Ghana

Dark times in deep Africa

This last fortnight has been spent in Ghana, the first English speaking country we have travelled through in Africa. This has both advantages and disadvantages but the pros far outweigh the cons. Being able to speak to the locals is great fun; small things like ordering food and asking directions is easier and it also allows you to strike up a conversation that I have not been able to have throughout the first section of the trip. It does however make those pesky salesman even more persistent but I’ve yet to meet one that has caused me too many issues.

 

Mole National Park

 

A Hyena resting under a tree

 

Elephants bathing in the waterhole

 

 

Our first proper stop in Ghana was Mole National Park in the north of the country. It is considered Africa’s poor mans safari but there aint nothing wrong with that. For about $15 I got a 2 hour drive on the top of a 4wd where we managed to see a Hyena, Elephants, Monkeys, Warthogs and a range of different deer. The elephants were definitely the highlight and we got to see them bathing in one of the 2 waterholes in the park and also a lone elder male crossing the road right in front of our vehicle. We are going to get plenty more opportunities to see wildlife in game reserves on the east coast but it was good to get into some of the action here in the west.



Lone male elephant

 

Monkey tree

 

Hanging out



 



Our tour leaders have not had the best 2 weeks since leaving Cote D’Ivoire with tour leader Ishi being hit with a fever that she is still recovering from now and our driver Steve being hit with his 35th bout of malaria. That's right, no typo, his 35th time. Steve has travelled Africa for approximately 35 years now and after getting malaria years ago it manages to crop up randomly every now and then, whether he be in Africa, England or Australia. It hit him at Mole National Park, 1 minute he was fine, next minute he starts shaking and gets some cold sweats so he simply states to the group “I’ve got malaria, I’m going to lie down”. 24 hours later after a few shots of Coartem he was up and driving the truck towards Kumasi, not 100% but good enough to trooper on. His lowered immune system during recovery has now led him to have a cold but these troubles have not stopped both him and Ishi spending every day this week in Accra at different embassies getting visas for our next leg of the trip.

Why did the monkey cross the road?





Warthogs that came right up to our camp



Accra indeed marks the end of the 1st leg of our trip and we sadly say goodbye to 5 members of our group and welcome 5 new ones. Ashley, Becci, Jan, Jyoti and Sarah sadly all leave us here but we welcome Jack, Kristina, Luke, Sandra and Warren. 9 weeks living on top of each other in this truck is a long time and I will miss all you guys.

We had an even sadder goodbye in Kumasi where one of our passengers Chris received the worst possible news you could imagine whilst being one the road when he was informed of the unexpected passing of his father back in South Africa. Our deepest sympathies go out to Chris and his family and we hope he decides to re-join the group before we reach Cape Town where he was due to finish.

 

A waterfall we stopped at one afternoon

Cape Coast

The old fort at Cape Coast









Not a light hearted entry this fortnight unfortunately but things are on the improve. We have found ourselves at a really nice campsite called Big Millys (ran by a 4’10 British woman) in Accra while our tour leaders do the visa runs for Benin, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo & Angola so we are likely to be here for around 10-14 days. Nigeria will not even let us into their embassy so we are going to try apply for that in Togo or Benin. Swimming, reading, eating at the restaurant and drinking at their well stocked bar has recharged everyone's batteries and the next 2 weeks will hopefully be a lot more positive.

 

 

 

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