Northern Ghana Adventures

Nightlife in Kumasi

Red wine and endless free popcorn!!!
Pretty much my happy place.

Margaret the birthday girl and me at the Golden Tulip

I finally got to see some nightlife in Kumasi!! Margaret, who works in accounting at GCUC, and two of her friends picked me up last Friday evening around 7:30 to go into town and celebrate Margaret's birthday. I was pretty exhausted from the week of interviewing and visiting clinical sites and I was leaving at 8am the next day to travel to Northern Ghana with Albert but I was SO excited to have an opportunity to get dolled up and go out on the town I didn't care! I was pretty shocked when we pulled up at the Golden Tulip Hotel since it is the fanciest hotel here in Kumasi and I was expecting something more local but it was a nice first stop. We had some champagne in the lobby and listened to a local band play Sade and other random light rock/jazz music before heading out.

Ekua
(she was born on Wednesday like me
so we share that Ghanaian name)

Unfortunately it started raining (rainy season here means random downpours that don't last that long but are extremely heavy) so instead of going to the venue with the live band, which was outdoors, we headed to another bar close by. While I was sad to miss the local band with dancing it was quite fun just to hang out with the girls (and one guy), drink wine and observe the most random crowd I've seen here so far. It was a mixture of Asian, European (maybe some Americans) and Ghanaians and included some really creepy older men, some local prostitutes and other tourists playing pool, eating, and drinking. Totally fascinating and a great time.

Tamale and the Plantain/Guinea Fowl Exchange

Albert brought Nips! My Mom used to \
always have Nips in her car...
I got nostalgic over candy

While backpacking through Ghana is absolutely do-able, it definitely requires quite a bit of time to make all the transfers from tro-tro to tro-tro or from STC bus to tro-tro to shared taxi, etc. Thanks to Albert, GCUC's founder for those that forgot, I got to travel half the length of Ghana in one weekend since we had a private car and a driver. It was traveling in Africa luxury style. Albert and our driver Kingsley picked me up at 8am in Albert's air conditioned Toyota Suburban and off we went. When I say driver I literally mean that Albert and I sat in the back and we were chauffeured...it felt kind of ridiculous but I can't complain.

(Short tangent re Ghanaian Names: Ghanaians pretty much all have four names I've learned. They are all born with a Ghanaian name that is the day you were born, so I am Ekua since I was born on Wednesday, then you have your family name, then you have your given Ghanaian name that is usually a prominent family member's name and then when you are baptized or the equivalent, you get your British name).

Plantains!

Albert had bought a bunch of used books written about Ghana and I had my Ghana guide book to read about where we were going and where we wanted to stop along the way. It took us an hour just to get out of Kumasi after stopping for gas and snacks and with the traffic leaving the city but again we had a driver so life was good.

Our drive up to Bolgatanga, the biggest town in the North, on Saturday was an 8 hour procession so we took a break in Tamale, about half way through, to meet a friend of Albert's and exchange plantains for smoked and dried Guinea Fowl. Plantains are available mostly in the South so we picked some up on our drive toward Tamale. Guinea Fowl is a delicacy of the North so we would stop by Tamale on our way back to Kumasi to pick up the smoked meat. It was quite the exchange.

Linda and her family were absolutely wonderful. We only stayed a short while but they literally welcomed me with open arms and embraced me in a big bear hug. I was, of course, immediately handed the newborn baby to hold, so as they chatted away catching up in Twi I held a very confused 1 month old baby and looked awkward.

After one of Linda's daughters escorted us to lunch in town we were back on the road with about half of the drive left to do. The rest of the drive was uneventful except for the crazy wind/rain storm we drove through. I saw young men pushing with all their might to keep their cart and donkey's from being blown over.

Fountain at Comme Ci Comme Ca

Comme Ci Comme Ca Bolgatanga

Bolgatanga or Bolga is not much of a town but it's the largest town in Northern Ghana. We checked into the hotel, which was spacious, clean and simple. The power went out right as I was changing for dinner (the power in Ghana is such a mess...something that is really holding the country back from becoming further developed) but with the generator up and running I could at least change. Working the generator meant no a/c because it wasn't powerful enough but the weather was rainy and temperature temperate so I didn't mind.

Public Health in Ghana

We had dinner at a local hotel and restaurant called Comme Ci Comme Ca, which had nothing to do with French food but summed up the town of Bolga pretty well. I had been adventurous with Ghanaian food for the most part but wasn't really a fan as of yet (most of what I had had so far was pretty oily, slimy, and fishy or just kind of boring) so I decided to order a pizza. Turned out to be a pretty damn good veggie pizza thankfully but making it took about 2 hours.

