Saturday, August 23, 2008
From elusive hippos to not so elusive monkeys, and from Atlantic breakers to beautiful waterfalls, Ghana beyond Tumu did not disappoint. Our friends Gill and Dave came out to stay with us for a month and they joined us on, what they summed up as, a “superb experience”.
Since our arrival in the capital city of Accra and our initial journey up country to Tumu, we haven’t really ventured far from Tumu in the past 2 years; so this round trip of approximately 2000km was a new experience for us all.
After allowing Dave & Gill a couple of days to acclimatise to life in Tumu - which included another lovely visit to Challu where Mohammed and the school children warmly greeted ‘Mr and Mrs David’ and a tour of the Chief’s Palace in Tumu, (a first for us as well,) courtesy of Hassan the Head teacher at Egala – we awaited the arrival of our transport. To cut a long story short, we’d made an arrangement for a vehicle from Tamale, owned by Mohammed to arrive in Tumu on the day before we were to set off at 12.00noon. Other than a lot of rather confusing phone calls (I’ll save those stories for a rainy day) and a down payment for ‘fuel’ to get him to Tumu. Which had been dropped off at Mohammed’s office by another volunteer, no documentation of the kind required in the western world was completed. So we were delighted (and a little relieved) when at 12.15pm a nice big four-wheel drive rolled up, and out bounced Mohammed to warm hand-shakes all round. It summed up the way life is here and the way the trip was to go – ‘it’ll be fine’.
We planned an anti-clockwise tour of Ghana; down the west side to the coast and back up the east side, working our way back to Tumu, taking in so many good sights to see and places to visit. The beauty of having our own vehicle was that we could also make impromptu stops along the way and it was many of these that gave us a real flavour of Ghana.
The wildlife in Ghana is unpredictable. The hippos at the Weichau Hippopotamus Sanctuary must have been very shy and with the swollen rivers, it is the rainy season, they didn’t want to raise their cute little ears for us. The monkeys, on the other hand, were more amenable, we saw Mona monkeys on two separate occasions, and black and white colobus monkeys. These have lovely long white furry tails that hang down between the branches looking like Christmas decorations. We saw crocodiles near Kakum National Park and Dave watched a man actually feeding a green mamba snake to one! The birdlife is abundant (when you know where to look) and we spent many hours sitting and watching a great variety, such as weavers, hornbills and wydahs.
What Ghana perhaps lacks in wildlife however, it more than makes up for in its people and its culture. One of the more bizarre places we came across – in one of our impromptu stops – was the Pentecostal Fire Furniture makers. This was a small hut on roadside that eagle eyed Di spotted on the drive from Butre Beach to Cape Coast. They make customised coffins on request. They were just completing a beautifully crafted 4 wheel drive Tayota (sic), complete with working side and headlights (modified head torches), opening doors and bonnet, and a siren to boot! The man took great delight in showing us his portfolio, with full sized coffins shaped and decorated of aeroplanes, birds and even mobile phones. He also showed us photos of actual funeral processions where his fire furniture had been the talk of the town. I think for people whom the end wasn’t to be too sad an occasion, their families knew how to give a good send off.
Another roadside stop gave us a tour of a Palm Oil ‘factory’. It looked more like something out of Dante’s Inferno. It gave us a real insight into the type of back breaking and unhygienic work that many people are forced into to earn a few cedis – few being the operative word. Likewise the Kente cloth weavers, (young men and women) who spend hours shuttling coloured thread to make thin strips of intricately patterned Kente Cloth, could be found along the roadside in many areas in the south east.
Of the ‘organised’ visits, by far the most impressive were the castles of Elmina and Cape Coast. Both are World Heritage sites, and professional tour guides portrayed a fascinating picture of the history along the old Gold Coast, a large proportion of which was centred on the slave trade. Also of great interest were our trips to the Gold Mines at Obuasi and the Akasombo Dam. We descended several hundred feet, laden with the statutory mining attire at the AngloGhana gold mine, via the modern wide shafts that are actually used as roads. After the tour through the mine tunnels we ascended in the more traditional compact lifts that the miners actually use – minus any gold though! At Akasombo, we were given a tour of the dam by the stereotypical Ghanaian who wanted to fight (verbally) anyone who remotely implied that the water and electric problem in Ghana was his fault, (he’ll make a truly good politician one day). The dam is the only Hydro-Electric one in Ghana and forms Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in the world. Unfortunately although it provides electricity for Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo and the Ivory Coast, it still doesn’t provide enough, and power outages are still the norm. The frustration comes from the fact that they get so much rain, and so many areas are flooded, yet they still don’t have enough in the dam! They are still pursuing ways of ‘harvesting’ all this extra water.
