Today’s post is 1780 words, 42 photos, an 8 minute read. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

This week I take you a jaunt to the Northern Region in Ghana where we’ll visit a market in Tamale, the regional capital, Mole National Park, and the oldest mosque in West Africa. This the seventh post in my Ghana series, if you missed my previous six posts, click here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Accra to Tamale

When I ended last week’s post, we were on our way from Denu to Accra. After stopping for a late lunch/early dinner, we checked into the KNUST Guest House where we stayed the first night we arrived in Ghana. The next morning we were up early for the short drive to the Accra airport. There we caught an Africa World Airways flight to Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region of Ghana. We packed only what we needed for a couple of days, the rest of our possessions stayed on the bus under the protection of the driver, Martin. Before checking in and boarding the plane, we had our group photo taken by the greeting area for the Africa Games that were taking place in Accra. From left to right; Hope, Toni, Janet, Tom, Donna, Mary R., Mary C., Charlene, Mary B. and Papa.

 

The one hour flight went smoothly arriving on time at Tamale International Airport. There we were met by a bus that would take us around Tamale then out to Mole National Park where we would stay the night.

Tamale (pronounced Toh-moh-lee), population nearly 800,000, is the capital city of the Northern Region and Ghana’s third largest city. It’s also one of the fastest growing cities in West Africa. Tamale is known for its art and literary scene along with being a main business and education center for the region. The area around Tamale is primarily involved in agricultural pursuits. They are known for growing tomatoes and other vegetable crops as well as cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, millet, corn, sorghum, rice, and other grains. The area is subject to periods of drought so yearly agricultural production varies. Unfortunately, unemployment is high and poverty is widespread.

After a driving tour of Tamale, the bus stopped at a local crafts market. The sunbaked parking lot was nearly empty when we arrived. It was extremely hot, at sometime during our stay in the area, the temp reached 106° F (~41° C)! Most of the merchants were lounging in the shade but were quickly rousted when a group of tourists got off the bus.

The fella in the blue shirt was aggressive but he sold me a large brimmed hat at a reasonable price to replace the one I lost somewhere along the way. He also worked hard to make a deal that my Traveling Partner couldn’t refuse but she was a tough sell, she left without making a purchase.

I walked around looking at what the vendors were offering. This young fella graduated from art school and is trying to make a living selling his art. It was beautifully done, however even the small pieces were too challenging to transport back to the U.S. We had a nice talk, I wished him success.

Back on the bus, we stopped for lunch at the Wooden restaurant. The menu was a mix of traditional Ghanaian and Indian dishes. It appeared to me the managers and owners were Indian.

The water at the restaurant was refreshingly cold after being out in the hot sun. Wooden claims to be an oasis, it was for me that day. While we were perusing the extensive menu, someone notice this notation by one of the dishes. It was our humor for the day.

I ordered an Indian dish, it was excellent but don’t remember the name.

While we were waiting for lunch to be served, I noticed a few signs posted around the restaurant. We were in Ghana during Ramadan, it was nice that the restaurant wished one of their employees a happy Ramadan. The Northern Region of Ghana is over 60% Muslim and Tamale is said to be 90%.

I don’t know what to think about this poster, it could be viewed as prejudiced toward young men trying to fit in.

After lunch, we began the three hour drive to the Safari Gate Lodge between the towns of Domongo and Larabanga in the Northern Region of Ghana. It was a most unpleasant ride, the air conditioning on the bus didn’t work very well so we were hot, sweaty, and hungry when we arrived. I didn’t like the bus driver either, he wasn’t very accommodating to his passengers, but he did get us there without incident. That evening we had a buffet of bananas, bread, and digestives then off to our room for a shower before hitting the sack. The air-conditioning in our room didn’t work very well either. The voltage was sporadic so the AC ran at half speed for a while then not at all, then back on. It was a hot, restless night.

We were up early for another shower and a 6:00 AM departure for Mole National Park. It was refreshing to step outside the hotel before the sun rose, it had cooled off to about 80° F during the night. The light was just coming up over the horizon. It would be another hot day.

