Accra, Ghana

So i am sitting in a Western-style shopping mall, more of that later.

Lots has happened in the last few days, lots more activities and doing stuff. We went to Mole National Park in northern Ghana. We started walking in the bush quite early and for ages we only saw Bush Bok - like Antelopes and it was a bit dull. We had been promised elephants and crocs. We were just heading back when the guide got a phone call and we went back to where we had come from and lurking behind some trees was a huge African elephant. I have only seen Asian elephants before and they are smaller. This one was 80 years old, apparently, and he didnt seem to mind us being there, just 30 metres away. We stood and watched, and took pictures, for ages. He was eating bits of tree and we followed him to a waterhole. He did take a bit of step towards me and Greg when we thought he was staying put but the guide clapped and stamped his foot and the elephant stayed still. Then walked to another watering hole and there was a gang of small crocs who just slinked into the water as we got closer. Anyway, that made the whole day alot better. When we got back to the start there were some baboons going through the rubbish bin, picking through it like a person would. A couple of our guys got too close and the baboons ran towards them, i just heard the screaming!

Back on the truck for a while and then stopped at a small town so that two of the guys could be taken to hospital. Although they have different sympoms, apparently they both have dysentary. Everyday at least one person has some kind of sickness....While they we at the hospital, most of us went to the New Trafford theatre, which is large tin/wood shack where they had Arsenal v Everton on a big screen, which was great.

The next day we made it to the waterfalls. A chance to get clean! There wasnt much room to swim but i led on the rock under the falls and let the water rush over me, like a bath and a shower at the same time. It was nice and cold and i felt fresh for the first time after 3 days of bush camping. Lots of fun. There was a bushfire nearby as we left, in fact there have been lots of small bushfires since we got to Ghana. The locals dont seem to worry about it, except for standing nearby with an axe hoping to catch small animals running away!

We also went to a monkey sanctuary - they actually just live in the forest. We were able to buy bananas from the locals and then hand feed the monkeys, they came down out of the trees as soon as they saw us. I didnt really think that this was the right to do but finally succumed and fed one since everyone else had. The monkeys are very important to the locals and they even have a monkey cemetery. We had a great game of street soccer with some local kids. I set up the goals and the teams! At the lodge we had to pump our own water from the well to fill buckets for washing and flushing, although the locals seemed to insist on doing it for us. On the way we went over an old wooden bridge that looked like it wouldnt take the weight, though clearly it did or i wouldnt be here.

Am very comfortable in my dome tent, having taken it over from the guy who went home. More room and easy enough to put up, even in the dark, though its easier when someone helps. There are only three of us now who have never upgraded, i.e. taken a room when we could camp. Perfectly happy in me tent. Lots of vivid dreams.

The roads in Ghana are much better than we are used to, though still pretty rough at times. The people in the north were really friendly and lots of fun. Down south, where we are now, they are bit more grumpy. As usual we are surrounded by curious, staring locals when we bushcamp, there is always a few kids and adults watching us have breakfast. And they take our empty water bottles of us, which is a bonus. We have the roof open at the front of the truck which lets a breeze in, but i am usually directly in the sun so have to cover up a bit. When the sun is not so strong, we can stand on the seats and look out of the front of the truck which is cool, waving to the locals and listening to my tunes.

Yesterday we were in Kumasi which has a huge, crazy market which takes up most of the town. A disused rail track goes through part of it so we just followed that. I didnt buy anything but they had loads of Obama merchandise, as in the other African countries - you can buy Obama shirts, keyrings, boxer shorts, everything, they love him in Africa, which is fair enough.


So, we are staying at Big Milly's backyard which is a backpacker hostel next to the ocean, 30kms from Accra. We will be here for a few days as we wait for visas. A few days is ok, longer will seem annoying. the plan was to head to Accra today to have a look around, but some people asked the taxi driver for the shopping mall cos they wanted clothes so we ended up in a horrible shopping mall, and 10kms from the city centre and now i can't be bothered to get another taxi in etc. I dont think i will be missing much.

thats all for now. probably offline again for a while.