September 30, 2005
After a couple of weeks of monotony, I now have something to write home about.
Yep!, it involves me being up close and personal with wild animals, again. I was getting tired of the same routine of the rural life and work and decided I needed a vacation. So I joined my friend and his father on a trip to Mole National Park.
The experience was soo cool and interesting and just what I needed. We chartered a taxi 2 hours to the park on a bumpy road with a driver whose goal seemed to be to hit every single pothole on the road for the entire two-hour ride. Thanks be to God, we made it safe and sound, dusty, and a little nauseated from all the bumping. But we made it. The park was so peaceful and serene. The central point of the park was located on the top of a hill that overlooked the entire park (over 4,800 plus square kilometers). I could see tops of trees for miles all around. I kind of felt like a ruler, ha ha. As soon as we arrived, we met a baboon sitting in the grass next to the parking lot eating bugs and starring at us like we were the attraction, lol.
The next day, we went on the early morning tour of the park to see the wild animals. We were lucky because an elephant managed to walk all the way up the hill next to the hotel rooms to feed on some leaves. We walked up to him and took some pictures. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to clear some space on my memory card, I deleted the photo (but I'll get copies of my friend's pictures and put them online sometime in Oct.). Then we headed out on a two-hour walking tour in the bush with a skinny old tour guide and his 17th century rifle for protection – go figure. We saw another HUGE elephant. Of course, I was being a chicken and kept my distance. It had to be at least 7ft tall and weighed a ton with tusks that were probably 2'-3' long. Scary! I was trying to find a tree with a thick bark to run behind just in case he wanted to stampede us. You know how your mind starts to remember stuff you see on tv and of course I remembered a situation where a circus elephant escaped and trampled some people. We also saw some other creatures: warthogs, antelope, bush bark (it looks like a deer but barks like a dog, it's weird), a redearth monkey, and a greenback monkey.
The highlights of the trip were the monkeys. One baboon conveniently made his appearance during the lunch hour when he knew everyone would be chowing down. Much to his dismay, no one would give him food. So he walked around the dining area looking in the rubbish bins for food. Then he disappeared around the corner. A couple of seconds later we heard the kitchen women scream. Yep! He ran inside the kitchen and some guys had to chase him out with a sling shoot. He was persistent. It was so funny. He’s so used to everything, that when they guys were throwing rocks at him, he would hide behind a wall like he was playing hide and seek. The guy creeping towards him and he was also creeping towards the guy and when they met up, he took off running. It was hilarious. He wasn't lucky that day though. Then the next day, he came around during breakfast time, I guess thinking we'd be much nicer in the morning and give him food. This time, he came so close to me. I was sitting at the table with my back facing a window that had a month perched on the screen. He didn't even look twice at me. He jumped right next to me on the window ledge, grabbed the moth, and bit it's head off. Then he ran and jumped on the table next to ours and did the same to another moth on the other window. I took a picture near him. (Those pics will come next month).
I can't explain how much peace the environment brought to me. The greenery, the mountains, the singing birds, the beautiful sun worked it's magic on me. You can imagine how the pool helped too, lol. I ate steak and fries three times in two days, lol. It was fabulous. I plan on taking my parents there when they come to visit.
Today was a crazy one too. I was returning from Tamale on a bus – that’s a 6 hour trip. I was unlucky and couldn’t get a ticket in advance, so I had to show up at the station at 4am to try to find a spot on the bus to stand for the whole ride. I needed to get back to my house. It was already bad enough that I had to stand for hours on a bumpy road cluttered and hot. Some how, I ended up standing next to a madwoman who was sitting down. We were at least 4 hours into the trip and out of nowhere, this crazy woman jabbed her nail into my skin. I thought she poked me with a pin. The guy who was with her apologized and I moved up a little (in the tiny space where I could maneuver). A little while after that, she stomped on my feet, TWICE!!! I wanted to smack her, but you never know what crazy people can do. Plus, I wouldn’t have anywhere to run just in case she wanted to bite me or something.
Yep, crazy and fun week. I know I’ll have more to write about next week because our town’s cultural festival, the Kobina Festival, is coming. It’s to celebrate the end of the farming season and thank the Gods for the harvest of that year. I can’t wait. They say the dancing is soo mesmerizing. I’ll let you all know what’s up.
Peace!
Posted by pennstatepeanut
at 10:00 AM EDT