Tour of Ghana!

Hello again...so sorry that Ive not updated my blog for a while been a very busy bee these past few weeks! so heres the next installment..

Ive been touring around Ghana for a couple of days last weekend with my organisation..it started at 5am Friday morning when we set off in our air conditioned van (thank goodness) to our first port of call..the town of Kumasi.

In Kumasi we visited the King of the Ashanti region's palace which was interesting as we began to learn more about Ghanian culture. We were also informed that the present King was residing in the house next door! not bad hey! We discovered that there is a King and a Queen mother who rule the region...its a joint kingship and both rulers are often related, mother and son, most of the time. To be honest the palace was nothing like Buckingham Palace but in terms of Africa, it was a very nice house! We progressed onto a couple of craft villages which weren't the most enjoyable experiences ever due to the fact that its very rare to see white tourists in the north of Ghana so we were constantly hounded by shop keepers shouting 'Abruni I give good prices'...dont seem to take no for an answer! We stayed in a Methodist Guest house in Kumasi for our first night which was adequate accomodation..nothing 4* mind you! but there was a flushing toilet and shower - a great treat for us!

Saturday saw another 4.30am start as we headed even further north to the Buiabeng Monkey Sanctuary. We arrived about 9ish and headed straight out to catch a glimpse of the monkeys...and we were not disappointed - saw absolutely loads!! as we wondered through the forest we had monkeys swinging from the trees above our heads- great experience. After a couple of hours monkey watching we got back into the van and drove to the Kintampo Waterfalls....Wow!! they were amazing! such a relief to finally get under the water as the weather was very hot! It was quite busy as we seemed to time our visit at the same time as a school visit, so it was rather crowded under the water but nevertheless great fun! From Kintampo we took a road to a village called Teichiman where we stayed in a Catholic Guest House for the next two nights. Saturday night saw an invite by the North Ghana Paramount chief to join him for the evening...an experience ill never forget! The paramount chief was 125 years old! The whole village turned out to see us and they put on some traditional dancing which i gladly joined! didnt need asking twice..its not often you are a guest of a 125year old chief! Came away from the night with a marriage proposal! one of the 'sub' chief wanted me to become his 4th wife..i politely refused you'll be pleased to know!

Sunday started at 5am with a journey to Mole National Park for an early game hike and safari! Saw wild elephants, monkeys, crocodiles, antelopes and wildboar! Another unforgetable experience which i will keep forever! From Mole we headed to a village called Damango where we were able to witness the villagers making Gari (a food..sort of like flour but there is an intricate process to extract the gari from the plant it grows on) and Shear Butter. We were then taken on a river cruise in canoes down the local river...unforuntaly being in the height of the dry season we didnt manage to go far due to the non-existent water! We also had the opportunity to visit an orphanage where we took gifts for the children. Really good to see how the orphanages function north of the big cities and really put into perspective how lucky the children at Osu were even though the standards are nowhere near any english orphanage. Another exhausting day we had an early night ready for our 12 hour drive home the next day!

It was a great experience to see the more rural side to Ghana...there was no electricity or running water in the villages we drove through north of Kumasi and the houses they lived in were mud huts! Its amazing to think how they manage to live their lives without the things we take for granted in the western world but the truth is Ive never seen happier people, especially the children! Always smiling and waving...Im nearly half way through my trip now and although I miss home, Im much more settled here and am looking forward to every new day..being away from the orphanage as well for a couple of days was a lovely break but I was so eager to get back to the kids on Tuesday! goodness knows what im going to be like when I have to leave for good!! Thats all for now...hope everyone is well back in rainy England!! Ghana will be joining you soon though...rainy season is about to kick in!! Great :)

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