Weekend Trip in Volta
The Volta region of Ghana is the farthest to the east and borders the neighboring country of Togo. It runs east of Lake Volta. There is an abundance of nature and outdooring activities in the area, which I did partake in. We planned to leave bright and early, 6AM, but in reality we finally left at 7:30 AM after waiting on a group of people from Cape Coast. All 13 of us plus the driver loaded into a 15 seated tro-tro bus to went on our way. The drive was nice at first, paved roads and AC on blast, but as soon as we got into the next region it felt like we had started driving on the surface of the moon with potholes in the middle of the road making me jump out of my seat and hit my head on the ceiling of the bus. The road trip to the Volta region was also my first time seeing rural Africa with mud huts and grass rooftops. Accra has impoverished people in shacks in the city, but, I had never seen life like rural Ghana. Homes had no electricity and buildings were quite scarce in general. Any nicer buildings were more often than not a church of sorts. It really demonstrates the importance of religion in this country.
Our bus full of foreigners attracted a lot of attention as we passed through villages. People came up to peer into the windows. They tapped their foodstuffs for us to buy and children got uncomfortably close to the moving tires, I might have called out a few times to be aware of the children around us. After four-ish hours of driving we made it to the Volta region.
Our first stop was a monkey sanctuary where we saw mona monkeys in their natural habitat. If you came with fruit, like bananas, you’ll probably get a new friend to leap up onto you and snack on the banana in your hand. I was pretty timid at first of the monkeys, but, I didn’t let that stop me and I let myself enjoy a little furball on my arm, yes, his teeth scraped my fingers. But these teeth don’t break skin.
Out last day in Volta was a real killer. In just stats: 10 miles, 200 floors, 25,000 steps. Now I have asthma and everything about this hike was a trigger so I’m pretty sure my lungs were left behind on the trail. We did two hikes, one was an 885 m ascend to the peak of Afadjato Mountain. (shout-out to one of our guides who carried my heavy backpack the ENTIRE WAY. Won’t make that mistake of overpacking again). There was the village we started at nestled in the valley of the mountain and it was so serene, considering the monstrous hike we endured. Our other hike was to the Wli waterfalls, which is a hot tourist spot in the Volta region. Any travel site will tell you this is a must-see, so I had to hike to it. Needless to say, I may have died on this hike and was miraculously resurrected. The hike up was not so bad like the other one, except for the lack of shade for some parts. But, going down was a straight vertical drop. A wrong step could send you sliding off the narrow path and down the cliff. The falls were massive, larger than any waterfall I had seen in the states (I’ve never been to Niagara Falls, mind you). It was absolutely stunning and worth the trek up.
Now that we’re back in Accra it’s time to rest up for another week at the hospital. This trip was a real shit-show going up the hills and absolutely terrifying on the way down. There were insects WAY too large for my comfort and they definitely fed on me. But, this was a very memorable trip with a wonderful group of people!
SHOUT OUT to Albrin and Gus for saving my ass by carrying not just my stuff, but also ME up the mountain.