The natural sites and general scenery that we took in throughout our travels was in stark contrast to the flat scrub and bush land of the Northern regions. We certainly saw the rain forest of Kakum from an unique vantage point as we walked, (rather slowly and very carefully!) across the 350 meters long, 40 meter high of wood and rope suspension walk way thrown across the tops of the rainforest trees. At Lake Bosumtwi we spent three nights on the shores of the largest water filled crater in the world (and it’s bilharzias free so we could have a swim). Just to add to the atmosphere the Rainbow Garden Lodges were run by Rastafarians, and it was a really ‘special place mon’. There was a really humbling moment as we were leaving the area and passing through a local village, when we saw, even by Ghanaian standards, what was a ramshackle school. The Whitehill motto ‘have pencils/pens will travel’ came into use as we stopped and passed out a job lot to the teacher in charge. The reaction of the children was incredible, and as Di was mobbed we proceeded to get a few snaps of the school, so once again people at home will be able to get a feel of what the pupils and teachers here are up against.
The coast was wonderful; Atlantic breakers crashing continually onto a golden sandy beach and our accommodation, best described as a beach huts, were no more than 50 yards from the sea. It was like something off a desert island, a long stretch of empty beach, bordered by endless palm trees. The only drawback was that as the waves are so powerful we were limited to paddling. But that was ‘fineo’.
Our return journey up the east of the Volta, revealed the lush, hilly (mountainous?) side of Ghana, and we spent 3 nights in a setting which looked toward the spectacular Wli Falls – the highest waterfalls in Ghana. Here we also had the opportunity to do some walking (small, small), visiting Wli and Tagbo Falls.
Our accommodation throughout the trip was varied and never lacked character. It ranged from exotic beach huts to the Rainbow Village chalets of the Rastas, and from the Hotel Silence (which was anything but after 4.00am!) in Obuasi town centre to separate rooms (cells as they called them) at the Kristo Buasi Monastery, (yes, we spent an evening in the company of Father Ambrose and his brothers!)
It’s still not quite the end, however. I’m back in GES for just under two weeks, and Di is still ‘on call’ for TUTCO as the untrained teachers are being trained and prospective students are being interviewed. In addition I’ve got my sitting (leaving function) on the day before we leave Tumu, so plenty of things still going on, and of course we still have to shut up the house and say our goodbyes. These final days will form the content of our last ever newsletter from Ghana which we will write and send from Accra just before we leave.
So we hope that this small blog in the ocean of blogs on the web has given you some insight into life in Ghana, and in particular the lives of volunteers in Tumu. Thanks for sticking with us! If you would like to know more of our Lives in Ghana or about volunteering please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Since our arrival in the capital city of Accra and our initial journey up country to Tumu, we haven’t really ventured far from Tumu in the past 2 years; so this round trip of approximately 2000km was a new experience for us all.
After allowing Dave & Gill a couple of days to acclimatise to life in Tumu - which included another lovely visit to Challu where Mohammed and the school children warmly greeted ‘Mr and Mrs David’ and a tour of the Chief’s Palace in Tumu, (a first for us as well,) courtesy of Hassan the Head teacher at Egala – we awaited the arrival of our transport. To cut a long story short, we’d made an arrangement for a vehicle from Tamale, owned by Mohammed to arrive in Tumu on the day before we were to set off at 12.00noon. Other than a lot of rather confusing phone calls (I’ll save those stories for a rainy day) and a down payment for ‘fuel’ to get him to Tumu. Which had been dropped off at Mohammed’s office by another volunteer, no documentation of the kind required in the western world was completed. So we were delighted (and a little relieved) when at 12.15pm a nice big four-wheel drive rolled up, and out bounced Mohammed to warm hand-shakes all round. It summed up the way life is here and the way the trip was to go – ‘it’ll be fine’.
We planned an anti-clockwise tour of Ghana; down the west side to the coast and back up the east side, working our way back to Tumu, taking in so many good sights to see and places to visit. The beauty of having our own vehicle was that we could also make impromptu stops along the way and it was many of these that gave us a real flavour of Ghana.
The wildlife in Ghana is unpredictable. The hippos at the Weichau Hippopotamus Sanctuary must have been very shy and with the swollen rivers, it is the rainy season, they didn’t want to raise their cute little ears for us. The monkeys, on the other hand, were more amenable, we saw Mona monkeys on two separate occasions, and black and white colobus monkeys. These have lovely long white furry tails that hang down between the branches looking like Christmas decorations. We saw crocodiles near Kakum National Park and Dave watched a man actually feeding a green mamba snake to one! The birdlife is abundant (when you know where to look) and we spent many hours sitting and watching a great variety, such as weavers, hornbills and wydahs.
