Holy Mole National Park!

I find that when I am accomplishing a large goal or item on my bucket list, I feel an overwhelming sense of joy. Where are the roots of this joy? The answer will come momentarily. On Monday morning, I awoke at 5:00 AM to load on to the group bus. Lynley had made sure to warn us that this bus ride was going to be about 10 hours to get all the way to Mole National Park. However, she did not anticipate the congestive traffic or the uneven roads that would add more time. The bus we were on had problems with the air conditioning system. Starting at the back where my seat was located, water began to drip from the overhead vents. It began pretty harmless with a few drips here and there but soon it turned into a frequent drip that was getting me wet. The water made its way up the bus to the other seats and we had to stuff the mildewy curtains up in the cracks in a convoluted way to collect the dirty water. The curtains became soaked quickly and we had waterfalls pouring down the sides of the bus. This made me laugh because at this point we were only four hours into our long drive. I will spare you the nasty details but on this drive we stopped several times for washroom breaks. Yikes, I must say that I am very lucky to live in a country with plumbing. Soon the 10 hours had passed and we discovered that the drive would be a little longer than planned. We managed to hit a pig and three goats and see some kind of baby wild cat being sold on the road side. We arrived in a tiny village called Fufuso to switch our mode of transportation to vans. The reason for this-the bus wouldn’t make it to Mole National Park because of the severity of the road. We tried to get into the vans but the people of the village went crazy. They completely surrounded our van and were pushing, banging on the windows, and begging for food. It was very sad when we had to be assertive and tell them to move away we several times. Small children pounded on my window asking for food with a deep hunger in their eyes. I had nothing to give them and they seemed to be counting on me. After the vans pulled away and we began the last leg of our journal, I began to wonder if my life was real. We traveled down an extremely rough dirt road with bumps, valleys, puddles, and large bodies of water. The van constantly flew over rocks, killed the shocks, squealed, screeched, and squeaked loudly. It sounded as if it was going to fall apart and lose a tire or two the whole way. We saw several subtle pairs of eyes along the way, lighting up the dark night and I was literally scared of the lions that prowled as we got out to relieve our bladders at one point. I had to wonder how many of them were hunting me at that moment. Finally, after a few agonizing hours we arrived at Mole National Park. Total driving time: 16 hours!

Trying to catch the waterfall that was streaming above my head

Hilary and Cameron

On Tuesday, we woke up at 5:00 AM to go on a nature walking safari. As I walked out the door of my motel room, I found several baboons in my path! Now please understand that baboons are very aggressive, especially towards women (somehow, they can distinguish gender) and those holding food or plastic bags are at high risk of getting attacked. I will expound on that later. We met our guide, Adam, fully donned in full jungle uniform complete with a large rifle that was nearly his size. As we walked into the forest, we began to see animals such as wart hogs, cobs (a species of antelope), water bucks, red monkeys, and mona monkeys. Adam could tell us the scientific name, life span, and gestation period of every animal we saw. Suddenly we saw a bunch of muddy puddles as well as trees with wet mud on them. What did this infer? Savanna elephants! It started a scavenger hunt for the elephants. We found freshly made footprints which made me die of excitement. We turned around and saw three enormous African elephants eating leaves off the trees! They were beautiful! We took many pictures and stared at them in awe for a while. We moved on to walk deeper in the forest and found more signs of elephants such as broken tree branches, fresh poop, plants they eat, and more footprints. Adam could simply tell from the surroundings exactly where the elephants had been and at what time. He told us that African elephants live to be 70-80 years old and have a gestation period of 22 months. When one elephant is sick they wait to move on until it is well enough to move on. When an elephant in a herd dies, the strongest elephants pick it up with their trunks and take it to a special area. They stay for a funeral and mourn for a few days before continuing on. How amazing is that! If that is not true love, I don’t know what is. We passed more baboons and monkeys and ended at a waterhole. I felt like I was living in the set of the Lion King (however impossible that may be). Elephants bathed in the mud and splashed water on their backs to reveal their true deep black and leathery skin. I had another moment of surrealism as I stood there watching them bathe with crocodiles lurking in the brown water. Lush green trees and plants stretched for miles behind them. The elephants happily splashed and squirted refreshing cool water on their backs to clean and cool off. My greatest desire was to join them to escape the stifling heat on my back. I was not at Disneyland on the Jungle Cruise. I was not at Hogle Zoo near the small elephant cage. I was not even dreaming one of my insane dreams that occur on a nightly basis. I was on an African safari in Mole National Park, viewing my favorite animal bathing in mud in its natural habitat with my own eyes. I have no doubt that this moment is one that I will never forget. I honestly would have been willing to drive two days straight just to see them. Elephants are breathtaking! (Side note: they are the 2nd fastest land mammals, running up to speeds of 40-50 kmph…who knew?).

Baboons right outside the front door

Elephant skull

Adam and his enormous rifle to protect us

Pumbaa?

Family reunion

Medicine man

A traditional village dance

Such beautiful children

Afternoon safari walk



Warthogs scrounging for food

So beautiful!



The waterhole

Family reunion...



Mother and baby....they are NOT as friendly as they appear

What better way to cool off then to roll around in mud and rinse in cold, crocodile infested water?

Crossing its legs!

