Kakum National Park

Kakum National Park

One place we wanted to explore outside of Cape Coast was Kakum National Park, about 30 km northwest of Cape Coast.

A faded billboard just outside of the park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakum_National_Park

http://www.conservation.org/learn/culture/ecotourism/destinations/Pages/kakum_canopy_walkway.aspx

The draw to this place was the possibility of viewing the rainforest from a series of suspension bridges, a canopy walk of sorts. If we went early enough we were told we might see monkeys and tropical birds in the trees! The canopy walk is a guided tour, about 1 1/2 hours long, designed to give the participants a brief informational overview of the forest as well as an actual overview from the suspension bridges. We joined a church group of young adults who had driven to the Cape Coast area from Kumasi for the day. There were about 30 people in their group. Great, we thought, noisy people from the city.

We walked on a stone path, with a major incline, to get to the suspension bridges.

Our guide, Ben, told us about the importance of many of the trees of the forest. The trees were used by "Grandfather" and "Grandmother" for medicine, furniture, weapons, utensils, food, water, and communication.

Here's Ben explaining the uses of our friend, Ofram (Terminalia superba)

This particular tree pictured above was/is used for furniture and guitars! When Ben hit the buttress, it made an interesting, hollow sound that was often used to communicate where one was in the forest.

Entry structure to the first bridge

The canopy walk consists of seven bridges and seven viewing platforms. Some bridges are up to 30 meters above the ground.

The first bridge

 

Can you see me on the viewing platform?

 

I think this was the longest bridge.

 

Surprisingly, I felt quite safe on the bridges.

 

Apparently I needed an escort. These two were with me along the entire walk!

View of the forest floor, well, where the floor would be were it not for the dense tree cover!

 

Group Shot!!! Most of the Kumasi group is in this photo, just after getting off the last bridge. Did you find us?

As we suspected, we didn't see any animals from the bridges. The group was too noisy. We even lagged behind, hoping to glimpse something. We did hear lots of birds, but didn't see any.

I am hesitant to compare this national park experience to the many others I've had in the United States. It has to do with perspective, I guess. This park was created at the insistence of the local population, to help preserve the area from deforestation. Kudos! There were no sweeping views of mountain ranges, or impressive waterfalls, or deep purplish-blue lakes. There was, however, a sense of pride from our guide, Ben, for making this little part of Ghana (357 sq km) available for others to see and experience. And what a way to experience it, from above!

An Adventure or Two in Cape Coast, Ghana

                                                                          

An Adventure or Two in Cape Coast, Ghana

We took a two-day side trip to the Cape Coast area, about 150 km west along the coast from Kokrobite. We traveled by tro-tro, a mini-van of sorts that seats 11-14 people. Cost for each passenger was about 7 cedi, or $3.50.

Tro-Tro Station

Yes, it get's this crowded before the tro-tro will leave.

Once we found a tro-tro that was headed to Cape Coast, we had to wait about 30 minutes for it to fill up. Donn ended up being the "scary white man" on the tro-tro; a 3 year-old girl and her mother sat next to Donn and the little girl wouldn't stop crying until Mom diverted her attention by buying a lollipop from one of the many vendors surrounding the tro-tros in the station.

We set off only to disembark from the van about 30 minutes later because the tro-tro broke down; smoke was coming out of the engine compartment and into the van. So after another 30 minute wait, another tro-tro picked us up (but not until the drivers haggled over the payment for the new driver) and we were on our way again.

One trade-off that comes with traveling inexpensively by tro-tro is the dropping off and picking up of passengers along the way. This was mostly done in the larger villages, but it did add to our travel time. We made it to the tro-tro station in Cape Coast about 3 1/2 hours after we left the first station.

 After finding our bearings, we did some exploring. The first thing was to EAT. So we headed off to Baobab, a vegan restaurant that is a part of a bigger organization to provide training for young women.

http://www.baobab-children-foundation.de/laden_en.html 

View east from Baobab

Donn's finishing off my fresh pineapple/coconut smoothy.

This little goat was the last of an unmanned flock (?) that walked up and down the street while we were eating lunch.

