Monkeys, Mountains and Motorbikes Oh My!

So we are unfortunately coming to the end of our wonderful journey in Ghana. Africa has stolen a place in my heart and I’m sure this is the first of many trips to this beautiful continent. I have fallen in love with the beautiful children of Ghana, the hospitality and friendliness of the Ghanaian people, and the amazing weather here! Our past week has involved many cultural and tourist opportunities both in the Volta region and in Kumasi – a city of the Ashanti region which has a king! Like last time, I thought I’d do 10 new experiences we’ve had since I last wrote. Whilst we’re unable to connect the camera here to add our own photos, I will be doing a photo blog as soon as we get back – can’t wait to show you this beautiful country!

1. Learning Fante – one of many Ghanaian languages: We’ve picked up conversational phrases here and there, much to the delight of our Fante speaking Ghanaian ‘mums’ here.  Languages here often sound like random sounds rather than words so it has been difficult to pick up – but fun trying our skills out on our kids in school!
2. Seeing Wli Falls – Marketed as the highest waterfalls in West Africa, we had a beautiful 45 minute hike to reach the falls which were very impressive, and a lovely cool change to the hot weather here too!
3. Feeding Bananas to the rare Mona Monkeys – This was an unforgettable experience! We visited a village called Tafi Atome which has a long history of monkey worship, and the village is currently home to hundreds of mona monkeys. Standing in the jungle, around 20-30 monkeys descended on us, and as we held a banana firmly in our hand, they would approach us, unpeel it and eat it. What clever animals!
4. Riding on the back of a motorbike – Our first time on a motorbike (don’t worry, we’ve told our mums!) on a 10 minute ride through the monkey village, on a dusty road with beautiful mountains in the distance! What a thrilling experience
5. Buying something out of the window of a tro-tro – To make a living, people sell a variety of food items everywhere you look, and in the major towns they wait for tro-tros to come through and sell things through the window (in a very quick transaction which takes skill!) I bought ice-creams for myself and Navin on a quick stopover from the window much to my delight!
6. Walked Africa’s only Canopy Walk – We visited Kakum National Park, host to a variety of animals and the famous canopy walk – approx 40 metres above the forest below – a different and fun experience!
7. Visited a palace – During our stay in Kumasi we learnt a lot about the rich history of the Ashanti kingdom, including a visit to the palace which has housed past Ashanti kings (the current king lives nearby)
8. Seen Kejetia Market – a 12 hectare market which is the biggest open market in West Africa (notice the pattern of having the biggest things in West Africa??) It was busy, overwhelming and fast paced. Could’ve spent hours bargaining there but alas,  I don’t have much room left in my backpack home to Australia!
9. 9. Met Josephine’s Mum – We were absolutely blessed to meet Josephine’s mum, an amazing 85 year old woman, that is a mother to ELEVEN children! Incredible. She speaks little English, so everything was translated, but more importantly we’ve recorded an emotional message for Josephine from her Mum – we can’t wait to show her!!
10. Lost in the Volta! – So this isn’t exactly a fond experience to remember, but one we can now look back on and laugh. After climbing Mt Gemi, we decided to trek to the nearest village, being told it was an hour walk downhill. Well, we started getting nervous after an hour… there was still a path but we were in thick jungle with no sounds of life nearby! A daunting experience…yet just after the 2 hr mark, we found a road, and eventually the village we were after! Turns out we’d taken the wrong turn – my legs weren’t thanking me even 4 days after – by far the most strenuous yet rewarding thing I’ve done!

Tomorrow we have our last day at school with the kids, I’m hoping to film some of their aspirations and thoughts about life in Ghana to bring back to Australia. We’ll then spend our remaining four days in Accra visiting museums, markets and the beach before beginning our three day trek home on Monday!

Thanks for your continual prayers, well wishes and excitement with us as we share with you this wonderful opportunity that God has blessed us with 🙂

Your resident Obruni,

Caitlin