Advertisement
Published: November 7th 2008
Our trip up to the Northern part of Ghana started off by our ISEP director telling us that you can’t just take any bus up to Mole- which makes one wonder why. Well, we found out why. Through this trip, I found out just how reliable the transportation is in Ghana- about as reliable as a teenage girls emotions are- completely unpredictable. We went through 4 vehicles on this trip up north.
Friday started out hopeful- there was this nice, air conditioned bus waiting out in the parking lot. I brought a blanket, last time I got really cold on this bus. Well, the air conditioning did not work too well this time, but it was OK, still had plenty of room in the bus. So we made this trip up north a two day one, we stopped in Kumasi for the night. We stayed at this hotel called Treasure Land Hotel in Kumasi. There was a pool that was pretty gross but I still got in it. We stayed overnight and we left at 5 am the next morning so we could get to Kintampo Falls faster, well that was the plan. We got down the road and then the bus started making sounds that didn’t sound right. Sure enough, we broke down. So while our tour guide was trying to arrange for alternate transportation we sat outside the bus in this village that we happened to be passing through for 3 hours. I was sitting on this gutter with 3 others from my group and slowly we started noticing that we had an audience of children just standing and watching. They grew from like 3 or 4 kids to 20 kids just staring at us, waiting for us to do something I guess, I don’t really know. So after about 3 hours we find out that the other transportation had not gotten there because our bus driver did not want to lose the job so he refused to tell the other bus driver where we were. Instead he decided to fix the bus. Why he didn’t fix the bus while we were waiting the whole time is beyond me. So the bus is fixed, temporarily, and we make our way to a waterfall. It was pretty. It wasn’t a hike like the one from the weekend before so that was exciting. We got to get in and play in the waterfall with everyone else so that was fun. There were these rocks at the bottom that you could climb up to sit underneath but it was really tricky getting up because it was so slippery. Sure enough, as we were climbing someone in the front slipped and caused us to all get taken out. It was pretty funny. After the waterfall we found out the bus was finished so we had to wait for more transportation. As we were waiting I saw this trotro pulling in and jokingly said ‘there it is guys!’. I was right. We got to make the rest of the journey in 2 trotros. And this is where the real fun began.
So we all pile into these trotros. There is no space for anything. We have all the windows open because it was so hot. Once we got off the paved road we proceed to go down one of the worst roads I’ve been on since being here in this country... for 2 hours. We were covered head to toe once in dust we got out. You would think that since Mole National Park is one of the bigger tourist attractions in Ghana there would be a better road to get there.
Once we arrived we ate and got eaten alive but we were told that we were going on a safari the next morning and we would be able to see monkeys, elephants, and all that stuff.
We woke up and went on this safari at 6 am. We didn’t see any elephants. But I did get charged at by an angry warthog as soon as I came out of my room that morning.
We then went to this village near by to see the oldest Mosque in Ghana and the ‘mystic stone’. Apparently this stone was there because no one could move it and it protected the village. While we were in this village though, these two little girls came up and just held my hand the entire time. We were warned about that, and by the fact that most people just used the kids to try and get money from us. These little girls couldn’t really speak English though and just held my hand while we walked around.
We went on another safari that afternoon. No elephants.
So that was that. We got back in our trotros Monday morning at 5 am and set off. As we were going along, wouldn’t you know that one of the trotros breaks down. So we’re on the side of the road again, but this time there is no village… just a random house with cows that came too close while we were peeing in the field.
The bus that broke down before was apparently fixed so it came and picked us up about an hour later. Well that bus didn’t last too long. We got a flat tire, but fortunately we happened to be right across from this random banana stand on the road. We made friendly with the women and I made a new friend, Tony. He was the cutest baby boy I have ever seen. If he didn’t have a mother already I would’ve brought back the ultimate souvenir from here.
The tire was fixed, so we thought, and we were off. As soon as we reached Kumasi I noticed there was something wrong with our bus because for the first time since I’ve been here, the people weren’t pointing at all the obronis on the bus, they were pointing at the bus. We get off to find that the tire had been rubbing the wheel rim thingy and had worn it down. So we wait for another bus. I got to get some other things while I was there though (found your gift mom).
The final bus comes and we make it back to the University. This trip was supposed to be 12 hours… ended up being the best 18 hour day of my life. O yea, we all got really sick too from this trip. It must have been something we all ate. Two people ended up in the hospital and I had a lovely week of sitting on the toilet.
I would like to add that while on this trip, my mother called to tell me about the passing of Gram. I received the call on Saturday around 11:25 pm. I just want to say that it has been very difficult being away from the family during this whole ordeal and I wish I could’ve been there.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 13; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0487s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
mom
non-member comment
"ultimate souvenir"
I had to write a comment because this blog entry doesn't have any comments yet. You are encouraged to leave the ultimate souvenir there in Ghana. This trip doesn't sound as exciting as your others but between luxury transportation arrangements and everyone getting ill, it would be hard to have a good time. and..............