Wow, its not even the New Year and I have experienced so much in the past few weeks of travels. Im currently in Sevare, Mali and Im typing on a French keyboard so youll have to excuse the missing punctuation and typos, Im not used to this thing at all.
I left Accra on the 15th right after my final exams were finished and about the same time most of my friends at school took off back to the States and Europe. I headed north to Burkina Faso and stopped over briefly in Paga in the north of Ghana to feed some sacred crocs and check out an historic slave camp. I reached Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (the capital city) and was not really that impressed so I looked in my guide book for another option, got myself a bus ticket for the next morning, and left town after one night in Ouaga. I ended up spending a little over 3 days in the west part of Burkina in the town of Bobo Dioulasso and Banfora.
My visit to Bobo and Banfora was great. I went swimming in some beautiful waterfalls, climbed around some spectacular rock formations, heard some good music at two different evening concerts, and had an amazing experience watching hippos as the sun came up on Lake Tirfiguela. I definitely enjoyed my time in Burkina.
I then had a hellish bus ride out of Bobo to Mopti, Mali. A journey that should have been about 15 hours turned into a 34 hour ordeal with frequent breakdowns and two nights sleeping in the cramped bus. On average there were about 20 Africans in the bus and me. I tried to maintain my cool because, frankly, there wasnt much I could do about the situation. It helped that I was reading an amazing book about fishing in Oregon, The River Why.
I met up with some friends in Mopti (Mike and Jenn) and the three of us traveled by boat down the Niger River to Timbuktu. It took us about two days and we reached the famous city that has always been synonomous with the end of the world. Here in Buktu we met up with some other friends from the Univ. of Ghana and we all spent Christmas together. After Christmas we spent a bit of time in Buktu just exploring the sites and we arranged a camel ride out in to the Sahara to spend the night at a Toureg camp. I have so much respect for these nomads who make a living in the sparse environment of the desert. It was pretty awesome to spend the night out under the stars in the Sahara... after a dinner of rice mixed with camel butter of course.
After Buktu I had another crazy transportation experience, this one included our bus getting stuck while driving onto the Niger ferry and included flying down ragged roads in the bus to make up lost time. I think I spent more time in the air bouncing off my seat than I spent actually sitting on my seat. So now Im in Sevare, Mali getting ready to trek in Dogon country. Its definitely been an amazing trip so far. And I have some pictures posted on my flickr page for those interested, www.flickr.com/photos/renegadegast.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Some recent pics
Last week I traveled to the north of Ghana with my friend Greg Titman. The trip was long and arduous but we finally made it to Mole (pronounced "mo-leh") National Park. Unfortunately it is elephant mating season and the herd was deep in the forest but we were treated with encounters with many other species of wildlife, as evidenced by this photo.
Because of our lengthy journey to the north (two full days of traveling when it should have been one) Greg and I were forced to spend quite a bit of time at a restaurant in Tamale called Crest. Tamale is the primary crossroads in the north and the largest city in northern Ghana I believe. It is predominately Muslim with a large mosque that you can see in the background of this picture.
This is a picture of me and my good friend Philip Achineke. Philip and I and two other friends attended another Black Stars match, this time against Tunisia (game was a draw, 0-0). The match took place at the main stadium in Accra and was much better organized than our first football experience that took place in Sekondi against Lesotho.
Because of our lengthy journey to the north (two full days of traveling when it should have been one) Greg and I were forced to spend quite a bit of time at a restaurant in Tamale called Crest. Tamale is the primary crossroads in the north and the largest city in northern Ghana I believe. It is predominately Muslim with a large mosque that you can see in the background of this picture.
This is a picture of me and my good friend Philip Achineke. Philip and I and two other friends attended another Black Stars match, this time against Tunisia (game was a draw, 0-0). The match took place at the main stadium in Accra and was much better organized than our first football experience that took place in Sekondi against Lesotho.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Update for Halloween Weekend
(I'm making an effort to post some updates for the past couple of months I've missed. This is the first of three dating back to early Oct. I will try to post some more recent stuff and pictures from November later this week. Sorry for the delay.)
I wasn't originally planning on getting dressed up for Halloween, nor were most obrunis that I spoke with, but some of our friends in another hostel were throwing a costume party so we figured we would join in. In Ghana, Halloween is largely just ignored which of course makes costume shopping a little difficult. My friend Kristin and I ended up going with a good standby when costumes are in short supply - togas. We tracked down a couple of white sheets and went as Greek king and queen. Our group of 8 or so dressed up obrunis were met by incredulous looks from the Ghanaian as we made our way from our hostel to Legon hall on the other side of campus. The party basically amounted to a bunch of dressed up obrunis mingling with Ghanaian students who all thought we had lost our minds. It was an awesome opportunity to exchange some "culture" from back home.
On Saturday I played in a soccer match that pitted the international students against Liberian refugees who were bused in from a local refugee camp. The first half of the game was played primarily by the obruni international students from Europe and the States while the second half was mostly the Nigerian students against the Liberians. The obrunis took the first half, 1-0, while the Nigerians got stomped on, something like 2-5. I guess the Liberian refugee game is one that the International Student Association likes to put together every year, definitely a fun time.
