Advertisement
Published: January 10th 2009
ELEPHANTS!
this is probably us at our closest, aint no zoom on that photo!HELLO!
It's been a while since I updated this so this entry is going to be MASSIVE!but I have the day off school and nothing to do so I'm going to blast through it as much as possible (also the internet cafe has setanta so I get to watch the football at the same time!the real reasons I'm going to be here for so long).
Anyway, I've had the last 3 weeks off school as it was the christmas holidays and I've been travelling around Ghana a fair bit. I'll give you all an insight into my adventures over the past few weeks.
So, the last month of school was pretty shite to be perfectly honest. Our hosts were being pretty crappy to us, not talking to us for a week at a time etc. One of them started being ok after a while but his wife was still a bit of a bitch, found out when we got back that she is MASSIVELY pregnant which might account for the moods (we just thought she was getting really fat). Then the food started getting crap, boiled plantains 2/3 times a week, no thank you! And then exams hit
Kejetia Market
The biggest market in west Africa so we had to invigilate which is the most boring job in the world!
Luckily the holidays hit just as it was all becoming a touch depressing so Me and James went on an adventure around the country. To start with we took the bus from Takoradi to Tamale, I can only describe the journey as one of the most soul destroying and physically draining experiences of my life! If you look on the map of Ghana you'll see how far it is, and it feels further! Took 13 hours (from 8am to 9pm) and the bus was crammed full of luggage so there was no room to move, when we got a break half-way through the journey it was like tackling an assault course trying to get off the bus!
The onboard films were classic though! They always stick on these really dodgy Nigerian films that someone has made in a mates house with a handycam, and the acting is oscar-worthy!They always seem to have kids playing some of the adult characters and their comedy timing is impeccable, although it's slightly wrong when they do scenes with their wives/girlfriends and everyone on the bus is laughing because
Lake Bosumtwi
Our private beach on the lake theres a 10 year-old kid getting "intimate" with a fully grown woman. Don't think that one would go down to well in the UK!
Finally got to Tamale and the guy who had all the keys for the rooms at the hotel we were staying in had gone home! So we ended up staying in the police guesthouse at the barracks. Just to inform you, the police guesthouse is NOT the jail cells. Tamale was eh...hot. Apparantly the day that we were there the temperature was expected to hit 38 degrees celsius and i'm pretty sure it went past that! We literally spent the whole day sitting in a bar because it was too hot to do anything!that and the fact that there is nothing to do in Tamale. We did manage to sort out tickets for the 4am bus to Wa that dropped us off at Mole National Park though which was a bonus.
In the guide book it describes the road to Mole as "one of the worst in Ghana". HA! That guy wouldn't know a bad road if it bit him on the arse, it was fine! It was actually one of the few journeys
The Don
This is the don doing his signature "hanky dance", pretty swish! we've had where we arrived BEFORE we expected to, and trust me, that doesn't happen very much (if at all) in Ghana!
Mole was actually one of the coolest places I've been to in Ghana yet, considering it's a National Park in Africa I was expecting them to have slightly (if not overly) inflated prices because it's a bit of a tourist trap. But it was cheap as hell!Cost me around 2 pounds entry and then 4 pounds a night for accomodation, pretty chuffed with that! Decided to give the safari a bodyswerve on the first day, we'd been up since 3am and in my mind that's inhumane. Got up earlydoors the next morning though and nature had decided it wanted to come to me!there was a big group of baboons hanging around outside our room and warthogs out for a morning stroll, pretty surreal experience! It took two trips down to the park that day but we achieved what we went there to do...I saw me some elephants in the wild! I can honestly say there is nothing as cool as a group of elephants just stomping around!we got to within about 10metres of them and its up
Isaac doing his thang
He may be an arsehole, but the boy knows how to dance...and pose there in the top 5 things i've done in Ghana, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
After the north we headed back to Kumasi to have another look around Kejetia Market (got photos this time) but it was even bigger this time!Went to go shopping and it was impossible to find anything that you were looking for (even if you did know which quarter it was that you were supposed to be in) so we just left, it's an easy place to get lost in! Just outside of Kumasi is Lake Bosumtwi, the largest natural body of water in Ghana so we decided to pop along for the night and see what it was like. Ended up staying in one of the nicest lodges we've been to so far. After staying in crappy hotels and eating pretty shitty food this was heaven! Each chalet was individually designed with real spring beds (if you've been to Ghana you'll get why that's amazing!we only have latex foam matresses here...they're terrible!) and proper service!I didn't have to wait 3 hours for a sandwich and the food was gooooooooooood!also we had our own private beach set in landscaped, manicured gardens. It was pretty cool to get to
Atop Mountain Afadjato
NOT the biggest mountain in Ghana, possibly the steepest hill though! relax for a day after travelling pretty intensely (Ghanians seem to love buses at stupid times in the morning).
