ELEPHANTS!!!!

Kaya: Mole National Park was AMAZING. Overall, it is my favorite part of Ghana and I only wish we could have stayed longer. It took us 2 days to get there and literally 24 hours to get back to campus but it was worth every minute of HELL on that bus!


We took an air conditioned bus from Accra to Tamale (12 hours) and after being advised to stay the night in a hotel we ended up at one that was a borderline creepy hotel, but safe and comfortable enough for one night. There was a club beneath us and lots of creepy noises (perhaps I have just been watching too much Criminal Minds)! The next morning we got up at 6am, went to by our return ticket, and walked a good ways to the tro tro station to catch a 3 hour tro tro to a town near Mole called Damongo. It took over an hour and a half to fill up and while we waited there was a guy from Burkina Faso who asked Caitlin how much she wanted for Ayaan and I (basically he wanted to marry us). Burkina Faso is a French speaking country and the guy couldn’t speak English. Of course, Caitlin knows enough French that she was able to translate for us. Along the way, we stopped in this village and about 20 Ghanaians jumped on the roof of the tro and sat up there for the rest of the incredibly bumpy and dusty trip. All of us, even those inside the tro, came out of it with a layer of dirt on our faces, hair, and clothes. YUCK! A handsome, young, Ghanaian, medical student  helped us get a taxi to the park for a good rate (30 cedi).

When we finally got to the park, we ate lunch then prepared for the afternoon Safari Walk. Everyone on campus told us there was no chance we would see elephants because of the time of year. Guess what?! We saw a TON!! It was incredible. At first we didn’t see any but our guide received a call about their location so we starting “tracking” them. It was so funny because the guide would see footprints and broken branches and we were speed walking to catch up to them. Being a tracker must be a rather cool job, esp. when you get to see elephants all the time! The fact that we had to track them down made the safari even better. It would have been boring if once we started walking the Elephants were right there in front of us. Unfortunately, during this hike, they were in an area with lots of trees but the second two hikes were even better. That night a baboon followed us back to our room and tried to break in. I caught some of it on video but didn’t catch him banging in the door. The rest of the trip we made sure to lock our door as soon as we walked in.

The next morning I woke up to warthogs and red back monkeys at my window. VERY COOL! We went on the 7AM Safari Walk and after only 3 minutes of walking we ran into elephants. They were just chillin’ around the staff houses. Wouldn’t it be cool to work somewhere where when you wake up in the morning, Elephants are outside your window? I think so. We followed them around for a bit then decided to continue on our walk. We saw other animals like the Green Monkey, the Redback monkey, warthogs, crocs, water bucks, bush bucks, antelope, baboons, guinea fowl birds and other birds. It was very much like the Lion King! We also ran into about 8 elephants who decided to take a dip in the lake right by the hotel. We decided to sit around for a while and watch them. They remained there ALL day after that and we were able to see them while we ate lunch and swam at the pool after the hike. The man made lake is conveniently below the pool and restaurant area.

That afternoon we were invited by another group to join them on a driving Safari tour. We split the price to use a truck between ten of us, so it was really cheap. Plus with a truck we were able to go further into the park. It started to rain but we managed to find shelter for a while at this “tree hide” in the woods. After a while the rain slowed and we continued. We didn’t get far before we had to stop because there was an elephant on the side of the road. We aren’t supposed to get too close so we had to wait for it to move, but it was cool to see one. Soon three more elephants showed up. After being stuck in a rainstorm, we were pretty excited that we got to see more elephants.

Unfortunately, the next morning we had to leave at 4AM on a metro bus FULL of local Ghanaians going to Tamale. It was the most frustrating ride ever. People were pushing and yelling at each other. Lucky for us we even had a seat because a lot of people had to stand up the entire 3-4 hour drive. We missed the 8am bus back to Accra and had to kill time before the 4pm bus left. We chilled out at the bar by the station and had some cokes, then bought some sandals made from recycled materials from this vendor. We tried to find a movie theater to kill a few hours but there are NONE in the whole city. The locals don’t even know was a movie theater/cinema is. We decided to just read at the station and eventually went on a hunt for lunch. The first place we went to had almost NO food that was on the menu and the Crest Restaurant where we ate had food but the waiter was terrible. At that point we didn’t care because we had not eaten since dinner the night before. By about 12:30pm we were just grateful to have FOOD!!! The restaurant had seats on a balcony so we were able to “people watch.” In Tamale most people ride around on motorbikes and bicycles. It is really cool to watch. The majority of the population in Tamale is Muslim, so we even got to hear a call to prayer while eating. There are a few mosques, but we were tired and not really interested in going to see any.

By the time 4pm rolled around, we had met several people at the bus station. A couple tried to marry us and even when we claimed to all have husbands they wanted steal us from them. We also met a very nice brother- sister pair and agreed to look after the young girl along the trip. I ended up sitting next to this large old man who decided that I was small enough that he could hold his legs open in my area the entire trip. It was hard to sleep and this ridiculous Ghanaian soap opera/movie was playing. When we made a pit stop in Kumasi this guy tried to use a line on me. He said “You have a nice smile, what do you call it?” I said, “A smile. What do you call it?” He said, “Beautiful!” I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know Ghanaian guys used lines like guys in the US do. When we finally arrived in Accra, we paid for a taxi to campus at 5AM and passed out! We all had “jet lag” and just wanted to sleep ALL day. When I woke up I thought I had slept the day away. NOPE! It was only 8AM ugh!

Regardless of a few difficulties we really enjoyed this trip the most among the others we have embarked on this semester. Unfortunately, Ayaan and I have two exams to study for, but after our Tuesday exam we are free to relax, pack, re-pack a few times, and get ready to finally return HOME!