What Ghana perhaps lacks in wildlife however, it more than makes up for in its people and its culture. One of the more bizarre places we came across – in one of our impromptu stops – was the Pentecostal Fire Furniture makers. This was a small hut on roadside that eagle eyed Di spotted on the drive from Butre Beach to Cape Coast. They make customised coffins on request. They were just completing a beautifully crafted 4 wheel drive Tayota (sic), complete with working side and headlights (modified head torches), opening doors and bonnet, and a siren to boot! The man took great delight in showing us his portfolio, with full sized coffins shaped and decorated of aeroplanes, birds and even mobile phones. He also showed us photos of actual funeral processions where his fire furniture had been the talk of the town. I think for people whom the end wasn’t to be too sad an occasion, their families knew how to give a good send off.
Another roadside stop gave us a tour of a Palm Oil ‘factory’. It looked more like something out of Dante’s Inferno. It gave us a real insight into the type of back breaking and unhygienic work that many people are forced into to earn a few cedis – few being the operative word. Likewise the Kente cloth weavers, (young men and women) who spend hours shuttling coloured thread to make thin strips of intricately patterned Kente Cloth, could be found along the roadside in many areas in the south east.
Of the ‘organised’ visits, by far the most impressive were the castles of Elmina and Cape Coast. Both are World Heritage sites, and professional tour guides portrayed a fascinating picture of the history along the old Gold Coast, a large proportion of which was centred on the slave trade. Also of great interest were our trips to the Gold Mines at Obuasi and the Akasombo Dam. We descended several hundred feet, laden with the statutory mining attire at the AngloGhana gold mine, via the modern wide shafts that are actually used as roads. After the tour through the mine tunnels we ascended in the more traditional compact lifts that the miners actually use – minus any gold though! At Akasombo, we were given a tour of the dam by the stereotypical Ghanaian who wanted to fight (verbally) anyone who remotely implied that the water and electric problem in Ghana was his fault, (he’ll make a truly good politician one day). The dam is the only Hydro-Electric one in Ghana and forms Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in the world. Unfortunately although it provides electricity for Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo and the Ivory Coast, it still doesn’t provide enough, and power outages are still the norm. The frustration comes from the fact that they get so much rain, and so many areas are flooded, yet they still don’t have enough in the dam! They are still pursuing ways of ‘harvesting’ all this extra water.
The natural sites and general scenery that we took in throughout our travels was in stark contrast to the flat scrub and bush land of the Northern regions. We certainly saw the rain forest of Kakum from an unique vantage point as we walked, (rather slowly and very carefully!) across the 350 meters long, 40 meter high of wood and rope suspension walk way thrown across the tops of the rainforest trees. At Lake Bosumtwi we spent three nights on the shores of the largest water filled crater in the world (and it’s bilharzias free so we could have a swim). Just to add to the atmosphere the Rainbow Garden Lodges were run by Rastafarians, and it was a really ‘special place mon’. There was a really humbling moment as we were leaving the area and passing through a local village, when we saw, even by Ghanaian standards, what was a ramshackle school. The Whitehill motto ‘have pencils/pens will travel’ came into use as we stopped and passed out a job lot to the teacher in charge. The reaction of the children was incredible, and as Di was mobbed we proceeded to get a few snaps of the school, so once again people at home will be able to get a feel of what the pupils and teachers here are up against.
The coast was wonderful; Atlantic breakers crashing continually onto a golden sandy beach and our accommodation, best described as a beach huts, were no more than 50 yards from the sea. It was like something off a desert island, a long stretch of empty beach, bordered by endless palm trees. The only drawback was that as the waves are so powerful we were limited to paddling. But that was ‘fineo’.
Our return journey up the east of the Volta, revealed the lush, hilly (mountainous?) side of Ghana, and we spent 3 nights in a setting which looked toward the spectacular Wli Falls – the highest waterfalls in Ghana. Here we also had the opportunity to do some walking (small, small), visiting Wli and Tagbo Falls.
Our accommodation throughout the trip was varied and never lacked character. It ranged from exotic beach huts to the Rainbow Village chalets of the Rastas, and from the Hotel Silence (which was anything but after 4.00am!) in Obuasi town centre to separate rooms (cells as they called them) at the Kristo Buasi Monastery, (yes, we spent an evening in the company of Father Ambrose and his brothers!)
It’s still not quite the end, however. I’m back in GES for just under two weeks, and Di is still ‘on call’ for TUTCO as the untrained teachers are being trained and prospective students are being interviewed. In addition I’ve got my sitting (leaving function) on the day before we leave Tumu, so plenty of things still going on, and of course we still have to shut up the house and say our goodbyes. These final days will form the content of our last ever newsletter from Ghana which we will write and send from Accra just before we leave.
So we hope that this small blog in the ocean of blogs on the web has given you some insight into life in Ghana, and in particular the lives of volunteers in Tumu. Thanks for sticking with us! If you would like to know more of our Lives in Ghana or about volunteering please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Labels: A tour of Ghana at last