Adam wouldn't let us hold the rifle alone...I wonder why? ha ha

We went back up the hill to the motel and ate breakfast outside overlooking the park and watching the elephants from up high. Breakfast included Milo (African hot chocolate), bread, eggs, and apple juice! I laid out by the pool fully aware that I was being cooked to a crisp under the scorching sun. It felt like a dream as I felt the rays of sweet sunshine penetrate my skin and enter my bones. We swam in the pool for a while before heading over to a local village. As we parked the van, I saw the most primitive village I have ever seen in my life. Even more so than the Monkey Village. Mud huts, no electricity or running water, no technology, handcrafted tools, naked children, a tribal chief. We went to an old woman’s hut to watch her make pure shea butter. We met a million curious kids who wanted to take pictures with us. They were adorable and mostly unable to speak English! We met the chief who honestly seemed to be over 75 years old. He didn’t speak a word, just deeply chuckled. His house was indestructible due to the multiple layers of clay solidifying. We climbed a tree to get to the top of the roof in order to see the entire layout of the village. It was so strange! This tribe believes in multiple wives but at the time there was only one who seemed to be at least 20 years younger and had several young children. We went to visit the medicine man. He didn’t speak any English so we used a translator. He pulled out all of these herbal powders that were to be mixed with water to cure disease and illness. Remedies for headaches, stomach pains, diarrhea, muscle pain, and sore throats. He performed a prophecy after taking a coin from Ben. He pulled out a bag filled with cowry shells, sea shells, coins, metal trinkets, etc. The medicine chanted in a tribal dialect and used a stick to move the objects around in a rhythmic pattern on the ground. He told Ben that he must visit the river near the mountain where he lives to pay respect to nature. The river will bring success to his future if he talks to it privately. So awesome! We handed out small toys to the children subtly that made them very happy. We sat in a circle in the center of the village and watched as they danced for us. They wore traditional outfits and metal trinkets around their ankles. Men brought out huge drums and African instruments made of animal bone and hide. Soon I found myself carried into the dance circle once again as I always do having a great time, trying to learn their steps and move my body as they do. They must have some kind of dancing gene that they are inherently born with because they are super talented! We met the lion man-an old man who was attacked by a lion seven years ago in the village. He had massive scars on his arms and chest and I wished we could have had time to hear his frightening tale. It came time to leave so we donated our items to a tribal leader that would distribute the items evenly to the village. They were very poor and if a child wasn’t naked it was wearing old clothes with holes and rips or oversized t-shirts on their filthy bodies. Many of them suffered from malnutrition, kwashiorkor (a severe protein deficiency), anemia, and other deficiencies. Very sad to see such a poor group of people living in the dirt and struggling with many problems. They were so grateful for the things we donated to them. As I walked to the bus, I felt two small hands take each of mine. I looked down and saw the beautiful smiles of two half naked children. What a memorable moment! The doors of the van closed and I was sad to see their faces full of hunger and sadness. It is amazing to me how fast I can fall in love with children. The whole experience at this village was very humbling to me and made me truly appreciate the bare necessities that are so accessible in my life.



When we arrived back at the motel, Ben got out of the van and began walking towards his room. I was following behind. I saw a baboon out of the corner of my eye that was walking towards us. Suddenly, it began sprinting towards Ben growling, rocketed off the ground and clawed his arm, drawing blood! An employee at Mole threw rocks at it, yelled in Twi, and chased it away. The problem had been that Ben had a plastic bag in his hand. To a baboon, plastic bag=food. They will attack to get that food cause let’s face it, eating is basically all they do. It was super intense! No more than 20 minutes later, Ben heard a knock on his door and watched as a baboon opened the handle and walked in the room searching for food! He used an umbrella to coax it out without the risk of aggression again. This caused us to lock our doors even when we were inside of our rooms to prevent unwanted ape encounters. We went on another walking safari in the high heat of the afternoon. I thought I may die of heat stroke! We found signs of elephants but did not find them. Our guide, Christopher, seemed determined to find them so he dragged us deeper and deeper into the forest, farther from the safety of our motel. We found a large turtle which he picked up and began to carry. Christopher explained that they had a turtle in the Park Museum that recently died so he needed a new one. We each took time to hold the turtle. It had to weigh at least 20 pounds! I suggested we name it “Obrune” (the Twi word for white man) since it had a white belly. Christopher laughed and laughed and agreed to use the name I had chosen. As we walked through open fields and dense trees, I couldn’t help but have an eerie feeling that all the insomniac lions were lazily watching, even hunting me from the trees above. Somehow we made it back to the motel in one piece after wandering around the reserve for at over two hours. The dirt had to have been piled on an inch thick. For dinner, we ate guinea fowl (a turkey like bird found in African villages) and yam chips. Hilary, Amanda, Bailey, and I laid in our beds for hours trying to sleep. Causes of our unusual insomnia included a drowning heat wave, billions of bugs landing on us, a threat of bed bugs, sounds of animals outside, and the roar of a lion. Yep, a lion’s roar! It was hilarious because we were so unbelievably exhausted yet we couldn’t sleep.



The next morning we got up at 4:00 AM to load the vans and head back to Accra. The two hour bumpy Indiana Jones style bus ride was hysterical. I sat next to Hilary. In the past 72 hours we had gotten less than a total of ten hours of sleep. All we wanted to do was close our eyes and rest but this insane van ride prevented that. I couldn’t lay forward cause there was a bar, I couldn’t lay back because there was no head rest, I couldn’t lay against the window or I would be sure to get a concussion, and I couldn’t lay on Hilary’s shoulder because my head would bounce against her arm 80 times per minute. It felt like Chinese torture where you are not allowed to sleep ha ha. The overwhelming fatigue made us give in to hysterical laughter that could not be stopped. As we passed through villages, we found large crowds of goats laying down on the road. Our driver hit them just as he would any other speed bump…..so sad! We repeated the entire 16 hour drive backwards with the monsoon in the bus and unsanitary washrooms. When we pulled into the Pink Hostel, I felt so lucky to have made it back in one piece! The experiences I had at Mole National Park are ones I will never forget. Now all I need to figure out is how to smuggle a savannah elephant back to the United States