Days 65 to 78 – Weeks 11 to 12 (8th January 2007 to 21st January 2007)
Our entry into Ghana was one not to be taken lightly. Our feelings of excitement and the want to further progress along our chosen path came to an abrupt halt. One minute everything seemed to be running like clockwork until we were told that that current visas we held (and had organized from the UK) were not valid and would not allow us to enter the country !!! Differing opinions on when our visas were supposed to expire were given from both sides. Our not so chirpy border officials repeatedly explained that we would have to return to Ouga in B.Faso to apply for a new visa. Meaning that we would have to again purchase fresh visas also for B.Faso – as we had only but already exited a couple of minutes prior. Luckily for us – the chance of "negotiation" was being initiated by the officials – so we parked our backsides down to await the long winded outcome. With a couple of hours wait and the constant ping ponging of our brown nosed claims of "our excitement to enter Ghana and how we couldn't possibly go back to B. Faso" – we finally made some grounds. Usually the term "negotiation" would swiftly mean "pay up" or piss off !!! There are no two meanings held when the word "negotiation" is brought up in these border situations – only one very obvious meaning usually coupled with handing over a crisp and pricey handshake. But to our total surprise – we were handed back our passports and documents with nothing more than a goodbye. No backhander was asked or given – which signalled to us that we should get on the road and out of there a.s.a.p. Hopefully the eventual good nature of the officials would carry over for when we exited Ghana in a few weeks.
It did not take long for Ghana to show us even more changes in the climate, culture, environment and language (back to English to the relief and ease of a lot of us). Lush green forests and arable lands filled with plantation and crops we had not seen in the dry desert like lands we had been passing through in the last few weeks. The muggy / hot weather catching a lot of us out and causing a bit of heat and sun stroke amongst a few of us. Water is our best friend at the moment – with the litres getting downed to an ever increasing rate.
As we headed towards Mole National Park (our 1st major wildlife drawcard on the trip) – we stopped off in Tamale to restock on food and water. This also gave us the chance to rekindle the angst (no joy found here) in using proper banking facilities and over the counter service since Morocco. Nothing to be excited about really – seeing as it took more than a few hours to change just cash.
Our visit to Mole N.P. was greeted with views of the resident African elephants at the watering holes down below. Our prime elevated viewing spot atop the rocky plateau, made for quiet time marvelling at nature and another of its amazing gifts to Africa – one of many to come for us. Also keeping our guard with the cheeky and inquisitive baboons was also a priority – let alone the tusked warthogs roaming free through the grounds of our rest camp. Some luxury was bestowed on the group at Mole – luckily for them that no camping is permitted here anymore (due to inquisitive animals making themselves at home in peoples tents and stealing food) – meaning that the Local Payment had to open up the coffers and stretch out the funds to cover rooms with beds for everyone. A bad choice on the restcamps behalf mind you – as the pressed white sheets and towels did not stay very white after we had been through the place – never to be the same again. Even though we had only left civilization a few days ago and had only done two BC's before getting here – it doesn't usually take us long to look like total vagrants rather than ambassadors to our respective nations. Quite shocking to think what we actually look like at times to the locals – as even in some the poorest of societies we pass through – the adults always seem to look clean and well kept and even wearing the brightest of white whites.
Afternoon and early morning game walks through the park allowed us to get up close to some of the resident elephants, bush bucks, warthog, antelope and many bird species. Some of us were lucky enough to see a good handful of elephants very close, either while they went about eating through the scrub, or right by the banks of one of the watering holes as they drank and cooled off. Awesome !!!
As the weather warms up – it is also apparent that we needed more chances to cool off as well – especially as we were still a few days away from our palm fringed beachside retreats. We were lucky enough to find a great hideaway at a place called Kintampo. Not in any of the guidebooks – we had a bit of info about the some good waterfalls situated in this area. We arrived just after closing time, and noticed that the staff were all waiting at the entrance for their bus home. After some negotiating – they allowed us to camp in the grounds and allowed to use the falls for the rest of the night. One of the best showers we could have asked for.
Continuing on with our wildlife theme – we left Mole and continued south towards the villages of Baobeng and Fiema where the locals have set aside 4.5 square kms of prime forest for the protection of the Mona Monkey and the black / White Collubus Monkey. These monkeys are revered in their local society and it is forbidden to kill or harm them – hence the reason why there is a monkey cemetery set up in a section of the forest. No Bushmeat available here !!!! – but we have started seeing huge rodent type animals / bush rat being displayed by the roadside as we travel through the country – not just the odd one or two – but many either displayed hanging by their tales after being freshly killed from the forest, or either spread eagled after being cooked over open fire. Mmmm – Im still waiting for the "Yum" factor to kick in with this one !!!! Doesn't really have the same ring to it as Grilled Chicken or Beef – does it??
With the help of a local guide we walked through the forest and around trees which were at least 200+ years old – even giving a chance for some of the guys to practice their cheeky monkey antics by climbing through some of the aged hollow tree's. The major highlight though was to see the different monkey's (lucky for us to see any really – seeing as we were a large group all trampling through the fallen dry leafy floor and disturbing everything in our path). Especially seeing the baby monkey's clutching to their mother's undercarriage whilst she catapulted them together from tree to tree.