So I think I need to preface this next piece by saying that Sunday, November 2nd could quite go down as one of the coolest days of my African adventure. Just before my soccer match on Saturday I was approached by a Ghanaian named Cobby who asked me for a favor. I hesitantly spoke with him for a bit, thinking in the back of my mind that this must be a scam. Cobby told me how he needed a white man to play a part in a music video that he was shooting for a band that he managed. He talked me into it and on Sunday I met up with Cobby and traveled to a village outside of Accra to shoot the scene. I won't go into too much detail about the scene because I should have a copy of the video soon so that I can show everybody. I'm pretty sure that the whole thing is going to look pretty ridiculous and in fact a number of people at the shoot told me that most Ghanaians will get a good laugh when they see my part (I'm sure plenty of Americans will too).
Anyways that's how I became a Ghanaian music video star. I'll definitely post the video on YouTube as soon as I get a copy. Last Tuesday a huge group of us American students loaded up into buses and headed to a hotel in town for the elections. The exchange program from NYU had organized a big election event on the back lawn of the hotel with a projector and screen. Obama was announced the winner just as the sun broke the horizon and with everybody breaking out in dance to the popular Ghanaian highlife song called "The Barack Obama song".
One other piece of news that all of you may find interesting... I shaved my head last night! Yup, I'm completely bald. Not sure what got into me. I guess I figured that I should shave my head at least once in my life and right now is probably as good a time as any. That's all I've got for you now, I'll try to keep this thing updated more regularly.
I wasn't originally planning on getting dressed up for Halloween, nor were most obrunis that I spoke with, but some of our friends in another hostel were throwing a costume party so we figured we would join in. In Ghana, Halloween is largely just ignored which of course makes costume shopping a little difficult. My friend Kristin and I ended up going with a good standby when costumes are in short supply - togas. We tracked down a couple of white sheets and went as Greek king and queen. Our group of 8 or so dressed up obrunis were met by incredulous looks from the Ghanaian as we made our way from our hostel to Legon hall on the other side of campus. The party basically amounted to a bunch of dressed up obrunis mingling with Ghanaian students who all thought we had lost our minds. It was an awesome opportunity to exchange some "culture" from back home.
On Saturday I played in a soccer match that pitted the international students against Liberian refugees who were bused in from a local refugee camp. The first half of the game was played primarily by the obruni international students from Europe and the States while the second half was mostly the Nigerian students against the Liberians. The obrunis took the first half, 1-0, while the Nigerians got stomped on, something like 2-5. I guess the Liberian refugee game is one that the International Student Association likes to put together every year, definitely a fun time.
So I think I need to preface this next piece by saying that Sunday, November 2nd could quite go down as one of the coolest days of my African adventure. Just before my soccer match on Saturday I was approached by a Ghanaian named Cobby who asked me for a favor. I hesitantly spoke with him for a bit, thinking in the back of my mind that this must be a scam. Cobby told me how he needed a white man to play a part in a music video that he was shooting for a band that he managed. He talked me into it and on Sunday I met up with Cobby and traveled to a village outside of Accra to shoot the scene. I won't go into too much detail about the scene because I should have a copy of the video soon so that I can show everybody. I'm pretty sure that the whole thing is going to look pretty ridiculous and in fact a number of people at the shoot told me that most Ghanaians will get a good laugh when they see my part (I'm sure plenty of Americans will too).
Anyways that's how I became a Ghanaian music video star. I'll definitely post the video on YouTube as soon as I get a copy. Last Tuesday a huge group of us American students loaded up into buses and headed to a hotel in town for the elections. The exchange program from NYU had organized a big election event on the back lawn of the hotel with a projector and screen. Obama was announced the winner just as the sun broke the horizon and with everybody breaking out in dance to the popular Ghanaian highlife song called "The Barack Obama song".
One other piece of news that all of you may find interesting... I shaved my head last night! Yup, I'm completely bald. Not sure what got into me. I guess I figured that I should shave my head at least once in my life and right now is probably as good a time as any. That's all I've got for you now, I'll try to keep this thing updated more regularly.
Update for Oct. 21st-24th
On Tuesday the 21st I left for my second trip to Togo. My traveling companion was a young Ghanaian named Philip Achinake. I met Philip through an American retiree named Alan Matthews who has been living in Accra since 2001. Alan had been helping Philip and a number of other boys who had previously been used by an illegitimate Ghanaian NGO to scam money from Western donors. It's a very long and complicated story that I'd love to share with people when I get home but I'll move on with the update on Togo.
The reason for my trip was to attend a celebration at La Conscience that was to be held on Wednesday. In attendance at this celebration was the Deputy Chief Ambassador for the US mission to Togo, the village chief of Ahépé, a couple of regional prefects, and many residents of the village of Ahépé. The purpose of the event was to present donated school supplies to children in preparation for the upcoming school year. Entertainment included a number of dances from the girls in the vocation program at La Conscience and drumming and dances from residents of Ahépé.
