I made a return trip to
the Volta region this weekend with some of our newer volunteers Takeru, Emily,
and Lucy. I have been planning on going back ever since I first saw how
beautiful the region was and I was excited to show it off to some fresh eyes. I
took it upon myself to organize the trip, making the travel plans and booking
all the accommodations. It was rather stressful since nothing in Ghana ever
goes according to plan but as long as you have a sense of humor and are willing
to make adjustments, it always works out.
We left
Friday night for Kpong (pronounced Pong), a small city that is about 2 hours
from Accra. We had to wait a while for the trotro to fill up so we ended up
traveling at night yet again. It is not an experience I would recommend since
the drivers go around 80 mph on a crummy one lane road. There is also a quite
real danger of armed robbers stopping the trotro and relieving us of all of our
belongings (so real in fact that it even worries Ghanaians). I always end up
staring wide-eyed out the front of the trotro as we narrowly avoid accident
after accident, using my imaginary brake to no avail. We ended up arriving safe
and found the place I had booked us to stay. The next morning we went to the
Bead Market in nearby Odumase-Krobo. It was 50 yd2 of tables on
tables of beads, bracelets, necklaces and jewelry. The beads are made locally
the old fashioned way (not with machines) and so we all got tons of beads
either for ourselves or as gifts. One highlight was the fishbone necklace that
my housemate Mica picked up.
Afterwards
we continued on to Ho, the capital of the Volta region. We briefly saw Ho which
is a rather large city but much more laid back than Accra. After walking around
a bit we made our way up to Wli. It was just as beautiful as I remembered it;
the sun was shining, big green mountains were all around and several waterfalls
were visible high up in the hills. We started to make our way up to the falls.
I was telling my housemates all about the falls when the guide decided to head
back. He decided that since I had been there before there was no use for him,
and he might as well go home. I decided that I could finish the tour myself so
we continued to the falls. There had not been as much rain this time around so
the falls were not as strong as the first time around. But this allowed for a
bit more enjoyable experience, allowing us to actually see the falls and take
some pictures without getting pelted with water.
The
next day we caught a trotro to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary so I could visit
some old friends. There were a few more Obronis feeding the monkeys this time
around but it was enjoyable none the less. So we all fed some monkeys and took
a short ride on some motorbikes before heading home. Yet another great trip to
the Volta region.Check out some of the incredible pictures as well.
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