Mole National Park

It was about a 15-20 minute ride out to the headquarters of Mole National Park, the first and largest of the seven national parks in Ghana. It covers nearly 1.2 million acres of varied landscape that is attractive to many native animal and plant species. 

The first thing I noticed was that many of the rangers were carrying rifles. That made me wonder if it was common for wild animals to attack visitors. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies where the big cat lies in waiting to jump on the tourists and rip their heads off. My imagination at work again.

We boarded a safari type vehicle where we sat up high on three rows of seats. Maji was our guide, he’s been with the park for over 25 years. He told us that he’s only used his rifle a few times to scare off an aggressive animal. So I relaxed some and ready for the ride. The rifle was a precaution.

It didn’t take long for us to see our first wild animals, a family of warthogs. This critter is quite common in sub-Saharan Africa. The crest of bristly long hair on their backs and the long tusks are common characteristics. The tusk on a male warthog can reach a length of 10 to 25 inches while the females have much smaller tusks.

Just up the road, we came across two African elephants, a species at risk for extinction. Mole protects a wide variety of wildlife native to Ghana, it’s a refuge from poaching and habitat loss. The elephants were minding their own business and didn’t seem bothered by our gawking at them.

Within the park is a small village including a church and several living quarters.

A bit up the road, we saw kids walking to school. This photo is a bit blurry, the safari jeep wasn’t exactly the smoothest ride even on the paved road.

After passing through very pleasant woodlands, the driver pulled over near the edge of a large pond. Across the way, we could see elephants cooling off with a drink of water and a shower by way of their trunks. We watched them for several minutes, it was one of the highlights of the safari.

There are several species of deer/antelope like animals in Mole. Many were quite shy and quickly disappeared into the heavy brush when they heard the vehicle coming down the road. This critter was an exception.

Once the driver quickly stopped as an elephant crossed the road in front of us followed by three cattle egrets. There’s a beneficial relationship between these two species. The egret eats the insects that the elephant stirs up as they walk along. The elephant gets to enjoy meals with a few less biting insects.

We came across a small troop of olive baboons, one with a toddler. They were just as curious about us as we were of them. Mole has about 20,000 visitors per year, most of them nearby school groups. It does attract some tourists willing to make the effort to travel to this remote park.

The safari lasted about 3.5 hours. During our ride through the park, Maji, our tour guide, pointed out many species of birds and some of the interesting and unique fauna in the park. It was an enjoyable activity and I was glad we had the opportunity to see some of the country away from the coast. Ghana is not nearly as well-known for their abundance of animals and safaris as are Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania, and Zambia. But it’s a nice representation.

Larabanga Mosque

After leaving the park, we stopped in the village of Larabanga at the ancient mosque. This whitewashed adobe mosque was built in 1421 and is believed to be one of the oldest mosques in continuous use in West Africa. It also houses a copy of the Koran nearly as old.

We were met by this fellow who talked about the history of the mosque and what is being done to preserve it for the future. We were not allowed to enter.

After a walk around the mosque, the guide took to a nearby house where we were provided the opportunity to buy shea butter. This is made from the seed of the shea tree and is used to soften the skin and may have some healing properties. It’s commonly used in cosmetics. Applying shea butter is much too late for my old, wrinkle skin so I passed. Instead I photographed these women washing clothes and a nearby house that looked like it might fall down in the next monsoon.

After the long hot bus ride back to Tamale, we were happy to be greeted by this welcome sign at the Miriam Hotel in Tamale. They had a nice restaurant were we had our early dinner. Then we were off to bed in air-conditioned comfort after a long day.

The next morning we were back at the Tamale airport to fly back to Accra. We were a bit late getting to the airport, the Africa World gate agent was quite rude to us for being late even though he knew our flight was delayed for at least a half-hour due to weather in Accra. This caused unnecessary stress on us travelers.

Next I’ll pick up the story back in Accra and our next excursion.

Until then, happy travels!

Tom

PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM