Hi Again!
Well, I am on my last few days here in Ghana. Next Friday I leave for Accra and fly out on Monday night. If my flights cooperate, I should arrive in State College Tuesday afternoon, June 2! Hard to believe I will be back enjoying a nice hot shower and wonderful brewed coffee in just 10 days!
I have hit a large snag here in Ghana. My computer has decided to stop working. I have no idea what might be the problem, since it won’t even power-up. Hopefully, Dell tech support at Penn State can fix everything. Well, only a few days left, right?
Anyway, I recently went on vacation to the Northern part of Ghana. I rented a truck and driver for the week and took along a friend from UMaT, who acted sort of like my tour guide. We began our trip Tuesday by traveling to Kumasi, which is about three hours north of Tarkwa. Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana and the capital of the Ashanti Kingdom. The Ashanti people are the largest and most powerful tribe in Ghana. The Ashanti King sits on the Golden Stool, which was delivered directly to the Ashanti people from heaven centuries ago. Most people in Ghana, whether Ashanti or not, believe in this divine intervention from above. The Ashanti Chief, Nana Tutu, is reportedly the most powerful man in Ghana (even more so than the President) and is possibly the wealthiest man in West Africa.
In Kumasi, we visited the Cultural Center and Chief Museum to see many of the artifacts of the ancient Ashanti people. There were replicas of the Golden Stool and several weapons used when the Ashanti leaders went to war. They conquered almost everyone in the Western Region of Ghana. We also toured around Kejetia Market; the largest open market in West Africa. Almost 10,000 traders operate within the 12-hectare area. Very crowded! We spent the night at the university guest house in Kumasi and prepared for the next travel day.
On Wednesday, we started off for Techiman, another 2 hours north of Kumasi. There are three tourist attractions in Techiman: Tano Sacred Grove, Buoyem Bat Caves, and Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary. We stopped at the monkey sanctuary first, primarily because I really like seeing wild animals. We hiked around this wooded area and spied the two monkey species that live there, the mona and the black-and-white colobus. The mona monkeys are very tame and friendly. They will eat out of your hand and come close to you. The colobus stay partially hidden in the trees, well out of petting range.
Mona Monkey (top); Colobus (middle); Joanna hanging out by a tree (bottom)



After a couple hours at the monkey sanctuary, we headed over to the bat caves. Well, first we got lost, but Shamo put us back on course after an hour detour. The caves were a bit more of an adventure than I was looking for. The caves were in this small village, miles from anything, along a rough road. We hiked a couple of miles to the caves in the heat. I didn’t bring any water because the guide said it wasn’t far, but he and I obviously have different ideas of “far”. We got to the first cave (no bats there), where the people of this area hid from the ever-warring Ashanti. We traveled a little further to the second cave, where the fruit bat colony lives. Here is where my story gets interesting. First we had to climb down to the cave entrance. Our guide, in flip-flops, scurried down and awaited Shamo and I at the bottom. Shamo took one step down and slid the rest of the way on his butt. He didn’t get hurt, but I was wondering how I was going to get down without completely embarrassing myself. Well, I took two steps and then slid the rest of the way on my butt. However, I think I had far better form! Once at the cave entrance we were told we would have to climb on our hands and knees through this tunnel to the area where the bats live. Now, Shamo is a big guy, as can be seen by his pictures, and he was very concerned that he would not fit through the tunnel…yes, it was that tight. But we had made it this far and I can get very stubborn about things. I convinced him it would be fine and we followed our guide through the tunnel. The tunnel was about 10 meters long, but it felt like 10 miles. We finally made it to where the bats were, but it was too dark to see anything, but you could hear them and that freaked me out. There was a ladder out of this area of the cave, but once you reached the top of the ladder, you were faced with a rock wall with vines. Our guide told us we needed to scale the wall to the top. Shamo and I just looked at each other with disbelief. We were both exhausted and I was seriously thinking that I could not climb that wall. The wall was only 5 meters tall or so, but I knew that this was tall enough for me to injure myself. Again our sandal footed guide climbed up the wall like spider-man and waited at the top for Shamo and I to do the same. Shamo climbed next with some difficulty, but made it to the top fairly quickly. Now I felt that I HAD to climb that wall to prove how tough I am! I got about half-way to the top, lost my footing and skidded down to the bottom. I rested for a while before my next climb wondering how much it was going to hurt when I fell the second time, but to my amazement (and everyone elses) I made it up to the top. My poor bunions were aching as we hiked back to the village. Once we got back to the car, the nice guide offered me mangos, which I devoured. A woman came out of one of the huts and spoke to the guide for a moment, while he watched us eat. Turns out the woman was in labor and was wondering if we could take her and her sister to the main road for them to get a taxi to Techiman. I would like to say my decision to take her all the way into Techiman was completely altruistic, however, I knew once we headed back into the town, we could find a hotel and I could rest. She was very happy when I said we could take her all the way into town and I am also happy to report that she didn’t have the baby in the car!
We spent the night in Techiman and decided to go to Tano Sacred Grove in the morning. This worked out well, since I could barely walk down the hall to my hotel room. Tano is a forested area with lots of interesting landforms and some caves. It was not an easy hike, but it was far better than the bat cave experience.
Shamo making a climb in Tano Grove:


Joanna at a small cave entrance in Tano Grove.

After this two hour hike, we traveled up to Kintampo falls and then continued on to Mole National Park near Tamale.
Shamo and I at Kintampo Falls:
Mole is a wildlife reserve where you can find deer, crocodiles, wild boar, and elephants, among other things. We arrived in time for the afternoon hike on Thursday. Our guide was kind, but not as knowledgeable as I would have liked. I think I drove him crazy with all my questions. He knew a lot about the animals in the park, but very little about the plants. The nature walk was nice and relaxing. The surrounds were flat and well traveled and we stopped often to watch the animals. We stayed at the hotel at the park and you could see lots of animals, primarily monkeys and wild boars, around the rooms and buildings. The monkeys can be a bit of a nuisance, since they rummage though the garbage cans and will come very close to you while you are eating. Friday we did the early morning hike and got to see the elephants bathing and mudding themselves. After they bathe, they spread mud all over themselves to protect themselves from the heat and sun. Friday afternoon was spent relaxing.
Animals in Mole:







We left Mole on Saturday morning at 6 am and drove straight through to Tarkwa in about 12 hours. It was a great vacation, but I was happy to be home again.
I hope you are all well back in the US. I hear summer weather is finally there, just in time for my arrival!
I will see you all soon!!