Volta Region with the Girlies

Girls weekend away? Hell yeah! But this wasn’t a typical girls weekend. It was more of a hike-up-a-mountain/ feed-some-monkeys/ ride-a-motorcycle type weekend. It was very gap year ;)

The prevalent theme of our mini-vacation was transportation. All day Thursday was spent waiting in Takoradi for a bus (3 hrs), on a bus to Accra (5 hrs), trying to find the right tro-tro (1 hr) and on the tro-tro to Ho, Volta Region (4 hrs).

We arrived late into Ho and the 4 of us (Felicity, Sam, Maddi and I) walked into town in search of food. Nothing was open, except there were quite a few street food vendors so we had one of the coolest meals of my trip yet. Where else can you get eggs fried on the side of the road for you for 60 cents?? That was followed by a noodle dish for 3 cidis, and it was absolutely delicious. And then of course, a FanChoco (frozen chocolate milk=heaven) The atmosphere of being outside at midnight sitting on plastic chairs chatting with friends and the women cooking our food, while watching the world go by is pretty hard to beat!

Friday was hiking day, and we had no idea what we were in for. We took a tro-tro to Adaklu Mountain and got off in a middle-of-nowhere village. Quite unsure of ourselves we glanced around looking lost until a man came up to us and asked if we wanted to go hiking. I suppose either no tourists come here for any other reason, or he took one look at our running shoes and deemed us not dressed for a Good Friday church service! He brought us to a hut that had the words Hiking Centre and a little painting of the mountain on it. We were welcomed into the hut, which was empty save a guestbook and some plastic chairs which were brought in for us while we waited for our guides. Sure enough, 2 young guys showed up (14 and 15 years old), machete in hand ready to lead us up the mountain!

Thus began a seriously hardcore workout. Luckily a childhood of climbing Moss Rocks prepared me for the 2 hour trek up the mountain. I’ve never been so sweaty and thirsty (If you’re planning on doing it bring WAY more than a litre of water…) in my life. But oh boy, the view and feeling of accomplishment at the top is well worth it. Looking out at the lush jungle was very much a “Wow, this is Africa” moment.

It took another 2 hours to get down, and our guides were wonderful. They would get oranges from the trees and cut them open with their machete for us J When we got to the bottom we drank an insane quantity of water, and then it was time to tro-tro to Hohoe!

We decided to take it easy on Saturday so we slept in and took a taxi to Wli falls. Even the drive was spectacular going through lush jungle, alongside mountains and especially driving through the little villages. People spent so much time outside here and I love seeing little glimpses into their lives. The Volta Region is quite different from everywhere else in Ghana that I’ve been so far, and I love it. We don’t get called Obruni 24/7, people aren’t constantly trying to get our attention, guys aren’t declaring their love for us, and the locals don’t try to rip us off. Very refreshing! This weekend was the first time I really got the feeling that I was traveling. The whole trip has been about settling in, teaching at school, seeing people, and experiencing new things. But I think it doesn’t take much more than a long drive in a foreign place to get that “travel” sensation!

Wli falls was the first attraction all trip that was exactly what I expected. I mean really, theres not that much variation or surprising elements to a waterfall. It was a nice 45 min hike there crossing over 9 bridges along the way, and there were tons of people at the falls. The waterfall is the biggest in Ghana, and the neatest thing about it was that there were a ton of bats clinging to the rocks around it. We took pics and then walked back, looked at the little shops, ate some FanChoco’s, and then taxi’d back to the hotel. I said transportation was a prevalent theme of our weekend, and this taxi ride was the craziest one of my life. Not only was it a bumpy road in a rickety old taxi, but there were 9 people in the car. There was literally someone in the trunk… Only in Ghana!!

Day 3 we woke up at 5am, grabbed our stuff, and took at tro-tro to Tafi Atome, the monkey sanctuary. We had to catch a taxi for the last 5 km into the village, and this time there were 8 people… at least none of us had to go in the trunk! We arrived, met our guide, bought some bananas, and went in search of the monkeys. We walked along forest trails for about 20 min when our guide made kissing/hissing type noises. Above our heads and we saw the monkeys swinging from the branches to approach us from the treetops. We held out bananas at arms length and all the monkeys would jump on us and eat out of our hands! A little startling to have a monkey jump on you, but it was pretty incredible.

To get out of the village there were no taxi’s. Our only option was motorcycles. So, my first time riding a motorcycle was in Ghana, which I think is pretty badass. Felicity and I were on the back of one with our driver, and it was pretty darn cool driving along the dirt road. With the lush jungle on either side and little kids in the small villages waving at us as we rode along it was definitely a gap year experience I won’t forget!!

The rest of the day was spent traveling home. Another million years on tro-tros to get all the way back to Takoradi. So, despite having no chocolate (actually, unless you count all the FanChoco’s…) it was an excellent Easter weekend. J

I’m now off to figure out what happens at school this week and next… Maybe exams? Maybe teaching? Maybe holidays? Your guess is as good as mine!

Until next time,

Sarah xoxox