It’s hard to believe that this weekend only consisted of three days.
It started off oh so innocently. A rain forest! In the Western Region! Let’s all go! We may see an elephant!
My roommate and I left our room at 6:30 am on Saturday morning and made the trek to the bus stop to meet the other 5 members of our travel party. We eventually hopped on a bus. Then another. Then another. That put us in a town called Takaradi. It was very dirty. We ate some fu fu and bought some snacks in case there was no where to eat at the rain forest.
Our bus to Takaradi.
Air conditioning and a TV.
Mind. Blown.
Lunch.
Yum....
We then asked around until we found a bus going in the direction we wanted. The driver explained to us, though, that we would just be dropped off on the road a pretty good distance from the entrance to Ankasa. He convinced us to pay for a personal driver to take us all the way there and helped us find one for a reasonable price. Francis didn’t speak much English but he said he knew where he was going. So we all piled in. The ride was lovely. Very scenic. And Anneke read aloud to us.
Happy! Reading! Traveling!
Around 4 we finally got to the entrance of forest. He pulled in. It looked deserted. He honked his horn. No one came out. He started driving deeper into the forest. We figured he knew where he was going. Terrible assumption. About 20 minutes into his drive into the forest he got stuck in several feet of clay-mud/ water. We spent another 30 pushing, pulling, shoving, and being sprayed by sheets of mud.
Well darn.
This is what a bus stuck in the middle of a rain forest looks like.
This is what trying to get out of the rain forest looks like.
Yeah. We were never going to make it through this.
Admire the ambition though.
The sun was threatening to set soon. We had no cell phone service. We hadn’t seen another human in miles and miles. And you know, we in the middle of a RAIN FOREST on the border of the Ivory Coast.
Good work gang!
The driver insisted on walking onward. I personally thought the better idea was to walk backward toward where we knew people were, but I was out voted. So onward we walked.
Mariel and I being really mature during this very serious situation.
But really, that's from an elephant.
How cool is that?!
This is the first camp site we came to.
As you can see it is thoroughly abandoned.
Also thoroughly begging to be turned into a horror film
We consulted our maps and found that there was one more camp site a kilometer up. We decided to take that one last chance.
By some mighty miracle there was, in fact, a Ghanian man sitting up at the camp site. He was a guide to a Canadian man and an American woman (Tom and Jodi) who were camping for the night. We explained our little... problem. I asked the Ghanian man if they had any shovels. He said no. I asked if he had any buckets. He said no. I turned around and saw a bucket.
I just about lost it.
Until then, everything was funny and fine and was what it was. But as soon as he lied to my face when we obviously needed any help we could get... well things were less funny. I marched over and grabbed the bucket and shouted back to him “This is a ‘bucket’”. I then found 2 shovels, several more buckets, and we even found a pick axe.
Our poor driver was really quite anxious to get out of that forest. So we grabbed our flash lights (cell phones) and the supplies and headed back to his van to try and free it. To say Tom and Jodi saved our butts is maybe the ultimate understatement. Tom had his truck and provided our mud pit with light. He led us in some nice trench digging and we all gave it our all in trying to get the thing out. Eventually Tom realized that some essential piece to the underside of his car had been snapped and the thing wasn’t driving anywhere.
We went back to the campsite, washed off in a creek, and dealt with the fact that that’s where we’d be spending the night. Tom and Jodi gave us an extra sheet and two mosquito nets. Not to mention the greatest snacks ever. Seriously spoiled.
At some point they made some comment about thank goodness we were there to eat their extra food otherwise they would have had to carry it out. And I was like, yeah, thank goodness that 7 college kids came to crash your weekend away, force you to spend all night digging in the mud, and steal all your expensive food and supplies. Whatever would you have done.
We are forever indebted and eternally grateful.
Our snacks.
Popcorn. Bananas. Crackers. Eggs.
Their snacks.
Salsa, bread, brie, hummus, smoked salmon, etc etc.
So Sunday morning was fairly stunning, all things considered. The park is home to something called the bamboo cathedral. It was as cool as it sounds. Giant clumps of bamboo growing way up into the air and connecting overhead in grand arches. In the light of the rising sun (we woke up at 6) it was pretty breath taking. The morning was spent exploring. I was first to the bamboo cathedral and hung out there by myself for awhile. I was eventually joined by Theo and we went off on one of the trails leading away from the place. It was awesome. Monkey calls galore, giant centipedes, mushrooms, huge spiders, and at one point we heard something walking away from us and calling to warn the others. We also heard the loudest bellow I’ve ever heard right above our heads. We headed off the path into the forest, but never had any monkey sightings. It was still exciting.
We got back in time to see Francis come rolling up in a tractor with some other park workers. His car was free!
And then we got to pay the tractor driver for freeing his car.
That was probably my favorite part.
The whole survival gang.
Family portrait style.
Some plants that looked like home!
Us being super giddy over eating all of Tom and Jodi's left overs.
Hiking out to Tom's car.
Understand the vastness of the rain forest!
That's a line of ants.
That's elephant tracks !!!
It really was beautiful.
Someone identify this for me.
Tom and Jodi gave us a ride out of the park and closer to all our destinations. Seriously, such saints. On our walk to his car though I finally saw a monkey! In an embarrassingly I’m-still-a-4-year-old moment I screamed “MONEKYYYYY!” No regrets though. It was awesome. While driving in the back of Toms car I also saw the biggest lizard I’ve ever seen. Maybe 3 and half feet long. Probably 4 if I had seen its whole tail.
Tom's beautiful, life saving truck.
