Volta Region

A friend and I went traveling in the Volta Region, the southeastern part of Ghana two weekends ago. We started out at the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary where there was lots of Mona monkeys. We got there by walking about 5km from the main junction. It wasn’t long before we had a posse of kids that had just gotten out of school and were walking back to their villages with us. We dodged the town crazy and kept walking. Then I raced a few of the kids down the road. The monkeys were coming out in the evening and we got to feed them bananas. They would grab them right from your hand and were very greedy, but they looked like little old men, so it was cute.
We spent the night in Tafi Atome. It is so crazy to wake up before the sun comes up because the roosters are running around and then to go outside and see people sweeping with brooms made of a bundle of sticks and random baby goats wandering around out in front of all the mud huts. We went for a morning walk to see more monkeys and feed them more bananas. This time we saw the boss monkey who was about 3 times bigger than everyone else. He wouldn’t accept anything from your hand, and only whole bananas were acceptable. He wouldn’t let anyone come near until he got his either. When someone finally threw him one, he acted like he didn’t really want it, but then he took it and ate it with his back turned towards us. Wow.
Then Kristen and I asked if it was possible to rent bikes so we could get to a Kente (traditional cloth) weaving village about 14km away. The guides found two in the village for us. Kristen’s changed gears if you weren’t pedaling and mine was a road-racing bike that was too big and I couldn’t reach the brakes. I don’t really notice these details anymore unless I try to think about them. Of course the gears don’t work and of course I can’t reach the pedals or brakes… So we set off on the typical red dirt road through farmland occasionally greeting farmers working, or an old woman walking with something on her head. Sometimes you just have to stop and tell yourself that that just happened. Its great.
We rode into the village and sort of just stood there until someone came over. He gave us a tour of all these open air huts with about 5-15 weavers working on the looms. It takes about 2 days to make a strip of kente probably 5 inches by 4 feet? Most of the weavers were apprentices. He said they were 10 and up, but they looked so young. They are taken in by a master weaver and work for him for 2 years, maybe 8-12 hours a day. Being here puts a whole new perspective on western ideas of child labor, as in it is lost in cultural translation and traditional ways of life. Same with animal cruelty. Don’t tell anyone here that people actually put clothes on pets…
Unfortunately, before we left we saw a baby goat get run over by a speeding taxi. Kristen and I just stared for a while in shock. Then we got back on our bikes and rode away before we had to see them put it down. I was afraid they were going to smash its head or something. It was really hot. I probably drink at least 10 water bottles a day here because I never stop sweating.
We left Tafi Atome, walked back out probably half way, and then caught a ride on a truck back to the junction. Luckily there was a tro tro right there going to HoHoe, further north where we wanted to go. In the city we caught a shared taxi to Wli, the village at the base of the largest waterfall in West Africa. This was the most awkward taxi ride of my life, and taxis are usually awkward no matter where you are. This was also when I realized there is no such emotion here as awkwardness (or sarcasm), which makes all awkward situations one-sided, increasing the awkwardness for myself. Anyways, Kristen and I got in. Then a really large lady got in. Then the driver left, maybe to go eat lunch? He was gone for a while. This angered the large woman. On the other hand Kristen and I have realized the key is never to expect anything, including leaving to go anywhere once you get in a vehicle. Once he came back 2 more people also got in. Putting a fourth woman in the back seat definitely rubbed the large woman the wrong way. Thus ensued 20 minutes of screaming in Ewe. Kristen and I only understand a bit of Twi, but we did catch the equivalent of the middle finger being thrown around so we could tell it was serious. So Kristen and I just sat, trying to scoot away from the lady and trying not laugh because with 5 other people in the car who were screaming, we didn’t really want to be involved. Then the driver stopped and got out and everyone from a store came out and started yelling too. The lady finally took her money and stormed off, but then the yelling continued for a while…until somehow we were at the Togo border, wondering why we were at the Togo border.
Turns out it is really close to the waterfall and a lady wanted to get out there. But then our taxi wouldn’t start and kept rolling backwards off the road. Eventually we made it to the visitors lodge just as it started to pour. We decided to do the hike early the next morning and to just stay at the closest hotel because the rain was really coming down. The path to our hotel turned into a river. It was so cool. I love the rain here. The place we stayed at was the nicest place I have ever stayed in Ghana…relative luxury for only 6 dollars. It was owned by some Germans with a nice dog and a parrot. The porch looked out onto the mountains and the waterfall. We ate dinner by candle light in a gazebo under these amazing mountains listening to the waterfall and the rain, watching fireflies and telling ourselves that we were actually eating dinner by candle light in a gazebo under these amazing mountains listening to the waterfall and the rain, watching fireflies.
The next morning we hiked with our short little guide to the lower falls. It was flat and we crossed 9 bridges but only 2 rivers. Technically the upperfalls are “closed” during the rainy season, but that doesn’t really mean anything. So we went up. It was definitely the most intense hike, almost straight up for 2 hours, that I have ever done. I have never needed a tool to hike before, but you definitely couldn’t do it without a stick or both hands. I couldn’t believe the guide did this more than a couple times a week. It turns out there is a village at the top and the path we were taking to the waterfall was the easiest way to get there. Getting to the pool in between the falls was so amazing. We went almost to the top of the mountain before coming down to the pool and we could see all the surrounding villages, along with the low clouds and fog moving through the crevices in the surrounding mountains. The force of the water from the upper falls made me feel like I was in a wind tunnel and a car wash at the same time. It was so cool. The pool was pretty small and we followed to where it dropped over the cliff to create the lower falls. I couldn’t believe that I was standing in the middle of a huge waterfall. Going down was harder than going up because you had to be really careful.
By the time we lef the village and got back to HoHoe it was too late to follow through with our plan to get to a festival in the south, partly because our taxi driver decided to act as a glass bottle delivery man for an hour, so we decided to go to an eco-village on Lake Volta. Getting there was pretty interesting, as it got dark really fast and the guide book was old so we weren’t sure if we were getting ripped off. Well, I am pretty sure I am always getting ripped off, but it is to the extent that I am getting ripped off that I try to help. We ended up just getting in a taxi that could take us there from the tro tro junction because it was getting dark, but then half our taxi ended up in a ditch so we arrived at the village on foot. It was ok, eventually the road was pretty much just bush with some tire marks so we were going really really slow when we got stuck. Unfortunately there was no way to get the taxi out, but it was really amazing just to walk. I gave the driver my flashlight but he was pissed off and walking ahead making the standard ooohye! Noise every few minites and stamping his foot. Kristen and I, both almost twice as tall as he was followed. I couldn’t see so I kept stepping in deep muddy holes but I could not stop laughing. We were just walking in the bush under amazing stars to a peaceful eco village on a lake. At the time I thought it was hilarious. The people there were really cool. They are all volunteers working on this sustainability project. We were the only tourists there and we spent the next day swimming and lying on hammocks. They shared their tea and banku, and played drums for us. I think that was the most relaxed I have ever been.
We made it back to Accra early in the evening. It was such an amazing weekend because of the people we met and at the same time the off the beaten path feeling we found. Sometimes you just need to be unreachable on a mountain in the middle of a waterfall in Africa.