Paga's Crocodiles and Burkina Faso border

The reason we had come to the North, besides just so I could see it, was to visit Paga and sit on some crocodiles. Paga has two crocodile ponds and claim to have "the friendliest crocodiles in all of Ghana." Re-assuring, yah? I was a bit nervous but it is a well known tourist attraction so I figured not very many people died, right? Turns out they really are some pretty friendly crocodiles. We paid an entrance fee with our guide Abdullah (the Northern Region of Ghana is mostly Muslim) and another 5 cedi to sacrifice a chicken and entered a painted gate. The pond was actually quite pretty and some people were standing in the water fishing and they sure didn't seem worried about any crocodiles. Anyway, these crocodiles are pretty tame. The guys coaxed them out of the water with the chicken (one guy was clearly not hungry so took a few different tries with a few different crocs). They told me to walk around it and straddle it for pictures so I obliged, even touching its tail. After our photo op they tossed the croc the chicken, which had been sadly squawking the whole time waiting its demise and in one quick chomp and a swallow it was over. The croc then continued to sit there content with its mouth open, which is apparently how they breathe.

Trying to ride a motorcycle with two goats
tied together is hard

**While hanging with the crocs my camera stopped working. So I was hanging out, just sitting on a crocodile while the guy tried to get my camera to work. The rest of the pictures are from my phone or Albert's phone and some are from a lovely woman at Mole who sent me some of her pictures. I have the worst luck with technology in Africa.**

Evidence of our trip into Burkina

The only other thing to see up in this very Northern Region is the Burkina Faso border. Albert was excited I spoke French and decided we had to cross the border so I could do so. We parked at border patrol and proceeded to convince the Ghanaian immigration people that we weren't trying to escape or smuggle anything but just wanted to see the other side. They obliged even though I didn't have my passport (I didn't know we were going to do this) and we proceeded to walk through no-man's land to the Burkina Faso border, where I convinced the guards in my very broken rusty French to let us through. Albert had to leave his ID to ensure our return and we proceeded to walk to the other side with a stern reminder not to take any photos. Not sure what they didn't want me to capture on film. It was all quite uneventful since we just walked  through the other no-man's land into Burkina Faso and then turned around. It was probably over a mile the whole way and except for the writing on the shop huts being in French rather than English, it really didn't seem very different.

Mole National Park and the single Elephant

The empty watering hole

Our guide tracking
an elephant

After the border we spent another half day in the car driving back South to go to Mole National Park. This was really what I had wanted to do in the first place since it has been recommended to me from everyone who has been to Ghana. There is only one place to stay in the park, so it's a bit overpriced for what you get but it is set up on a hill that looks over a main watering hole and so you can hang out by the pool or eat your breakfast and watch the animals below doing the same.

The view was absolutely spectacular and I am really happy we went just to see it, however, rainy season is not the time to visit. Apparently the animals aren't forced to visit the main watering holes since there are many throughout the whole park so they are all spread out and hiding. We went on a nice 2 1/2 hour walking safari the next morning but only saw some wild boar, a few Antelope species, and some birds. We were in a group of 8 and some of those on my group were complaining that they had been on 3 safaris, including in a vehicle and at night, and still hadn't seen any elephants. The guide had promised them they'd see elephants and I swear I almost slapped this one girl who was my age and literally whining about the broken promises. She was British and the others were Americans all working at a consulting firm in Accra and sounded pretty jaded about their work. They really annoyed me. Thankfully, our guide got a call on the radio that there was an elephant grazing near the local village so we hiked over there and got to see our elephant and the girl sort of shut up. It was a really old elephant with half of one of his tusks missing and a perfect hole in one of his ears. Honestly it felt like seeing an elephant in a zoo since he was just chilling in the village but no complaining here!



Basically was glad I went but was a bit anti-climatic. I also have to say that I am aware that I was  definitely spoiled when it comes to safaris since my family had gone on a week-long horse-back riding safari in the Okavango Delta in Botswana when I was 16 and we saw every animal you could want to see on a safari up close in the wild. Nothing will ever compare and I am very grateful I got to have that experience. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Not sure what Pumba was doing

More public health in Ghana - cigarettes in Mole's gift shop

Larabanga and the Really Old Mosque

Leaving Mole National Park is the town of Larabanga, which boasts the oldest Mosque in Ghana. My guidebook had some pretty negative things to say about the treatment of tourists in the town but we decided to go anyway. My guidebook is 3 years old (apparently only this one company writes about Ghana and is updating it for next year so the most recent version I could find was 2010...hence a lot of things are out of date). It turned out much better than the guidebook said, which was a pleasant surprise but I think it is partly because I had Albert with me. They do ask for a lot of little fees and donations for the town, for the guide, to see the Mosque, to visit the Mystic Rock and make a wish or say a prayer. Lots of littler children all crowded around grabbing at my hand as we were at the rock and some older boys on a school visit asked to take my picture with them. It is always sort of weird to be celebrated just for the color of my skin.