One last crazy spider.
False. Zoos.
Me on an elephant scull!
We all really wanted to see an elephant.
At some point we just started calling all the animals elephants.
Like, watch out! There's a tiny elephant crawling toward you! (That tiny elephant being an ant.)
Whole gang with elephant bones. Tom and Jodi are in there too.
Finally out of the forest.
Open roads and open skies from his open truck bed.
Living the life.
So everyone else headed on to a town closer to Accra but Mariel and I headed to a resort in the next town over. A man also leaving the village surrounding Ankasa showed us the way to Beyin (he was heading to a neighboring town). He even paid for our cab ride! Ghanian hospitality at its finest.
We just about cried in reaching the resort. Huge beds, toilets, sinks with soap, a shower with hot water. And the menu. Oh the menu. We ordered food before even getting our room.
The view from my bed.
Car digging wounds. I stepped on a machete. In the rain forest. Typical.
I also had a cut on my leg and flies kept coming up and drinking my blood.
I just about lost it.
But things like this make everything better.
Sunday afternoon was perfect. Except I forgot my swimsuit. Don’t ask how I swam. But I did. I don’t even know how many hours we sat in the ocean for. The currents were so much fun. I’ll try to explain. So there were waves going toward the beach. Normal. But there were also waves going away from the beach. I’ve never seen anything like it. When the opposing waves ran into each other they would spray water 20 feet into the air in a violent clap and a wave running parallel to the beach would shoot down. If you got right in between the clapping waves, it would shoot you into the air too. Fantastic. And if you just sat while floating in waist length water, the currents would zoom you all around, probably 2 to 3 times faster than I could swim. It was like a theme park.
Oh man. Tooootally wish I was in Berkeley right now.
Sorry guys.
Yes. Those are cows on the beach.
Perfect way to end a sunset in my opinion.
Sunday night we met this Danish couple. We talked about Denmark. We talked about America. We told them all the reasons to not go to Ankasa (which was their plan for the next day). We all then went our ways to bed.
That night I woke up needing to use a restroom. Quickly. As is typical when you drink as much water as we drink here. Without glasses and in the total darkness I headed to the shared bathrooms. I went into the women’s bathroom and pushed open a stall door that was already half way open. I was met by our Danish friend. The boy half of the couple. He turned around and screamed. I hate my life.
I don’t understand how I am always, invariably, always the awkward one. Even when it’s not my fault. Like, dude, why were you in the girls bathroom and why didn’t you shut the door.
In my half asleep and very confused state, I went and used the men’s bathroom. And had a long reflection on my extreme case of awkwardness.
Monday morning and I avoided any Danes. I also found my swimsuit. I had apparently packed it. Goodness. Mariel and I headed to a tour of the city on stilts, Nzelezo--a whole village built on stilts in a lake. It was supposed to be a long beautiful boat ride followed by a glimpse of the town.
In reality it was a very long hike, followed by 2 minutes of pretty river, followed by 15 minutes of very boring lake, followed by a very very very awkward walk around the village where everyone just kind of glared at us and no one said hi and they tried to get us to donate copious amounts of money. Interesting.
Good news gang. Turns out all wetlands look exactly the same.
Is this the field behind Quarry Ponds in Granite Bay?
Nope. Africa.
This is our guide leading us barefoot through some parasite filled sludge.
This is my face thinking about the parasites we were inevitably getting.
This was the 2 minutes of pretty boat ride.
The water was completely black and totally reflective. Really cool.
Folsom Lake?
No. Still Africa.
Yawn.
Village!
So awkward!
Sorry we didn't donate to your school kids!
Man making a boat. Classic.
See the stilts?
The boat in front was ours.
The best part of the trip.
Veggie burger !!!
The adventure was finally almost over.
I just had to be awkward a few more times.
So there are 18 people squished into something equivalent to the size of a minivan. I’m sitting back to back with the driver and kept smacking my head on the roof. So I laid my head on my backpack. The whole tro tro thought this was hilarious. I don’t know why. Whatever. At some point, though, the driver and another man in the bus start arguing. A lot of times though, it will sound like people are arguing here but then they’ll be laughing the next second. Yeah. That didn’t happen this time.
The driver slammed on his breaks, whipped the door open, and began beating the snot out of the man he had been arguing with. Cute. Being in the thick of it, and not wanting to lose my face, I grabbed my backpack, backward somersaulted over the back of the driver seat, and jumped out of the bus.
Once again everyone thought this was hilarious.
In a way that only having a bus full of people laughing can do, the whole situation was completely diffused. Mariel was literally crying she was laughing so hard. I hate her. I got back on the bus and everyone laughed some more. Glad I could provide the rides entertainment.
It took longer than we thought it would to get back. We thought we were going to have to spend the night in Cape Coast, but by some miracle we were able to grab a giant and safe bus back to Accra. Thank the Heavens. We just needed to be home.
By the time we were taking a taxi back, I was so paranoid that I freaked out at our driver when he started fumbling with something next to his chair. I thought he was pulling out a gun. He was counting his money. Haha. To be fair, he had stopped at a gas station in a sketchy part of town. But he just sincerely needed gas. Mariel and I still hid our money all over our bodies as to not be stranded even if all our stuff got stolen. Nice.
So that’s the story. If you read this whole saga, then you seriously deserve a gold star. Send me your address. I’ll send you a thank you.
It was a crazy weekend. One to remember. As beautiful as some aspects of it were, I am plenty happy to be sitting in my dorm room right now.
Happy Ghanian Independence Day! 55 years!