We continued our exploration of Cape Coast, mostly to find our accommodations for the night, Mighty Victory Hotel, so we could drop off our stuff and then explore some more. We eventually got lost, thanks to the lack of marked streets and the incorrect map scale in our travel book. We did get to experience and see some sights we otherwise wouldn't have had we taken a taxi around the town, but boy, did we get sweaty!

View of Cape Coast from the Catholic cathedral

Fort Victoria (L), one of the look-outs for the Cape Coast Castle, and the Catholic cathedral, from our hotel

Might Victory Hotel turned out to be a very basic place to stay. For 40 cedi ($20) we had a queen bed with crisp, white sheets and our own bathroom with a shower (hot water!), but no air conditioning or mosquito net. Well, it was a place to stay.







By then, we had an excellent idea of the town's layout, so off to the coast we went to hang out at Oasis, a beach-side restaurant. We were hoping to see and hear some local, authentic, cultural-type entertainment later on in the evening. But while we waited we were treated to some other things.

The man on the right was giving acrobatics lessons to the two boys. They were working on a routine we thought might be happening later at Oasis. Surfing at Cape Coast is apparently a draw as well. Oh, there's also the constant fishing boat out there as well.

Pigs on the beach!

These young vendors were persistent, trying to sell dried plantain and peeled oranges. Donn eventually had a great conversation with them about going to and staying in school.

Another beautiful sunset!

After a few drinks and some stone oven-cooked pizza (not as good as brother Joel's), we were disappointed to learn that the cultural show wasn't going to happen. Instead of walking back to the hotel (by then it was quite dark and not safe to venture out on the side streets), we hired a taxi to take us back. Danso, our driver, was willing to take us around the area (Kakum National Park and Elmina) the next day. We had our doubts after stepping into his car to take us back to the hotel. He had no key to start his car, instead he hot-wired it! Hmmm, what would the next day bring?!

Kokrobite - Fishing Village

Kokrobite, Ghana, was the destination for our first Christmas holiday away from family and friends. We wanted the comfort of hearing and speaking English with the local people as well as any foreign travelers we hoped to meet.

We traveled by bus, using a Nigerian bus line that runs daily from Lagos, Nigeria, through Benin and Togo, before reaching Accra, Ghana, as the final destination. It took over 10 hours to travel from Cotonou, Benin to Accra, Ghana, a distance of about 240 miles, give or take a few miles. The road west of Cotonou was under reconstruction, and we had to make stops at each border to be checked out and then in again. Note to self: get travel visas for Togo ahead of time rather than bother with the transit visa process! We finally arrived in Kokrobite, a small fishing village on the Atlantic Ocean about 11:30 pm.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokrobite

We wanted to spend our first full day in Ghana familiarizing ourselves with our surroundings, so off to the beach we went. Our accommodations at Big Milly's Backyard were next to an area where the fishing boats were beached when not in use. There were small boats, pictured below, and larger boats, each one used differently. The smaller boats were powered by paddling, whereas the larger boats were powered by outboard motors.

Beached boats, loaded with nets. Notice the men under the sail/awning are mending nets.

We struck up a conversation with one of the local men, Joel, who eventually explained the process to us. The nets were taken out at least twice a day, early in the morning and then later, before noon. The first haul appeared to be a skimming of the top of the water with the nets. Most mornings when we were eating breakfast, we watched the men and boys lay the nets over the boats and pluck out small fish and then arrange/organize the nets for the next time.

We were never around to see the process of setting out the nets, but were able to watch and then help out with the second catch of the day. For this particular catch, many people were needed to haul in the nets. It's a bit hard to explain, but it goes something like this.

Each net is about 100 meters long and 3 meters wide. The net is taken out with buoys attached to one side of the net and long ropes attached to each end of the net. Once the nets are set, they are slowly pulled in by people on the shore. A boat is tending the net all the while. At first, each end of the net and the rope attached to it are located a hundred meters or so from each other on the shore. Slowly the nets are pulled in by the ropes, with people pulling on each rope. The men in the boat tending the net in the ocean are in charge of communicating when and how quickly to pull in the nets.

