wind up monkey

Gorillas in the Mist

The journey to Rwanda was excruciatingly tiring. Starting in Kumasi, we had to drive 6 hours back to Accra, where I had to catch a 5 hour flight to Johannesburg, which left at 11pm and arrived at 6am (it’s in a different time zone). I then had a 5 hour stopover at the airport, and then another 4 hour flight to Kigali, via Bujumbura. The entire experience was surreal; the second flight wasn’t announced at the airport, wasn’t on the departure board, and there were only 20 people on a jet with seating for 150.

On arrival, immigration lovingly gave me a 50% cheaper visa than I was expecting, and my bag miraculously appeared on the carousel. Outside, my guide John was waiting for me with a little sign with my name on it. Tick that off my list of things to do. John then told me that I was the only person on the tour; 4 days of John and me.

First stop was a rather deserved rest at the Lemigo Hotel in Kigali. I ended up getting a club sandwich from room service, and it only cost me 5000 Rwandan Francs ($8 AUD). The next day, John was scheduled to pick me up at 2:00pm, so I decided to walk around the neighbourhood near the hotel. I ended up at Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, which served up this rather interesting interpretation of sweat and sour pork. Avert your eyes if you’re easily offended.

At 2:00pm, we made our way to the Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, though the magnificent Rwandan countryside. I can’t explain how pretty Rwanda is as a country; everywhere you look there is a view more beautiful than the last. The lodge itself was fantastic, with very attentive staff. The fire place in my room was kept burning all afternoon and well into the evening, and someone else delivered a hot water bottle before I went to sleep.

I did not enjoy the 5:30am wake up call for the Gorilla trekking, but the excitement of getting to see a gorilla in the wild soon overtook the sleepiness. John and I had a quick trip to the Parc National des Volcans headquarters, where I was assigned to see the Agashya Group, which is the second largest group, and one of the easier to locate. We drove out to the starting point, and then after some 30 minutes of trekking through some rather muddy forest, we located the group. They were almost all sitting down eating.

After about 20 minutes, the giant silverback decided he wanted something else to eat, so he headed off. This is where things got interesting, as we followed the group through the forest with the guides cutting a path through the thick vegetation.

All too soon the magical hour was over. It was a privilege being able to see such magnificent creatures in the wild.

Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary

The next stop on our itinerary was Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, an ecotourism project in the upper western region of Ghana. The Lonely Planet guide describes it as the most underrated tourist attraction in Ghana. The problem with Wechiau is that it’s difficult to visit. By car it’s almost three hours from Mole, and public transport is limited to tro-tros only, so only the stubbornly determined make the trip. Which is a shame, because Wechiau is awesome.

When we arrived at the sanctuary, we were blown away by the hospitality of the staff. On arrival, they found us a nice comfortable seat and then they presented us with a menu of activities that we could do at the sanctuary. Obviously they had hippopotamus safaris, but they also had a plethora of community visits. We ended up selecting the river water safari and a village walk.

We had a short 10 minute drive out to our accommodation. The lodging is basic, but that’s part of the charm; no electricity, mosquito nets abound, drop toilets and bucket showers. Normally I’d squirm at this kind of thing, but I was so excited to be visiting the sanctuary that I didn’t really mind. They set your expectations well in advance.

Once we dropped our bags off, we headed straight out to our hippo safari. The three of us, a couple from Holland, and two guides piled into a rather rickety looking canoe and headed off looking for hippos. We didn’t have to go far; a group of 13 had formed less than 200 metres from the landing, and so we paddled straight over and started taking photos. Unfortunately there isn’t much of a hippo you can see during the day, but we stayed out there for 40 minutes. It was excruciatingly hot on the water, but I’m glad we got to see such a large group. Back at the camp, I spoke to someone that spent three hours on the safari and could only find one.

After the safari, we visited a local village. The money from the tours goes directly back into the villages; the sanctuary just recently installed two water pumps at each of the 17 villages within the sanctuary.

Back at the lodging, we were supplied with a boiling pot of water to cook our two minute noodles, and after a couple of glasses of wine we retired for the night. The girls decided that they wanted to sleep on the roof, whereas conservative me decided it was better to stay inside. Inside was the better choice, as at 1:00pm it started to rain heavily, and everyone had to come back in.

I could have spent days at the sanctuary, there was that much to see, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Ghana. Unfortunately, due to the limited amount of available time, we had to leave early the next morning to head back to Kumasi.

#ibm #ibmcsc #ghana                                                                                                   

Mole National Park

Mole National Park is the largest national park in Ghana, located in the North West corner of the country. It’s a bone crushing 670 kilometers from Accra, and the trip generally takes 11 hours. We ended up stopping in Techiman overnight, because the roads are just so treacherous; one minute you’re on a dual carriage way, and the next there are potholes the size of a VW Beetle.

After having some issues with booking the accommodation, we finally were able to book a room within the motel in the middle of the park. It’s a run-of-the-mill motel, apart from the fact it’s in the middle of a national park and the animals are allowed to walk through it. When we were checking in, there was a baboon running along the roof. Once the room was organized, we headed out for our first walking safari.

