so the meal was very plain, especially considering we were served bread and butter for breakfast.

After such a long and tiresome trip home, campus felt like a safe haven. It’s becoming more and more of a home to me, and I feel relieved every time I come home to it, especially after a stressful day getting hassled for being an obruni. On campus people are much more accustomed to seeing whites, so they usually don’t bother us or yell after us, like people do outside campus. It’s nice to have a calm place to come home to. When I applied for this study abroad program I was disappointed that I could not do a homestay, but now I think it would be too much of a culture shock and too overwhelming to live with a family. Although my hostel is a bit isolated, it feels like home and I think it would be much harder for me emotionally had I lived elsewhere. And even though I haven’t made many Ghanaian friends yet, I have met people from all over Europe, Canada, and the U.S. and I feel like I’m really experiencing a new culture.

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