Special Guest Star: Seth in Ghana

After many months hounding Julie for blog posts on her various Nepali adventures, it was suggested that perhaps I would submit an entry myself. While I cannot hope to compete with images of the Himalayas, I’ll recount a bit of my recent trip to Ghana.

I am conducting my internship in the land-locked country of Burkina Faso. Given the fact that all my time in Africa has been spent in the Sahel and my craving to see the ocean for the first time in 7 months, I decided to head south to Ghana for Christmas. Landing in Accra, I quickly escaped the big city (though not before seeing Baba!) for the relative calm of Cape Coast, a couple hours west of the capital. For several days I indulged in early morning basketball games with local kids, followed by late afternoon football matches on the stunning beach, all taking place in the shadow of the famed Cape Coast Castle.

Cape Coast Castle

Ocean!

I had always wanted to see the slave forts of the Gold Coast, as it was through these structures that the vast majority of slaves headed for the New World passed. Touring the dark dungeons envisioning one thousand people crammed into the small space with the stifling air reminded me of seeing concentration camps in Europe. It was a powerful experience to run my hands along the same stones that witnessed so much misery, and walking through the Door of No Return brought goosebumps despite the day’s heat and humidity.

Male Dungeon

After getting my fill of history, I could feel more justified in playing the role of dumb American tourist enjoying the beach and visiting nearby Kakum National Park. This park, 35km north of Cape Coast is famous for having constructed Africa’s first canopy walkway – a string of 7 bridges 85 meters off the jungle floor.

Kakum Ntl Park

This was a bit of a personal challenge, as I am not one that does well with heights and upon seeing the walkway, I could not help but think of the rope bridge scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...The canopy walk went off without a hitch as there were so many things to distract me from the fact that I was so far above the ground – the early morning mist rising off the trees, the calls of monkeys echoing through the air, and the incredible diversity of greenery (lush vegetation is something my eyes craved as much as the ocean after so much time in the red-brown Sahel!). I enjoyed my time in the rainforest so much, I arranged for a ranger to take me on a hike a few hours deep into the forest, a bit off the beaten trail. During this time we were able to see some wildlife, including a sizeable green mamba on the trail!

Our intrepid explorer…

Leaving Cape Coast I headed northward by bush taxi (tro-tros), through Kumasi and Tamale, towards Mole National Park. The change in vegetation was striking, as the tropics steadily gave way to the more desiccated Sahel. Along the way I encountered several other travelers – one was a clingy American woman, the rest being largely from Holland and therefore quite a bit of fun – headed in the same direction. I spent Christmas day trekking through the park for hours on end, seeing all sorts of antelope, monkeys, baboons, crocodiles, birds, warthogs, and the tracks of leopards and hyenas.

Baboons

Mole is unique in that its one of the few parks where one can walk amongst the animals. My hope was to encounter the elephants for which Mole is famous, but none were willing to accommodate my wishes. Despite this, the experience was incredible.

Kob

Christmas dinner was one of the more genuinely enjoyable and memorable holiday meals. It began with a run-in with a brazen baboon intent on winning some easy calories from the table and ended at around 4:30am after a lot of beers (tends to happen when drinking with an Irishman and a number of Dutch people) and even more laughs. In between was a truly great dinner with a wide range of people, wide-ranging conversations, and a simple but satisfying meal. All in all, a great Christmas!

Heading back to Ouagadougou I was informed that the border was closed – for those both wishing to enter and exit Ghana – because of the elections. Luckily, I was able to stay with a very sweet English girl who was volunteering not 10km from the border and the aforementioned Irishman for a relaxing two days. This was a welcome pause, as overland travel in Africa is always an adventure; ‘schedules’ are often non-existent, and hugely unreliable if they are, buses and tro-tros break down constantly. I read a book recounting Stanley’s Congo exploration during my trip, and while nothing can compare to that, it is easy to feel like an explorer as you navigate the country by land.

After crossing into Burkina, my Christmas wish of spotting an elephant was suddenly fulfilled as a large grey mass was spotted crossing the road. I implored the tro-tro to stop, apologizing to the 25 or so people crammed inside, but the crazy white guy just needed to hop out and snap a few shots of the elephant.

My elephant, finally!

A wonderful cap to a tiring but very rewarding trip.

Hopefully this wasn’t too painful of a departure from Julie’s posts, but something is better than nothing…ahem, ahem! Julie’s turn now!