African Safari

Some days it's all about the picture and today was one of those days.  Mole (Moe-lay) National Park is located in Northern Ghana.  For us that meant that we spent our weekend off driving, an 8 hour return drive through more villages than I could count.  It's funny, a couple of weeks ago if you told me I would be sitting in the car with two people I have known for less than a week for 16 hours I'm not sure I would have said excellent lets go!  But by jove, that would have been the correct response.

 There are so many things to look at that the time just fly's past and before you know it you have arrived. The villages are close together so you are always moving out of one and into the other.  The villages are all very different.  Some have grass huts, others have mud huts or cement and cinderblock construction.  All of them will have chickens, goats, ginny hens, and perhaps a few dogs wandering around.


Grass hut village on the way to Mole



Road side market

A quick stop at the market and we were ready for our trip with fresh banana's, watermelon and homemade bread.  You can purchase bread just about everywhere.  Vendors will even run out into the street with it as you drive past. It takes convenience to a whole new level, here if you are waiting in traffic you can purchase, bread, water, bags of nuts, boiled eggs, and numerous other items.  The bread is a while, a little bit heaver than Canadian bread and slightly sweater.  Very good.



Elephants at Mole National Park

Finally we arrived at the park.  The main attraction at Mole are the elephants and they did not disappoint.  Heidi and I saw our first ones on the way to our room.  Four elephants were on the other side of the road.  There was a guide near by and so we were able to approach quite closely.  The park is over 4500 sq km so there is no guarantee that the elephants will be in the area that you visit, but as with the rest our trip Africa did not disappoint. 



This part of Ghana is quite a bit dryer than we have experienced so far.  When the rainy season comes the valley will flood and all the trees will spring back to life.  But for now there is a barren feel to the land.  We chose a driving safari in the afternoon and a walking safari for the morning when it was cooler.  Price of the walking safari, $5.00 each for a guide to take us out for two hours.

 

Tomorrow it is back to work but today it was all about creating memories.