On the 22nd the school was having it's Christmas party so we went back for that seeing as it was on the way to the beach anyway. It was pretty cool to see all the pupils in a different setting from the classroom. All the guys from my business class turned up in shirts and ties (and sunglasses, its part of the look) and I can honestly say I've never seen anyone dance as much as they did. After about an hour they were all drenched in sweat, so they did the obvious thing....costume change!Then back to some hardcore dancing, I decided to let them pull all the shapes though. Didn't want to show anyone up!
Christmas for me was a bit of a sandy one. Spent 4 days lazing around on the beach, body-boarding and beer-ing it up on the beach. Someone has to do it! Oh yeah, christmas day was a chilly 30-35 degrees, just thought i'd slip that in there.
After crimbo the Volta region was next on the grand tour of Ghana and I
Moi and the plunge pool, Wli upper falls
My tan doesn't look that good in this...but it is! became 1 of the 5% of visitors to the country who visit the region. No idea why more people don't go there because it's really nice, cheap and relatively hassle free (i only got asked for money once). The 2nd day we were in the Volta we went to climb Mount Afadjato, the highest mountain in Ghana. You might be thinking "wow!that sounds mighty impressive", eh.....maybe not! We arrived at the base of the mountain and went to the reception to get a guide and this white guy walks up to us and says, in an unmistakeably Glaswegian accent "awrite, you guys here to climb the mountain aye?". Only in Ghana can you go to the least visited area and find 3 people from Glasgow who are living there, it was pretty nice to here Scottish accents again though!
Reached the summit in 32 minutes. It's not really a mountain, more a really steep hill. I was still shattered by the end of it though, some of the parts were almost vertical and our guide looked like he was trying to break a world record. We finally reached the top and were like "thank god" had a look around
The Falls
Pretty big eh and went "awwwwww, that one's bigger!", the mountain next to it was atleast 100metres taller!The conversation with the guide went a bit like this:
"I though Afadjato was the biggest mountain in Ghana?" Us
"Yes" Guide
"But that one's bigger" Us
"Yes" Guide
"So it's not the biggest then...." Us
"Eh.....yes!" Guide
Gutted! We decided that one must be in Togo.
Next day we tackled the Wli watersfalls in the Agamatsu park. The guide once again told us that it's not THAT difficult a climb to the upper falls so we could go to that one then the lower falls. Now here's a little piece of advice for you: If anything in Ghana is described as "upper" it means its going to be a long, arduous, sould destroying journey. So we set off and the journey lulls you into a false sense of security by being flat and easy for about 30 minutes and then you start a near vertical ascent up the side of a mountain with absolutely nothing to hold onto for safety. We must have stopped for atleast 10 breaks along the way because it was so humid, I had a t-shirt on and
Me and the monkey
Feeding a mona monkey at the Tafi-Atome monkey sanctuary. Love a monkey! it was off withing 30 minutes as it was completely drenched in sweat. I could actually wring sweat out of it, disgusting yes, but it shows you how hot it was!It took around an hour and a half but when we finally arrived it was totally worth it (that's me talking in hindsight, at the time i felt like death), the view was spectacular and getting to swim in the plunge pool was exactly what I needed after the hike. Going back down was horrific too.
That's pretty much the highlights of my last 3 weeks. That and the unbelievable curry I had in Accra, god I miss good food!
Back at school now for my last 3/4 weeks of teaching and then a week and I'm back in baltic Britain. Bet you can't wait to see me!I'll be spending my next 4 weeks on the roof of the school topping up the tan (which is pretty spectacular) and at the beach.
Enjoy the cold.
Iain
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0415s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