The town of Kumasi saw us camped up at Presbyterian Guesthouse for a few nights. Not really the most appropriate or socially correct of camps we could have stayed at – but one of the only ones in town that can accommodate a truck and group of our size. The collection of empty beer bottles by the truck didn't go down too well with one of the resident priests who had a look of dismay on his face at the "ungodly" sight – oops. Hopefully we can make up for our sins somewhere further down the line. Our good deeds at the orphanage in Ouga should have scored us a few brownie points in advance – just !!!
With every major city along our path – a major Marche is awaiting us around the corner – and Kumasi having the largest in all of West Africa, was no exception. Spilling out and around all the neighbouring area, anything and everything can be found. For most of us it was a food orientated day – streetfood from anywhere and everywhere was being shovelled into our expanding stomachs. From yam chips, to coconut milk, local toffee, freshly cut pineapple and watermelon and freshly cooked chicken and stir fry rice to die for. Local fried egg sandwiches are a late night specialty all through Ghana – ready to ease the midnight munchies.
All along our trail through Ghana – we would have many laughs by the local Ghanaian road and shop signs depicting all sorts of biblical and religious sayings, usually coupled with blatant business needs – "In God We Trust Haircuts" – "Clap You Hands for Jesus Enterprises" – "Heads Up and Chest Out, You Belong to a Proud Army Brigade" !!!!! Everything from Haircuts to sandwich ladies to phone card vendors would use their prophetic and religious quotes in front of their business name. Advertisement for all sorts of things is everywhere throughout Ghana – with the 1st real strong signs we've seen of billboards educating and spreading the word on different medical issues such as AIDS, and other transmittable diseases and health issues. Even advertisements for Herbal / bush doctors (and real life photos of many unsavoury and problematic and unhealthy outcomes in the genital area) had a strong advertising presence here.
Kakum National Park was a pitstop that allowed us to camp amongst the forest and also to escalate or quash our fear of heights. The chance to walk through the forest canopy at an average height of 34 metres above the forest floor, was taken up by most of us. Being suspended in mid air on walkways between seven viewing platforms was not everyone's cup of tea – but luckily they were built around massive hardwood and sturdy trees – well we hoped.
A short drive led us to what is known as the Cape Coast and our 1st view of the Atlantic ocean in many weeks. The whole coast line between Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cote D'Ivoire was infamous for its partaking in events associated with the slave trade. We visited Cape Coast Castle – one of the main sights of where the British Slave Trade operated from, along with Elmina Castle from which the Portugese operated their trading. These days, the many forts and castles along the once lucrative trading coast line are either protected world heritage sights or in a state of ruin – but the main priority with offering these sights as tourist destinations is to educate and pass on the events of history so that injustice to humankind as it occurred is not permitted again – we hope not.
The next week gave us the chance to unwind and relax on the beach and wash away any overlanding cobwebs that had formed. Falling asleep to the sound of the ocean must be one of the best ways to signal the end of a stress free day. We experimented with a few different beach retreats along the coast – and one of the favourites being at Busua beach on the western coast. The cleanest water we have found so far in Ghana and a chilled out camp made for some good relaxed days. At Anamabu – some early risers got the chance to see baby leather back turtles making the scramble from the sand to the water – this only happens every 10 days or so when it is the hatching season – so luck was on our side here. Our arrival at Kokrobite (better known as the Carribean of Africa – due to the heavy presence of rasta culture and the associated chill factor here) was welcomed with local drumming and dancing at the campsite where we were staying. All the better for us to be able to celebrate Beccies 24th birthday in style. The fact that the campsite had probably more people than we had seen in the whole of Africa also made for a party atmosphere. We got to hang out with the Bukima and Af Trails trucks for a few days (we hadn't seen them since Marrakesh) – with some of us a bit scared to socialize at first, as it had been so long since we had been around anyone other than our own little insular group. But it didn't take us long to get in the swing of things and make new buddies.
Making our way to Accra for a couple of nights allowed the group to catch up on communication back home and also the chance to pick up some more letters from the post. Luckily, there were no pretend love letters needing to be written as in Bamako – and all the expected mail was received without a hitch (to the joy of our broken hearted love struck wonders !!) In Accra – we farewelled our gentle giant Pete. A professional overlander by travelling nature – he was hanging up the boots for a while and heading back to Blighty to be with his better half. Good luck Pete and hope to see you in Cape Town for a drink. Accra also saw some beards and bushy heads get a well deserved trim – the boys deciding that looking clean and cute for the ladies was better than looking bear and wolverine like.
English speaking Ghana had a lot of expectations for most of us. From ease of verbal communication (rather than our ramble of broken French) to some touches of western treats(like supermarkets filled with goodies we may not have seen for a while and restaurants offering taste bud teasing treats) to seeing and being in the ocean after such a long stretch – all is good.
We hope that you enjoy the rest of our insight into the Trans Africa – as much as we are enjoying being here and living it. We will be posting through another update in the not too distant future – this time coming from a different member of the group each week (that's if their not having too much fun !!!!). Keep posted as we journey through the next stage of the trip to the unexpected challenges ahead through the lesser travelled countries of Togo, Benin and then onto Nigeria, Cameroon, DRC, Congo and Angola before getting to the familiar territory of Namibia and South Africa.
)
)
)
)