Travel-time!

The past two weeks I had great company from Germany, precisely Berlin. My good friend Thomas came, I picked him in Accra (after two bussed broke down from Wa to Accra) and we had the best time ever, enjoying Ghana as much as possible.  This is the tour we did:

Start in Accra ( in the garden of Agoo Hostel, great place!)

Keeping the stay in Accra short we went to Volta Region after just one night in the capital. Two volunteers from Germany are near Hohoe and we stayed with them for two nights. The 5 hour drive there was crazy because we not only travelled in a trotro packed with 2000 plastic sandals but also with the most crazy driver I have ever met in Ghana. Nobody in the tro spoke as I guess that they were praying in silence, begging to survive this trip.
Hohoe welcomed us with "lights off" which is the local way to say that the electricity is out. We had a romantic candle light dinner with the other two volunteers Paul and Lennart.
The next day we went to see the Wli waterfalls. We were lucky because we were pretty much the only people there and had the chance to swim and let the water slam down on our bodies. Next two the waterfalls there was a colony of bats living. At some point they all started flying at once and the sky turned black.

Lennart & Paul 

Wli waterfalls

bats at the waterfalls

After the waterfalls we went to taste some of the locally made palm wine. Yammieee!

The next day, March 6th, was Ghanaian Independence day. After a speech by the local chief we watched the school children of the village march, enjoyed some of the snacks sold and chilled for the rest of the day.

local chief

a girl selling bananas and peanuts at the festivities

school children march to celebrate the day

some of the school children

In the evening time we went to a rap competition and hopped on the 2 a.m. bus to Kumasi. Guess what! 4 hours later the bus broke down in a village and we were stranded for another four hours waiting for the bus to be repaired.

unexpected bus stop at 6 in the morning

finding some rest in the next village until the bus got fixed

When we got to Kumasi we only needed 3 hours to find our hotel =). We stayed at the colonial style Hotel de Kingsway, which however offered all we needed. The next day we visited the Kumasi Central market, which is supposed to be the biggest of West Africa. But well, it was not all that exciting. Afterwards we entered the Kumasi Fort where we had a small guided tour and looked at 300 guns and 200 pictures of former generals and soldiers. Not all that exciting either. But Kumasi itself has a great flair and you just feel comfortable. So comfortable that I completely forgot to take pictures!

After just one night we took a night mini bus to Tamale. It must have been the sweatiest place with the smallest seats ever. On every side my neighbours were so close that our bodies were producing an enormous heat. And guess what! We had to change the tire in the middle of the night. But we got to Tamale, found the next bus to Bolgatanga quickly and took a Taxi (that we shared with 6 people plus driver) to Sirigu and arrived at our beautiful lodge.

The next day we went to Paga where we took a tour through Pikworo Slave camp. Then we visited the crocodile pond. I still can't believe that I paid for a chicken to be thrown into the crocodile's mouth. So there was a pond with crocs inside. As soon as we approached with a screaming chicken they started coming. The oldest and fattest one (too many chickens?) came and laid quietly. The chicken was thrown into the mouth directly. I think it had a fast death but for no reason anyway. SORRY dear chicken!

alive chicken

dead chicken, happy tourist!

fat croc!

From here on we had fantastic travel company from the UK. Navi accompanied us for three days and we enjoyed her British humor a lot. The three of us made our way from Sirigu to Mole National Park. On the way we met a group of 7 Germany going there as well. Now I felt like a real tourist. We spent the whole day travelling. Of course one of the trotros broke down and we delayed. In the end we arrived at Mole late at night, ate and slept.

In the morning we went on a walking tour with Calma, a funny Ghanaian guide. At 7 am we walked with a group of 6 or so and were lucky enough to meet a big group of elephants. Warthogs were crossing and we also saw different types of antelopes (kobs, bush bucks, water bucks).

When we came back I chatted with one of the workers behind the dorm rooms and while we were sitting there all quietly a group of baboons came and chewed some of the dawadawa. As they threw some of the delicious seeds to the ground a warthog and a bush buck mommy and her baby came really close to us, not noticing we were there.

Later some green monkeys decided to try some of the dawadawa as well. The same evening we went on a jeep safari, which was rather unexciting but worth the feeling of cruising through the park on top of a jeep.

The next day we went on our next mission: Hippos! We were stranded in Larabanga (the village that forms the entrance to Mole National Park) for a bit because all the trotros passing were full. Finally, a full one was nice enough to squeeze us inside. Before getting to our destination, the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary, we ended up having to walk 2 hours because the Taxi drivers wanted to rip us off. In the end a big truck picked us up and allowed us to sit on the loading space. From the Wechiau visitor's center we were picked by a Motorking and went another hour until we arrived at hour tree platform where we spent the night. This was amazing. We woke up to the loud chirping of birds, insects and just very intense sounds. And then: Hippos. We went on a small canoe and found a group of sleeping hippos very soon. Unfortunately, we had to stay far away as we didn't want to give them reason to worry.

From Wechiau our next and final destination was Wa. This was the most Ghanaian experience ever. Wechiau had market day and somebody bought 20 goats and 3 sheep that somehow had to get to Wa with us. So 5 were seated under us and enjoyed to wet Thomas' legs. While the rest had to go on the roof. Unfortunately the road was bumpy and in total three fell off the roof. However, they had a rope around their neck and dangled until the trotro stopped. They actually survived this torture.

a goat between my feet in the trotro

In Wa we noticed how exhausted we were and relaxed for the weekend. Thomas had the chance to go to church and went back to Accra/Berlin on Sunday. Those two weeks were just the best intense travelling you can wish for.