Nothing ever happens in a hurry in Ghana. There is even a joke about "American time" vs. "Ghana time" and that is the Ghanaians laughing at themselves. So the morning began with a visit to land owned by the USF - the future site of their Academy. The land is marked off by 2-foot high cement posts and is quite large, and surrounded by newer homes. George and Masodu walked me around the perimeter, pointing out the snake holes. Then we visited all the neighbors that surround the property. It's important to go visit all the neighbors because land is at a premium in Ghana, and it's your neighbors who watch out for encroachers who will dig out your cement markers and put in their own. And visiting doesn't happen in a hurry either. And of course, roaming goats and chickens were in plentiful supply.
While miles and miles of roaming goats and chickens is fine, some people (who will remain nameless) were thinking, "How can I come all the way to Ghana and not see wildlife?" You know, REAL wildlife - The Wild Kingdom, African Lion Safari and all that. Let's go see some hippos!
By the way, I wouldn't know that person.
Some 50 miles from Wa, there is a village called Weichau, home of the Weichau Hippo Sanctuary. Basically, you get to Weichau, turn right and keep going for another hour until you reach the Sanctuary's visitor office, where you sign in and get an explanation of fees and a history of the sanctuary. So for C$4 each, we got an hour paddling down the Upper Volta River, which is the border between Ghana and neighboring Burkina Faso. We also got the service of a guide, Aziz, and two "wood men" (paddlers) names Luka and Immanuel. I paid for this endeavor because it was my idea. And I paid for the four of us: George, Masodu, Dominic and me.
The guide took us another 20 miles to another building where we picked our our wood men. From there, we drove to the landing spot where the river safari begins and ends.
Our guide Aziz sat at the head of the canoe with the four of us in the middle, and the wood men behind us. Canoe is a bit misleading. It's a really, really low-to-the-water skimmer type boat. And it had a small leak, too.
Sheila Keane! There's your hat!!
Along the way, Aziz told us all about hippos and some pretty compelling river stories, including the time when he was yelled at by people from Burkina Faso for stepping on their side of the river. This, while we were paddling about 4 feet from the Burkina Faso shoreline.
In the end we did see a group of hippos but could not get very close because they were mothers with their babies. Getting too close could be dangerous. Masodu and I were game, but George was not. And as our elder, what George says goes.
The gray lumps in the water are the adult hippos.
The land behind them is called "Monkey Island" and has a couple of interesting legends. It is said that only one white man entered Monkey Island ever, and he did not come out alive. It is also said that an old Rasta man lives there and is only seen once or twice a year, washing his knee-length dreadlocks.
But Monkey Island has a bit of history to it, too. It was a "safe zone" for African trying to escape the slave trade. Africans from either the Ghana side or Burkina Faso side could swim to the island and be safe from slave traders, though it is also said that one man died of a spider bite there and haunts the place.
Today, no one sets foot on Monkey Island because of the haunted aspect, and because no one is sure which animals live there. If that wasn't enough, the mother hippos give birth on Monkey Island and you wouldn't want to "monkey around" with that!
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