These men are pulling on one of the two ropes attached to the net. In the far distance are people doing the same with the other end of the net/rope set-up.

Here's the log used to help pull in the nets, with lots of rope marks on it.

Eventually more people came to help as the net was pulled in closer to shore.

A few women joined in as well as some of the children from the village.

I stepped in to lend a hand, too! When would I ever have this chance again, I thought to myself.

Eventually, more and more villagers showed up and the two sides of the net were angled closer together as the middle of the net, where the fish were, was carefully brought in.

The two sides of the net are brought closer together.

Unfortunately, the net that Donn and I helped to bring in got a tear in it going over some rocks before reaching the shore. Everyone was disappointed! Some fish were still in the net, but not enough to be shared by all.

Here's a shot of hauling in a net on a different day.

It seems that there are many nets set out to collect fish this way. It happens all along the shore line. When the fish are finally on the shore, that's when the women show up with big basins to load up with the fish. We aren't quite sure how the sharing of the catch happens, but it looks like anyone from the village who helped out can claim some of the fish, either for personal use or for selling in the fish markets in Accra.

The third way the fish were caught was by fishing farther out from shore. The big boats were used for this method.

Big boats for offshore fishing.

 The bigger boats would go out in the afternoon and return with buckets full of larger fish. Joel explained that the fishermen who were out in the boats would receive a physical share of the fish as well as a monetary share from any fish that were sold in the market. The women would gather the fish once they were brought in and then process the fish, mostly on the shore. We stayed away from the water/sand were the fish were processed, to be sure!

Processing the fish.

Joel's wife, Comfort, cleaning smaller fish at her market stall.

We were in the village six out of the nine days were weren't traveling to, from, or around the area. Fishing happened each day we were there, except for Christmas Eve. I was curious about the sustainability of fishing so often. It appears, though, that over-fishing isn't a problem. Their traditional methods allow for catching some, but not all of, the fish available at any given time. The same definitely cannot be said for industrial fishing.

I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to watch and participate with the people of the village. They live a very simple life, day to day, providing for the immediate needs of their families while hoping to improve the opportunities for their children. Joel's oldest son will be going to university soon, thanks to the scrimping and saving that his parents have done from fishing and selling items in their market stall.

Dantokpa Market

We had an opportunity to visit the Dantokpa ('Snake out of the water' in Fon), Benin's largest market. We went with a purpose, to purchase inexpensive supplies in preparation for Christmas decorations at school. Our resident Beninese, Liliya (who is really Ukrainian) knew just the places to go.

This is the entrance from the parking lot. Looks like any other market to me!

 
The market is over 40 hectares (a bit shy of 100 acres) large. Apparently the stalls are arranged by items being sold. Our first stop was the fabric stalls.

Hundreds of pieces, called pagnes, were hanging all around. A pagne is about 2 meters in length.

Liliya knew which sellers were willing to cut a pagne in half for us. I was too overwhelmed to make my own purchases, there were so many choices! Apparently there is a fabric district in Cotonou that has a larger variety of pagnes as well as longer sizes of fabric. Yikes!

We were told to be wary of pick pockets. The market is known for petty crimes if you're not careful. We are also a bit wary of taking pictures, so some of these shots were taken from the car as we drove through part of the market after we were done.

The woman in the foreground is a good example of someone selling their wares door-to-door. She balances her tomatoes, in small bowls which are loaded onto a large platter, on her head and walks around, hoping someone will want some.

Here's another example, this time it's a traveling clothes rack! The clothes are on hangers, so it's easy to see what's for sale.

And more!

People sold many different kinds of items: shoes, jewelry, hair products, fruits and vegetables, cooked food, dried fish, housewares, belts, electronics, imports from Asia. This market is also known for selling fetishes used in vodoun (voodoo) practices. We didn't even get close to that part of the market; it's a place that US embassy employees aren't supposed to visit. That's not why we didn't go there, though. Liliya didn't want to take us there, and we were running out of time.

It is very common to see people selling gasoline. It is purchased on the black market and sold in small quantities everywhere. It's not what you'd want in your car.

Rush hour(s) on the bridge.

