As the week in the village concluded…we began to realize that we were DONE! No more clinical, no more school! It’s pretty cool to finish it out in Africa! And if you Did not already know, there was some confusion about dates, so we ended up with 3 extra weeks of free time at the end of our trip. I debated what to do, to volunteer somewhere or to travel with some of the girls from our group. After looking at a few volunteer opportunities and experiencing some time at the Osu Children’s Home, I decided that this was not the trip to do that! Too many letters, too many hoops to jump through. Therefore…I am celebrating my degree with the girls as as we travel a bit of West Africa!!
A celebration breakfast in Kumasi - all together one last time
before we went our separate ways.
Sarah, Kate, Heather, Laurie, Erin, Stephanie and I started by making the 12 hour trek by bus and tro-tro to Mole National Park, which is in north western Ghana. Half the trip was in a tro-tro on the worst washboard EVER! It took us about 6 hours to cover 86 kms. When we reached Mole we went on a walking safari and got to see warthogs, various kinds of antelope, crocodiles, baboons, monkeys, soldier ants and best of all elephants. We got to walk around them – probably a couple hundred feet away!
After visiting Mole, we stayed at Larabanga, a strictly Muslim village of about 3000. We stayed at the Salia Brothers Guesthouse, where we slept on the roof under the stars (kinda like sardines on little mats). It was actually amazing…and also the beginning to ‘roughing’ it with using a hole for a toilet and bucket showers! We really appreciated Lasani, the owner as he looked out for us, and ensured we got fair prices and were comfortable.
Ghana`s oldest mosque in Larabanga.
After Larabanga, we lost Sarah and Kate as they had to catch their plane back to Canada. The five of us carried on with another 12 hour travel day to Burkina Faso. We noticed a change in country as soon as we crossed the border! All of us absolutely adored Burkina, with its interestingly French atmosphere, patisseries (with all kinds of croissants, pastries and French bread), coffee (that you could get ANYWHERE), and motorbikes! Of our two full days in Burkina, we spent one on the road, with a hired guide and driver to take us to a town of Banfora, where we spent the night.
The next morning we went to Lac Tengrela, where we had a canoe trip through water lily and hippopotamus infested waters! We got to see about 8 hippos or so (from a safe distance). I wanted to go closer but no one else seemed to think it was a good idea (and of course it wasn’t until after that I learned that hippos are one of the most dangerous mammals).
After hippo watching, we went an hour or two down the road to hike through the Sindou Peaks. From the road they looked like average to moderately interesting rock formations but as we hiked in with our guide we found they actually tipped the charts!! We had about an hours hike through the rock formations and were able to summit and have 360 views.
The next day we spend in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso, which is a fairly quiet (by Ghanaian standards) place. The goal for that day was to rent motorbikes and cruise the city (renting motorbikes being the major reason why I wanted to come to Burkina)! We waited until after lunch, so we could rent for a half day and our guide arranged for three scooters for us. Not quite the motorbike I had dreamed of, but it certainly did the trick! It was probably a lot safer considering my driving habits too! So after two minutes of instruction (in French) we were on our way, coasting down the streets of Bobo. It was a great day, and I’m sure the next time I rent a scooter I will definitely perfect my wheelie!
The next two days were spent travelling back to Accra where we took some time to recover, wash clothes and pack again. Then we were off to Togo, this time just four of us, as Stephanie had a flight to London. Monday was spent travelling to Togo and once there we enjoyed a beautiful drive towards the small city of Kpalime. The next morning we woke early and hired a taxi to take us into the mountains of Klouto. We arrived in the quiet mountain-top town of Kouma Konda and settled in at the Auberge Papillons. Around 0900 we started out with our guide, Selestin, to do a ‘nature hike.’ I don’t think I’ve every been so excited to see butterflies as I was that day (actually I don’t think I’ve ever been excited to see butterflies). But we went off with our butterfly nets and cameras in hand.
Although each day seems to get better and better, this hike was the definitely the best day ever! As we slowly walked along, I was constantly amazed at God’s creation. Selestin took us on a walk through the mountains, stopping to show us anything and everything. While his English was limited, we were able to understand for the majority of time and learned a lot from him. There were so many amazing things, unbelievable things.
We saw tattoo ferns, ferns that would fold up in a wave with the touch of your finger, leaves that would turn into red ‘paint’ when rubbed together, leaves that turned into green ‘paint’, bark that pulled off a tree with orange ‘paint’ underneath, leaves that stuck to our shirts like velcro, leaves that were as rough as sand paper, waterfalls, scenic views, trees of every kind and the list goes on and on. We saw millipedes, masked grasshoppers, a preying mantis and butterflies of every size, shape and color. We also got to see (particularly to Laurie’s and my interest) the local farms of cassava, pineapple, yams, and peppers, as well as coco and coffee plantations. Walking through a tropical jungle…how can I even describe it? Then to top of the day, when we got back Selestin showed us his pet Walking Stick bug, which is a girl and is named Fuosa. Haha, we couldn’t believe it!
Our guide, Selestin, with Fuosa!
Overall though the entire day was amazing and screamed of God’s creative and loving character. As silly as it may sound, I had been really disappointed that I hadn’t been able to visit any farms in Ghana, and here out of the blue and unplanned we had an amazing tour of several farms. I feel so blessed and humbled, so overwhelmed with God’s love, kindness and mercy.
The next day we took enjoyed a breakfast by Pedro (the chef) and then hurried out to meet our motormen (as called by Appo, one of our guides). We rode motorbikes down the scenic, twisty mountain roads (praying the entire way for a safe trip). They motormen took us to the border where we caught a taxi to take us to the nearest town to catch our tro-tro. Just as we finished the worst of the winding twists of mountain roads, the taxi went out of control. Our driver tried to correct it, but couldn’t and we went flying into the ditch. Thankfully we just hit the bank and stopped, but poor Heather ended up with a goose-egg on her head from the roof. We were otherwise ok and were then able to find a tro to the next town.
Again I was amazed at God’s provision. That morning I had read about how in 1 Kings, God gave Ahab king of Israel victory over Ben-Hadad king of Aram (a few times). God kept telling Ahab, I will do this for you and “then you will know that I am the Lord” (1 Kings 20). After the events of the last few days I was impacted again at how God continues to show that he is the Lord. He truly is always present, all-knowing and all-powerful.
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