Mole Mole

“Back! Back! Back!” Our guide insisted as he waved us back, his rifle cocked and ready. Though in all honestly, I doubt it had much stopping power regarding the massive elephant we finally found in the forest. He didn’t have to tell us twice as we dashed backwards a few meters. The elephant had taken a few quick steps in our direction after seeing us, at exactly the same time we saw it. After realizing we were not a threat, it changed direction away from us, not minding anything it was trampling in its path. A creature so large should not be able to move so quickly and gracefully. We had been tracking the massive beast for over an hour, following uprooted trees, broken grass, sunken footprints and the occasional pile of dung. It was somewhat of a surprise to come across the elephant, as it seemed like we would not see one that day. There it was, about 50 feet in front of us. As it escaped us, our guide pleaded earnestly, “Please I beg you, stay and let us watch you.” We managed to track the elephant again, much more easily as the trail was fresh. After a half hour march we watched it as it was hiding in the forest about 100 meters away from us.

Mole National Park is a 475,000 km2 area of natural preserve, without fences keeping things in or out. This should be the main tourist attraction of Ghana, and a huge source of revenue, but the problem lies in getting there. To and fro we spent roughly 30 hours traveling over land. The stretch nearest the park is more fit for rally racing than mass transit. Two and a half hours by crowded taxi there, and four hours back by bus was spent on a dusty rutted dirt road. I spent much of the taxi journey laughing as I was in disbelief and expecting to be erased with every maneuver the driver made to avoid a much worse tussling.

The night before entering the park we stayed in the Muslim community of Larabanga. Being the set-off point for the park, we had expected somewhat of a tourist development. It was far from it. We were greeted in the dark by a mess of people, all wanting to see the new white people emerging from the cab. We entered the hotel readily recommended by the guide book, and being dark, we couldn’t really complain. Before resting we stopped for a cool drink, and befriended a group of the locals, as they followed us everywhere.

Back at the hotel, instead of the stuffy rooms we rested on the roof, as sleep was an impossible task. It is the month of Ramadan, and though I don’t pretend to know much about the culture, they stay up most of the night partying, singing and beating drums. The mosque, which is the oldest in West Africa (1431) played prayer recordings all night long. There was also the loud goats roaming the streets and the insane canine below us that kept us up. As it approached 3:30 AM, a parade of drumming and yelling began. We later learned this was to wake the women up to start cooking before daybreak.

At 5:30 we hired rickety bicycles and biked the 4.5 kilometers to the park accompanied by morning heat, biting flies, and the house dog, which was apparently trained to accompany tourists until the park entrance. This dog was loyal to a fault, and growled and attacked any other passerby as we traveled.

In the park we took a three hour walking tour that allowed us to be within mere feet of countless warthogs, many deer-like kob, bushback, patas monkeys and olive baboons. Though the animals seemed tame, it was no zoo. We had been expecting a 4x4 safari adventure, but were pleasantly surprised by the intimate experience. Leaving the park for our belongings had us biking through a herd of baboons carrying younglings. They scattered as we passed through, but one did pounce in our direction, reminding us of their ability to tear us limb from limb if we felt like a tango.

Staying in the Mole Motel offered us a swimming pool and view of the watering hole were we observed another elephant in the distance. A patas monkey passed within a foot of me as I was at the table next to the pool. It’s amazing the adoration everyone has for primates, even those such as the staff who see them on a regular basis.

This is my last post from Africa, as I’m leaving on Sunday to see how much debt I can accrue bytraveling Europe without any set destinations.