Relaxing Weekend

So I am combining the past few days into one post mainly because this weekend I was away at had no internet access. Dan and I spent the weekend at Mole National Park, about 200 km away from Tamale. Despite being fairly close, the trip took us around 4 hours. After about 45 km on the main road, you have to turn off onto this dirt road that is absolutely horrible. You must have an SUV with four wheel drive (or a 4x4 as the aussies call it, more on that later haha) and you can only average around 40 km/hr, or around 25/30 mph. There are just so many ruts and bumpy parts to the road. We first made a stop in Lower Bonga, the town right outside the National Park. There, you can pay about 3 Cedi to see the "Mystic Stone." It is about the worst tourist attraction ever thought up of, more rediculous than the UFO museum in Roswell. Legend has it that when the road was being built, they moved this odd-looking stone away from the planned location of the road. Overnight, the stone mysteriously moved back to its originial location. After many more failed attempts, the road was just built around the stone. And then the locals began to charge people to take pictures of it. I have pictures up on Facebook, and the link to them will be at the end of the post.

Perhaps more interesting was the mosque located in Lower Bonga. It was built around the 1400s and is the oldest mosque in Western Africa. Unfortunately, it is hard to enjoy and take pictures of because so many young boys and children are constantly haggling you for money and trying to get your business. Still, the style of architecture is of historical note and while I couldn't go inside, it was neat to see such an old mosque, even if every other word heard was help, money, or need...

Bitterness aside, we entered Mole National Park where for the FIRST time, despite having travelled thousands of miles through Europe and Russia, I was able to use my ISIC Student card successfully and earn a discount of 5 Cedis... hey at least it was useable. The motel we were at is the only legitamite one inside the park. Mole National Park is the largest in Ghana and one of the hotspots for elephants. Quite unlike National Parks in the states, there is very little information given around the park, I don't think the government has the funding for info signs or park rangers that can explain wildlife or plants. In addition, the Dutch Government is taking over the park to run it - Ghana simply cannot afford to keep it up. The good thing is that the government is still desiring to protect wildlife and parkland, Mole Park was certainly gorgeous. The hotel overlooked the savanna and the watering hole where the elephants ate and drank each morning and evening. But the first animals for me to see were not elephants, rather baboons. They are all around the grounds of the motel carrying their babies or just roaming hoping to steal some food (which they do better than any thief or pickpocket in the world..) You mostly would eat your meals outside and if you didn't watch your food close enough, one could, and usually would, sneak up and in a second grab something of yours. I saw a girl lose her toast and a few failed attempts by the baboons at other plates.

Dan and I took Saturday easy, there was a pool I could swim in and the bar had football on all day. (I got to watch the Man U Liverpool game on Sunday and I have no idea why, but theses Ghanaians were all Manchester fans...) Sunday morning, around 7 we went on a Safari walk. You aren't allowed anywhere outside the grounds of the hotel without an armed ranger with you. It is just too dangerous to be around wild elephants and gators without some sort of weapon to scare or defend. Around the evening on Saturday a harmattan wind blew in from the Saraha way up north, covering the area in a dense dust that looked a lot like fog. While visibility was reduced it certainly didn't kill any chance at seeing wildlife. After a hot hour we stopped at an observation deck and saw nothing. Up till then we had seen monkeys and bamboons and antelope, but not elephants. I was gonna be mad if we did this walk for nothing. But, another half hour later and we came up on the watering hole I had seen the day before from the hotel. Sure enough, an older elephant was eating and drinking! There is something so different about seeing these animals in their natural environment. They just appear more powerful, more regal, just simpy amazing! We just observed it and took pictures (our group of about 10) and then moved on, seeing two more taking shade by another pond. Yes, the ponds had crocodiles in them, but they would hide from us, not coming very near. After the walk, I met three very nice young women, two from the UK and one from Australia. I had breakfast with them and ended up spending the whole day with them.

It was that day, Sunday, that I realized why I loved travelling. I sat there with two total strangers from a different country, playing cards not 3/4 a mile away from 5 elephants. I love meeting new people, seeing their thoughts and hearing where they come from. The randomness of it excites me. And then the environment you are in: being somewhere where every tree, bush, and animal is totally different is absolutely mind boggling. It is when I am away from home that I am most at home. The people you can meet and get to know is just exciting in and of itself.

It was mostly whites that were at the hotel, many from Holland, the UK, a few Americans and one German family. Still, to be in a place with white people, but white people not from my own country is awesome and I love it. It ended up that night that me and those three women along with a man from Ireland discussed so much, from aid and volunteering to the health care bill just passed, to microfinance. It excites me to see other people around my age that actually care about important issues in the world and form their own opinions.

All in all it was a very good weekend, and so much happened that I didn't even post. I have but seven days left in Ghana, I can't believe it.