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Published: August 24th 2006
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I just returned home from dropping my mother among the mass of people at the airport here in Dakar and decided it may just be time for another update. I am thinking she is breathing a big sigh of relief as I fear West Africa (especially the heat) may have a bit more shocking than she expected. I will keep this blog free of boring stories of work or life here with our guards, etc…but instead I will share a few comments and pictures from our recent trip to Ghana.
I had to use a week of vacation so through a little research, Nicole and I determined that Ghana was our best option of places to go. Why you ask? Well it is pretty much the only country in this region that the weather is actually livable during August…and it is English speaking! YAY!!!
My mother, Nicole, and I headed out to Ghana not really knowing what to expect, but excited to learn more about another country in West Africa. We flew the local airline (Air Senegal) which was actually quite nice…with a stop in Monrovia (that I must admit took me a day or so to realize was
The Canopy walk of Kakum
I was very proud of my mom, never thought she would have done it! in Liberia). We quickly found that Ghana is a beautiful country. I definitely was in shock for the first few days...as there are some significant differences from Senegal:
- Besides the numerous local languages that are spoken, they speak English! Therefore, I was actually able to understand everyone AND read the signs. Sadly, I have learned to tune out most conversations around me these days as I don’t understand anything…so I was on information overload!
- It is so GREEN. I guess I should have expected as much, considering it lies just north of the equator…but for some reason I was not expecting the lush rainforests, abundance of crops, etc. This is MUCH different than the Senegal we have come to know.
- 45% of the population is Christian, the remaining being ‘traditional’ and a small percentage of Muslims. In Senegal, we see the signs of the Muslim religion everywhere, but (maybe because we were able to read more) religion seemed even more evident in Ghana. Almost every car, restaurant, and store front is a display of their faith. As opposed to the Madonna stickers we see on the buses here, you see stickers of Jesus on taxis, buses, etc.
Kente cloth
Here I am at the place where they made and sold the Kente cloth. This picture just cracks me up...the guy wanted to get his picture taken with each of us. in Ghana. I was most amazed by the creativity of the store names: some of my favorites being 'King of Kings Refrigeration Service' and 'In Him is Life Tailors Shop'.
- Another piece that cracked me up was how everywhere we walked we would have someone yelling "obruni" at us...which means white person. We get that here in Senegal ('toubab') as well, but usually just by small village children. In Ghana both young and old just seem to greet you that way. So instead of hello...just say 'white person!' with a big smile.
Upon arrival, we quickly learned that traveling around was not going to be any easier than Senegal. Therefore, we arranged for a driver (Johnny..who was absolutely wonderful) to spend 24-7 with us and show us the country and boy did we see it! Now the country itself is about twice the size of Nebraska (672 km tall and 540 km wide) but we managed to cover a very big portion of it. Actually we were able to cover a bigger portion than planned, as we ended up running into flight issues which delayed our return by 4 days. I have seen a lot of Ghana’s beautiful
scenery and thousands of villages through my backseat view of the car….and for the most part all of the driving wasn’t too bad. However, I promise from here on out, that I will never complain about potholes or paying tolls/taxes to keep up the roads back home. If Ghana ever wants to be able to expand on their tourism, updating (or rather creating) roads is a must. In some places it seemed as though they flew overhead with tons of wet cement and just dropped it on some dirt. We would drive for 2 minutes on a road, and then have to drive 2 minutes on sand/rocks, then back on cement, etc. It was definitely interesting. The roads up to Mole (the National Park up north) definitely were among the worst. We were lucky to have a good driver, as on our way back we came across some other tourists who were trying to drive too fast over all of the bumps, lost control and flipped their vehicle. Nice and slow is the key I guess, we drove 50km in about 2 ½ hours of bouncing up and down. The drive was worth it, however. No matter how many times
I try to tell people that West Africa is not like the ‘Africa’ we think of with all the big game, no one really believes it. Mole was the closest that we have to a safari in this part of the continent. During a safari walk (led by a guide with a gun of course), and just around our hotel inside the park, we were able to watch elephants, warthogs/boars, antelope, baboons, etc. in their natural environment. My favorite were the warthogs…they were so ugly that they were almost cute!
Besides Mole, we were able to experience much more of Ghana, including 3 different slave forts (or castles, as they call them). These places were huge. No matter how many times we walked in the areas where the slaves were kept, or looked at the living quarters (and even churches!) of the ‘masters’ right above, it was so hard to believe that any human could have done such things and felt OK with it...but sadly, to them it was a business and they just had a general indifference for the life of their fellow humans. We definitely learned a lot.
Our outdoor adventures included a visit to the
Baboons
I was outside reading one day, when a group of Baboons came up in the bushes right next to me. highest falls in West Africa (Wli waterfall), a hike up the tallest mountain in Ghana (not real tall, but nonetheless kicked my butt…the gym is calling my name!), and a leisure trip on the world’s largest artificial lake (Volta). That was actually quite interesting as this lake provides hydro-electric power to all of Ghana as well as 4 neighboring countries. We were also able to enjoy a canopy walk (a rope bridge strung about 40 meters above the trees of the rainforest ), and then a walk amongst the trees where we saw ebony trees (also called elephant’s comb, as they often use them to scratch their backs) and many others, all of which they find medical use for. The one that I remember is the mahogany which they call the natural Viagra. Who knew?!
I know that some of my mom’s favorite parts of the trip were our visits to see local craftwork done. The region is well known for their kente cloth (woven), adinkra (stamped cloth with Ashanti tribal symbols), woodwork, and beads. I definitely have a much greater appreciation for all the beads they have here…a lot of work goes into them.
Most of the
entire trip was great having the opportunity to learn more about the culture and see the different villages and the differences in tribes around the country. They are a very proud people, as they should be!
Ok, that is it for now. Sadly, we are wrapping up our final week here in Senegal and will soon be off to the UK, so I will have to work quickly on sending out my final Senegal blog!
Hope everyone had a wonderful summer back home…I can’t believe fall is quickly approaching already!
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Maria
non-member comment
Wow
That bug is huge! Ghana looks gorgeous. And Pumba! Cool! :-) I've had flight delays but never for four days! I'll never complain about an hour delay again. Anyway, I'm glad you had such a good time.