Tamale is a major town in the Northern Region of the country. The environment changes pretty drastically from the south. I have heard many say that northern Ghana is Africa while the south is the Caribbean. I believe it. It is drier and feels very vast. The dense, tall forests are replaced with savanna that is dominated by open grassland peppered with small trees. This part of Ghana is also predominately Muslim whereas the south is Christian. So it is a new Africa to me and very exciting.
After the boat rides I hooked up with a great English couple who were on the same itinerary as me. We arrived in Tamale late in the afternoon and were hoping to make the 5 hour journey to Mole N.P. that evening. However, we missed the last bus. Luckily though there was a group of folks from Belgium wanting to get there as well. There was enough of us to justify hiring a van off the street. We found a driver who was willing to take us in on the notoriously bumpy and dusty road. So we all piled in along with the mate (driver's assistant) and a small boy off the street who just felt like going for a ride. Off we go.
The road to Mole was indeed rough going. It is a pretty remote dirt road with a few villages scattered around. Maybe about an hour and a half down the road, for some unknown reason I decide to stick my head out the window and check the tires. Sure enough, we have a flat. Turns out the driver doesn't have a spare. We all start walking while he limps the van into the nearest village. There is little concern, village people are crafty so they should certainly be able to fix a tire, right? Nope. Plan B, the driver finds a motorcycle in the village and piles on with a villager and off they go back down the road to the junction with the highway where he should be able to fix the tire. The sun is getting low on the horizon by now.
In the meantime, the village kids are on to us. It must have been quite the ordeal for them. They see so many white people driving by on a daily basis, but to have some actually out of the car and physically there, must have been a dream. It was a joy playing with them. It was fascinating to observe the differences in them as well. Supposedly there were three separate tribes living in the village. The children had different markings on their faces identifying their tribe. Some had painted purple dots, black tattooed around their eyes, and others had scars cut into different patterns. There was very little interaction with the adults of the village. The village itself was the idyllic African village; mud and grass huts, no electricity, and goats and chickens running around.
Night comes and no sign of our driver. Concern starts setting in. Eventually we see a single headlight bumping down the road and sure enough it is the motorcycle. No driver, no fixed tire. Turns out the driver decided go back to Tamale and would return sometime the next day. Suddenly we are faced with sleeping in the bush. We have little food and water, and the village certainly doesn't have a provisions store. The small boy, Jason, that jumped in with us back in Tamale springs into action and hunts down the village chief and gets permission for us to sleep in the village. The chief cleaned out a small room that would fit 6 of us while the rest would have to sleep outside. A women brought us some dinner which we happily accepted. I can't tell you exactly what it was but it filled the void. So we settled in for the night. I slept outside the hut under an amazing starry night. Throughout the night I woke to find a goat standing over me, watching, maybe protecting, I don't know what it's intentions were. My wake-up call was the release of the chickens from the coop who found my head a nice place to stand. The mosquitoes were happy too. They had an all you can eat feast despite wrapping myself in my mosquito net. So much of a feast that they couldn't stop and burst leaving the net dotted with blood splotches. But I was alive, I didn't get eaten buy some fierce African predator. The same woman brought us breakfast (again, I don't know what it was) as we sat by the road waiting for a ride. Eventually our driver appeared in the back of a truck with a shiny new tire. Problem solved. The bumpy journey continues...
Even though the entire experience doesn't sound too appealing, it was absolutely amazing. The kindness of the villagers was overwhelming and it was a wonderful opportunity to experience traditional African village life. I found it very refreshing to see people happily living off the grid with very few material possessions. It is particularily amazing, especially after thinking of life back home, that people still live in this manner. It was such a blessing to get that flat tire.
Not quite a five-star hotel
In good company
No caption needed
Our driver and tire returns
1 comment:
Wow what a great adventure. I can't wait for part 3. I love pictures of the children. It's good see to the smiles on their faces.
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