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Published: October 18th 2007
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Beach Rastas
Come surfers in Kokrobite Oh Ghana…..Well, the last few weeks have been, as always here, full of firsts and surprises. After my last entry, we were off to the beach. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t been picturing Ghanaian beaches as white sand tropical havens, but that’s what they are. Although we live about 10 km from the ocean, we decided to make a weekend trip to a town called Kokrobite, which is known for its beaches, food and Rasta men. It’s only about 30 km from campus, but in true Ghana style, it took us about an hour and a half to get there. The public transportation here consists of buses and tro-tros. The ‘tros’ are like old 15 passenger vans that now fit about 25 people. In order for us to get to Kokrobite, we had to ride about 3 different tro-tros and a taxi…but it only cost about one dollar! We went to a place called Big Millies Backyard. Big Millie is an expat who now lives on the beach with her family and gets to meet crazy travelers every weekend….I think I could get used to that kinda life. Most of our friends were already there, and had already reserved
us a tent, dubbed ‘The Big Blue Monster.’ Let me say, Big Millies Backyard is no ordinary beach resort. Everyone knows you after you’ve been there for over 10 minutes. When we were signing in, I told Tom Sawyer (the ‘receptionist’) my name and he replied “why are you all named Halley? You must think of another name. I already have 2 Halleys and another one will just not do.” So I went by Anika….which turned into Monica……So now every time I go to Kokrobite, everyone calls me Monica. huh.
Maybe my favorite part of Big Millies is that for every meal, you order about 3 hours in advance and then everyone at the hotel sits down and eats together. Tom Sawyer told me that they do this because if not, the foreigners eat too late and then they’re too full to dance. Makes sense I guess! So we spent the rest of the weekend dancing, swimming, sunning and eating. There is another resort just up the road that’s owned by an Italian couple, so one night we treated ourselves to delicious homemade pastas and pizzas. It was truly a relaxing weekend.
We got back to Campus on Monday(I don’t
have Monday or Friday classes!), went to classes for a few days and then left again at 6am on Thursday morning. Destination: Mole National Park (AKA Our First Africa Safari). There was controversy as to whether or not we were going to be able to go since there has been devastating floods in the Northern regions of Ghana. Our director told us, however, that the roads to the National Park were still ‘passable.’ So started our next adventure. On the drive up, we stopped in Kumasi at the Lake Bosomtwe, largest natural lake in Ghana. Once we got off the bus, we were welcomed to cross the ‘local bridge,’ which is a piece of wood over a drain. Once across the local bridge, we were told about conservation efforts that have been made, mostly by an English couple, to keep the lake clean. We were told that in the last few years, the lake has been cleaned up so much that the fish are eatable and the water can be boiled and consumed. This is wonderful news as most of Africa has no access to fresh, drinkable water. The next morning we were up at 6 once again to continue
Waterfall
This picture doesn't even do it justice our trek to Mole.
We stopped about half way through to eat lunch and visit some waterfalls. The falls are in 3 parts. Part one is moderate, part 2 is kinda big…..and then a short hike later we arrived at part 3, which was amazing. Part 3 of the falls is 30 meters tall. You can feel the wind and mist coming off the water from about 100 feet away. I hope the pictures can describe it better!
Then came the safari. We showed up at Mole national park late at night, s we had no idea what we would wake up to. In the morning, we stepped onto our porches to find families of baboons sitting in every tree around. We looked past the baboons and saw a neverending savana, elephants, antelope, monkeys and all. The lodge was set up so that we could have a view of the watering hole, which is one of the best laces to try and spot wildlife. From there, we started our hike. Our guide was dressed perfectly with an all green safari outfit, hat and rifle. Our walk was about 3 hours long and consisted of us all just walking around
Elephant
This is the closest we dare get after the attack looking for animals. At one point, we heard the footsteps of something large, so we all crouched down. About 50 feet away, we could see elephant feet between bushes. Let me tell you something, elephants are no joke. They're HUGE and really aggressive. Our guide said that of all the animals is the park, he is the most frieghtened by elephants. So we followed behind them taking pictures and being amazed, when all the sudden the bull elephant lets of a roar and gets up on his back feets. Needless to say, was all screamed and ran. That afternoon we went on a different safari, this time in the Land Rover. This was like what you see in movies. half of the group was on the top of the truck, while we were inside with the guide and driver. It was one of those, 'Can my life get any better?' moments.
Since the safari, we haven't taken any big trips. I realized that staying in town on the weekend is the best way to meet Ghanaians and ever since I've made friends with more people, I have a hard time leaving. It's finally gotten to the point here where
Hog
just another shot from the safari it's just normal to be here, so it makes it harder to explain everything, you know? Some little things to let you all know our daily lives...
-Every Tuesday and Thursday at a place called Hypnotique is open mic night. Tuesdays is usually poetry and Thursdays are usually hip-hop. Its always fun and a lot of our American and African friends perform.
-The most popular place for college kids to hang out is at a gas station/restaurant called 'On The Run.' Its full of table and you can hang out, order beer and be seen. At first we thought it was kinda funny, but now it's normal and fun!
-The Ghanaian and Nigerian Kids think that Americans are crazy. Maybe it's because we're loud and always laughing or maybe it's because of our sense of humor, but wither way they seem to love us.
-The dorm we live in is full of the richest kids on campus so we have a kind of different view of Ghanaian life. A lot of our friends give us crap about hanging out with the rich kids, but I think it's good to see both sides.
-We are all getting the tannest of our
Monkey
A monkey that was extremely photogenic lives, even though we apply 30spf everyday. The weather is getting hotter, so even at 8am its around 90 f!!!!!!!!!!!!
-We've all gotten used to the food, which consists mostly of fermented corn paste that you dip into all different kinds of soup. At first I had a hard time eating a whole plate of it, but now I kinda crave it!!!
Well, I really don't know what else to say for now but I Love You ALL!!! We're heading to a new beach this weekend, so hopefully Ill come back with some more stories!! Thanks for reading, Halley
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Mieke
non-member comment
Wow!
Hi Halley, I so enjoy reading your travel blogs and look forward to receiving notice there's a new one. Your experiences sound awesome, i'm amazed at all that you are doing. Thank you for sharing! You're wonderful. We all love you. lots of love, Mieke