The Lonely Planet guide describes Mole as being the cheapest safari in Africa. The price for the guide is 3 cedi ($1.6 AUD) an hour, for a minimum of two hours. So we decide to start with a walking safari. We were assigned a guide, Christopher, and with a gun slung across his back, we head out into the park.

I’ve effectively done no exercise for 4 weeks, and walking through the searing Ghanian sun is difficult enough as it is, let alone having to walk through dense savannah scrub. The majority of the first walk was spent seeing glimpses of the backsides of bushbuck through thick vegetation. So we headed back to the motel, where we ordered dinner (I had two beef kebabs and yam chips) and had a few drinks by the pool before it rained us out.  

Walk number two was at 7:00am the next morning. Thankfully the terrain was a little more forgiving, consisting primarily of grassland. We did get to see some cute warthog families, and monkeys. It was also refreshing to see the front of a bushbuck, and their cousin, the waterbuck. 

I had resigned myself to the fact that we’d never get to see an elephant. We were told that they frequently can be seen drinking from the watering hole near the motel, or indeed the pool, but the “lower” temperature and rain over the two days had kept them away. We spent four hours optimistically watching the waterhole, and then due to a misunderstanding with our driver, we had to rent a vehicle for our driving safari, which we luckily shared with two American girls from Minnesota. It cost 45 cedi ($27 AUD), an hour, for the car, which is outrageously expensive by Ghanian standards. 

So sitting on the roof of the car, we slowly made our way through the park. When we saw an animal, we would bang on the roof and the guide would stop. We opted for three hours of driving, and after almost two and a half hours we hadn’t seen a lot. The other safari car that we passed hadn’t seen any elephants, so it was not looking good. As we slowly headed back to the motel, we caught a glimpse of one in the distance, and so we quickly stopped the car and proceeded on foot. It was so exhilarating following the elephants through the scrub, and we eventually got within 20 meters of a male. All happy, we headed back to the motel.

Mole National Park was an amazing experience, and I’m glad we made the trek up here. Next stop, Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary. 

#ibm #ibmcsc #ghana

Final Presentation

Our four weeks of work ended on Friday with presentations to the various stakeholders. Adaeze delivered a stirring 30 minute presentation to the crowd, and then we spent the next 15 minutes answering questions as a group. The other two groups then delivered their presentations, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon being filmed individually and in groups. I don’t think the video is going to go viral, but it’ll hopefully provide an insight into the program and the work we’ve been doing. 

All of us made it out for dinner as a group, and then it was back to the hotel for some dessert and photo sharing. I currently have over 60 gigabytes of photos, not including my own. 

The departure times on Saturday varied, as people flew back to their home countries. Our little trio, of Petra, Piper and I were actually the first to depart, with a grueling 7 hour driver ahead of us to Techiman. It was a sad leaving so many new friends behind, but there were numerous promises of future visits. 

Off to Mole!

Clicking Send

The last week of work has been hectic. We’ve been attending last minute meetings, sending out a constant flow of drafts, and running around Accra picking up gifts for loved ones back home. I’m now the proud owner of a small box of delicious Ghanian dark chocolate, and probably one too many bracelets. Unfortunately the school poster sized map of Accra that I bought for 2 cedi ($1 AUD) from the roadside has been lost in the turmoil.

We had an opportunity this week to check out the IBM office in Accra, and I managed to snap a photo of this:

We just clicked send on our final report, and all that is left now is the presentation tomorrow morning. Good times.

#ibmcsc #ibmcsc #ghana

Jamestown & Bojo Beach, Weekend #3

Not content with being run off our feet on Saturday, we made Sunday equally as busy. The first stop was Jamestown, the historic quarter in Accra, around James Fort. The area isn’t as developed as some of the other parts of Accra, and we were luckily able to find a guide to show us around (/he just jumped in the bus). We went down to the fish market area, where the locals weren’t too keen on being photographed by a bunch of tourists, but a couple of words and I suspect some cedi later from the guide, won them over.

The next stop was the lighthouse, which had incredible views of the old Accra harbour and the city. I loved the fact that we were able to walk up it. No occupational health and safety when you’re going around the twist.

After we’d seen enough of Jamestown, we headed out to Independence Square. We drive past it every day to the office, but we hadn’t had the opportunity to check it out. We also got to snap some photos of the creatively named Independence Arch.

Next to the Independence Arch is the Accra Sports stadium. After a rather confusing conversation with the guards at the entrance, they gave us a quick guided tour of the stadium.

The crown jewel of the weekend was without a doubt the trip to Bojo beach. About 40 minutes out of town, Bojo beach is an oasis of calm in comparison to Labadi Pleasure Beach. The beach is actually located on a sand bar, and you have to get a canoe across to it. Once you’re there, you can enjoy the clean water, deck chairs, and the obligatory bar. We ordered some lunch at the restaurant, and then went across to the beach for a leisurely couple of hours of swimming.

It’s interesting to note that Ghanians don’t really swim. A lot of the people just mill around in the shallows, shrieking at the sight of waves higher than their waists. I’m not a particularly capable swimmer, but I was complimented a couple of times on my freestyle prowess. Maybe I should move to Ghana and join the swim team.