The story of the Mystic Rock is that a Muslim dude from Saudi Arabia had come to this region to fight some holy war and was old after it ended so wanted to settle. He got to this rock and decided to throw his spear and would settle wherever it landed. The spear landed at the center of the now mosque and when the dude found it apparently the foundation of the mosque was already magically in place. Something like that anyway. The most interesting part of the trip was actually when we were leaving and a teenage boy asked for a ride to the next town. He told us he is studying tourism and really wants to improve Larabanga's image since it has gotten bad reviews in the past. I showed him the reviews in the guidebook and we talked a bit about his dreams for the place. I hope he succeeds because while we didn't have a bad experience, it was pretty underwhelming.

**Pictures of this part of the trip are on Albert's phone so I will update when I can get them from him**

Kintampo Falls and the Nastiest Bathroom I've Ever Encountered\

Our last tourist stop before heading back to Kumasi was Kintampo Falls. Monday, July 1st is Ghana's Republic Day and my mother's birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!), which meant that Kintampo Falls was absolutely packed. I could tell it would be a really beautiful place to visit on a quieter day but that day was an overload to the senses. We paid our fee to the entry park and entered onto a nice large lawn area that was, sadly, spattered with plastic trash. Hoards of people were running around, wet from jumping in the falls, eating, drinking. It should have had a fun lively celebratory feel but something about it just seemed depressing and uncomfortable. We were there in the late afternoon so it was clear the festivities had been going on all day and it's never pretty to see a festival site at the end of a day when people are sloppy and the ground is trashed. This was no exception. We tried to stop in the washroom first since we'd been driving all day but I took one step in the ladies room and stepped right back out with my shirt over my noise trying not to vomit. Every toilet was literally overflowing with shit...I would happily hold it to avoid ever going in a place like that.

Got to give it up for some good ol'
entrepreneurship..
some guys set up a photo booth
of sorts, printer and all.

 I was kind of ready to turn around right there and not see the Falls but Albert was determined so we started our decent down the stairs to the Falls while people shoved by us heading down and up, eating food and throwing the trash into the bushes. I was feeling really sad for the lack of infrastructure and trash facilities. Thankfully there was a railing for most of the descent since the stairs were slippery. A full blown party was happening at the base but my feeling of sadness only increased as I looked around. The area was trashed, men and women were shoving by with no regard to anyone around them and there was just something in the energy that made me nervous. I felt like an old cranky woman but it was not my kind of party. We didn't stay long and on our way up there was a group of boys literally holding up their drunk friend up the very steep flights, some of them hitting him hard on the back and laughing at how drunk he was. His one true friend literally pushed and shoved him all the way up the steep slippery steps as the guy swayed about and almost fell many times. It was exactly what made me nervous about the whole thing.

Albert explained that Ghanaians never used to really enjoy their holidays but as the middle class increases that is changing. I am glad that it is a sign of economic upturn for the country but it just means that as they continue to grow, more focus on infrastructure is crucial. This visit made me extremely grateful for safety precautions and environmental regulations that we have in the States, even if those have a far way to go as well.

I hate ending on a sad note especially after a wonderful weekend exploring Ghana so here are some pictures of a market we stopped at on the way back so I could buy delicious veggies for the week.

Palm nut oil for life

Yams

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I have been meaning to write a quick update on the weather/temperature situation as well as on the food situation.

1) Weather - After my first week here, it really hasn't been too hot! The rains have kept it very pleasantly cool during the mornings and evenings and it is only in the heat of the day that it is...well...hot. I also figured out the air flow situation in my house so even when the power is out I am not suffocating. So all is good on that front!

2) Food - Just this past week Albert took me for a late lunch at Jofel, the one main restaurant near airport circle (about 15 min in no traffic from school) and he had me order Red Red and I loved it! It's the first dish I've had here that I genuinely loved. It is ripe plantains cooked in palm nut oil so they take on a red color served with a black eyed pea stew that is also cooked in palm nut oil, tomatoes, onions and pepper so it is also red and I got it with chicken. It was really good!