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Published: March 27th 2010
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Lake Bosumtwi
Fuzzy fell out... Here are some random photos of what we have done so far....
I know its been a long time since we last wrote but here is a summary of the more exciting things that we've done....
We went on a boat trip that started out just cheery but then the boat began to take on a little too much water resulting in mild flooding! We had to stop by a bank whilst the driver got a jug and started bucketing out the water..... All the scary little bugs started fleeing from under the woodwork and ran across us, was not pleasant. However we did see the funny side of drowning though! Thankfully another boat came to our rescue, it was bigger and i guess it could take our weight better without drowning! (there were 13 of us so its not like we were being fatty's ....).
When we did finally get to the village we were boating out to see it was like there was a little festival going on!
Once a week after the women of the town finish making pots and other clay products they take them out to this field were they cover them in dry
Kintampo Falls
Aslo known by locals as Saunders Falls!!! plants and other natural excellerants and then set fire to them, its like a massive natural kiln! Whilst we were waiting for the fire to start all the kids from the village came to play with us, they were unbelievably sweet! They chose who they liked best and then stuck with them! We did get to see the women making the massive pots and things whilst we waited too, it seemed like a lot of hard work even though one lady managed to make like 14 of these large vase/pot things in just under 4 hoursish maybe less! So it was a bit like a little factory! The fire itself was just massively hot! Did not help that it was generally hot as well! But it was an extremely enjoyable afternoon!
The worst part of the trip so far has to be saying bye to our local tour guide GP (grand pere) he was the most lovely person! His catch phrase was 'hakuna matata - in Africa we don't have problems, we only have solutions!' We were very sad to say bye to him!
But things did start to look up when we got to spend two nights
in a HOTEL! A massive rariety! this was in Burkina Faso - Bobo Dioulasso! We got to check out the sacred fish! They were like massive cat fish with tenticles near they're mouth, they sound a little more exciting then they actually are.... but what was special about them was the fact the people of the animalist faith believed that if you sacrificed a chicken (whilst your doing this you ask for your hearts desire) and then gut its and feed the entrails to the fish the gods would answer your prayer! And if it did happen then you had to come back and give the fish presents (goats/sheep or multiple chicken entrails!). It was a hard walk to get there and was a little dissapointed after the fish had been built up so much by the crew but still it was pretty good!
We then went to see the old village the next day which wasn't all that exciting but it was still interesting and cool that people still lived there! We also went to a restuarant owed by nuns, they sung Ava Maria. It was very mellow and welcoming! The food there was pretty good too! I
Paga sacred crocs
Sitting on sacred crocs... total safe... also managed to convince someone at the cathedral to give Harriet and me a private tour all using my poor french skills! The man was very nice and although it was a little difficult translating his french at times but i think we did a pretty good job! And the final exciting part of Bobo was seeing the famous naked man! We didn't actually purposely wander to a place to see him, apparently he wanders the streets naked everyday and the locals don't even care any more! We just happened to wander past him by chance and were very quick to wander away again!
We made our back to Ghana after 2 fabulous days with our own rooms and toilets only to be greeted by our wonderfully squishy tents again! joy. But it wasn't all bad, we made our way to Mole National Park! One of the biggest naional parks in Ghana, it was very exciting seeing as when we were headed for the campsite in the park we were greeted by warthogs! We went on an early morning tour through the park the next day where we were able to see a lot of different types of deers,
warthogs and baboons but we were massively dissapointed that we didn't get to see any elephants! But just as we sat down to have a late breakfast the elephants turned up! We decided we'd go on a jeep safari later in the afternoon! As we were having our meal of omelettes a monkey with a baby attached to her belly came round and started stealing food from some of the guests! It was very amusing to watch, thankfully we'd finished eating so didn't suffer under the hands of the thieving monkey! We managed to make friends with these dutch people who were organising a jeep and we hopped on! Even though we got some good pictures and saw lots of animals we still didn't manage to see elephants! As we were headed back though the jeep driver decided we wouldn't go back till we'd spotted elephants! He picked up some tracks and there magically like 100 meters from camp round the corner there were elephants!!!!!! it was amazing! they were ridiculously close! We made our way back to camp extremely excited only to be told that the elephants had walked through the camp! but still we were very happy!
At
the campsite though some kids of the tour guide from the community they stayed at came to hang out with us! We played a little frisbee and one of the was very good at spotting animals! and later in the evening the girls from the village came and preformed for us, a little dancing and some generally childrens games (all these kids were under 14 or so....)! At the end of the night one of the 12 year old boys had decided I was his girlfriend! he mentioned it to one of the crew it was midly embarrasing but very sweet! They left us their address and are waiting for us to send the pictures that they took on my camera and all the pictures of them! They've got a while to wait!
To skip forward a few days we ended up at Brenu Beach near Cape Coast! We had our own part of the beach where we set up our tents! it was pretty cool! The Beach was very picturesque and cool weather wise! Whilst we were there we managed to volunteer at the Saber Trust and had to paint the walls of the classrooms at a local
school! we got very messy but did a grand job i think! But we ran out of paint and time and didn't get a chance to do one classroom! the teacher was soooo disappointed it was heartwrenching! But the kids appreciated what we had done!
We were able to travel down to Cape Coast Castle where we learnt about the slave trade and the horrid things that happened and the awful conditions slaves stayed in before being shipped to other countries! We also went to Elmina Castle which was very similar! Went to a very cool vege cafe in Cape Coast which was also a charity, very trendy!
The tour's over now and we were very sad to say bye to all the new friends we'd made but we're in Ho now and about to start volunteering so no time to dwell on that sad fact!!
The blog should be more regular now that we're in one place but it may not be as exciting! So stay tuned!
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Heather
non-member comment
Hey Harriett and Fazila, I enjoyed your Africa post. I have always wanted to go there. My blog is looking for some good travel photos. If you have the time, email us some at dirtyhippiesblog@gmail.com or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Heather