It was very difficult to get to and leave the market area in Liliya's car. As you can see from the picture above, traffic was quite congested heading east toward Nigeria. Luckily we were headed the opposite direction.

I'm sure we'll head back to the market again. Although we were the only fair-skinned people I saw, Donn noticed some Lebanese men walking around. Needless to say we, too, were a sight to see!






 

Sea Kayaking in Phang Nga Bay

Donn and I were fortunate to spend about a week in Phuket, Thailand. This business/pleasure trip was an annual meeting of school directors for the school organization we work for. We arrived a couple days early, due to available plane connections to and from Cotonou. It's a difficult place to fly out of and in to, folks. This time it worked to our advantage!

For one of Donn's "open" days, I booked a sea kayaking trip. Included in the cost was transport to and from our hotel, water and lunch, and a local guide.

We were picked up bright and early, 7:15 am, and driven from the southwestern tip of the island to the northeastern side. Once we safely arrived (our driver was not a safe driver!) at the marina, we waited to meet our guide for the day. While we were waiting Donn spotted a local inhabitant, a gibbon, I think. He had walked(?) into the restaurant directly underneath where he is sitting, grabbed something from a table, and then climbed up onto the tin roof.

An opportunistic monkey!

The marina was teeming with activity, mostly with boats arriving from other places. The marina itself was primitive. Boats just pulled up to the dock to unload and load. Boats that were moored there tied on to other boats closest to the dock.

Many of the boats are powered by motors that look like they belong in a truck or car engine. The propeller is attached to the motor by a long drive shaft (20 feet). The boat is steered by the person who can wield the motor-propeller. It looks like a lot of work to me.

He eventually straddled the rod and used his leverage to steer and speed up.

Our ferry to the island where the kayaks were was a more modern one, to be sure.

On our way to meet up with the kayaks, we saw in the distance many of the islands that dot Phang Nga Bay. If you've seen the James Bond movie "The Man With the Golden Gun", then you'd recognize the area we kayaked.

Cue in James Bond theme song.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the kayaks, which were on another boat called a longtail. It's mostly used as a traditional fishing boat for the area.

Donn and our skipper of the longtail.

It was fun trying to figure out which island we were headed to first.

This is the first island we kayaked around. Doesn't the sandy beach look inviting?

The first island we went to had an inner lagoon. The tide was too low for us to kayak into it, so we walked into it instead and saw and heard some unusual things. Fruit bats! They were quite noisy, making screeching-like sounds. If we moved closer we would've disturbed them, so use your imagination!

Cue in "When U Love Somebody" (some of you might get the reference) :)

We kayaked around three different islands, stopping for lunch at the second one. We had some open-sea traveling to do between islands, which was fine (easy, wind at our backs, etc), until the last open-sea paddle.

The longtail boat met us at the 2nd and 3rd islands. This is where we had lunch. The cicadas in the cliffs were very noisy! We couldn't see them, though.

I selected this particular guide service because the trip was advertised as one for people who want to get away from the tourists. Well, that certainly was the case! We only saw local fishermen in their boats. We had the islands to ourselves! It was great!

Open-sea time!

In a lagoon . . . Our guide, Bao, was hoping we would see some monkeys come down from the cliffs. I think they were napping, though.

 

If you look closely, you'll see a water monitor lizard on the rock. They were very shy; we had to take a picture quickly before they crawled away.

Taking a breather before the final open-sea paddle.

At our last inlet stop, we were fortunate to see a sea eagle fly around. It came into the inlet, glided around a couple times and then soar away. It think it was checking us out. I was too awe-struck to take a picture!

We spent a lot of time in or on the water, whether in a ferry, longtail, or kayak. The last open-sea paddle took us into the wind with some swells to contend with. This was also the longest paddle (at least it seemed like it!). Safety was not a concern as well. Did you notice that we didn't wear life jackets? If I had a chance to do this again, I'd like to try a two- or three-day camping trip. I think we'd get to see more wildlife as well as experience camping out next to the warm ocean waters.

When we arrived back at our hotel, we were extremely salty and wet and tired. All in all, it was a great day!