Thursday morning I worked with Kodjo to film a promotional video for La Conscience, Kodjo narrating in French while I did so in English. Philip and I then headed back south to Lomé where we caught a lorry north to the town of Kpalimé on the western side of the country. Early Friday morning we visited the nearby Kpimé falls complete with monkeys jumping through the tree-tops. We then chartered a couple of motorcycle taxis to take us across the border back into Ghana. The hour-long ride through the forested hills separating Togo and Ghana was spectacular! Not to mention the border crossing was much more uneventful than previous crossings down in Lomé, namely, no death threats.
The reason for my trip was to attend a celebration at La Conscience that was to be held on Wednesday. In attendance at this celebration was the Deputy Chief Ambassador for the US mission to Togo, the village chief of Ahépé, a couple of regional prefects, and many residents of the village of Ahépé. The purpose of the event was to present donated school supplies to children in preparation for the upcoming school year. Entertainment included a number of dances from the girls in the vocation program at La Conscience and drumming and dances from residents of Ahépé.
Thursday morning I worked with Kodjo to film a promotional video for La Conscience, Kodjo narrating in French while I did so in English. Philip and I then headed back south to Lomé where we caught a lorry north to the town of Kpalimé on the western side of the country. Early Friday morning we visited the nearby Kpimé falls complete with monkeys jumping through the tree-tops. We then chartered a couple of motorcycle taxis to take us across the border back into Ghana. The hour-long ride through the forested hills separating Togo and Ghana was spectacular! Not to mention the border crossing was much more uneventful than previous crossings down in Lomé, namely, no death threats.
Update for Oct. 10th-13th
So first off, I have to apologize; I am terrible at this blog thing. Plus, it doesn’t help that the internet here is very hit or miss… usually its a miss. The connection can be so slow sometimes. Okay, on to the blog...
This first long-awaited update is for the weekend of Oct. 10-12th. I traveled with a group of friends to the Western coast region to a couple of towns called Busia and Butre. We stayed at this wonderful little beach hotel in Butre, sleeping in small tree houses. We had a great time Friday night with a big bonfire on the beach, drumming from some local rastas, and plenty of dancing.
Saturday found us leaving Butre and backtracking to the nearby twin-cities of Takoradi/Sekondi. It was a huge day for Ghana because the “Black Stars", the Ghanaian national soccer team, were playing the Lesotho national team in a World Cup qualifier. This was the first time the Black Stars had played a match in the newly built Sekondi Stadium... and the Ghanaian fans definitely put the stadium and authorites to the test.
Event organizers were severely unprepared for the massive turnout. The capacity of the stadium is 20,000 spectators while the day's match drew out over 30,000 frenzied fans. The 12 of us obrunis (white people) from the university arrived about 3 hours before kick-off and were quickly met with disappointment when we realized tickets had long been sold out. We split up and frantically searched for ways into the game. Some in the group were able to sneak past riot police who were busy beating back excited fans while the rest of us were able to pick up random tickets from scalpers.
So after the chaos of the mobs and riot police we enjoyed watching a wonderful game of soccer with Ghana coming up on top, 3-0. After the game we headed back to Butre and Busia. Here at the beach we enjoyed another evening bonfire, an early morning canoe ride through a coastal river in search of crocodiles (no luck though) and on Monday my friend Andrew Zimmerman and I played in the surf, he on a surfboard and me on a bodyboard. I tried to surf for a bit but to no avail, maybe next time though.
This first long-awaited update is for the weekend of Oct. 10-12th. I traveled with a group of friends to the Western coast region to a couple of towns called Busia and Butre. We stayed at this wonderful little beach hotel in Butre, sleeping in small tree houses. We had a great time Friday night with a big bonfire on the beach, drumming from some local rastas, and plenty of dancing.
Saturday found us leaving Butre and backtracking to the nearby twin-cities of Takoradi/Sekondi. It was a huge day for Ghana because the “Black Stars", the Ghanaian national soccer team, were playing the Lesotho national team in a World Cup qualifier. This was the first time the Black Stars had played a match in the newly built Sekondi Stadium... and the Ghanaian fans definitely put the stadium and authorites to the test.
Event organizers were severely unprepared for the massive turnout. The capacity of the stadium is 20,000 spectators while the day's match drew out over 30,000 frenzied fans. The 12 of us obrunis (white people) from the university arrived about 3 hours before kick-off and were quickly met with disappointment when we realized tickets had long been sold out. We split up and frantically searched for ways into the game. Some in the group were able to sneak past riot police who were busy beating back excited fans while the rest of us were able to pick up random tickets from scalpers.
So after the chaos of the mobs and riot police we enjoyed watching a wonderful game of soccer with Ghana coming up on top, 3-0. After the game we headed back to Butre and Busia. Here at the beach we enjoyed another evening bonfire, an early morning canoe ride through a coastal river in search of crocodiles (no luck though) and on Monday my friend Andrew Zimmerman and I played in the surf, he on a surfboard and me on a bodyboard. I tried to surf for a bit but to no avail, maybe next time though.
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