Dec 19 Monkey Sanctuary & Mt Gemi in Volta Region

Now for the entry I should have typed last Sunday, the 19^th of December, after coming home from the last of my adventures in Ghana.  Early Saturday morning William, the other driver the Crosby’s employ, came to pick us up. Happily when my downstairs housemate, Christy, came home Friday with her visiting friend Brittany, they decided to join me  for  a trip to Volta mountain region of Ghana, about four hours’ drive north of Accra. Again we went in the school van, so had plenty of room to spread out and even lie down if we wanted.

We passed many  towns with colorful market day crowds, and poor villages with mud huts and thatched rooves at best.  As expected the roads mostly rutted with “potholes” that might be three feet deep, so the drivers swerve all over the road to try to spare the vehicles.  Even the best driver (and passengers) will still come home with black & blue marks from banging into the doors or seat edges. I’ve still got a big bruise on my left arm from when I was lying down to spare my back, and I hit the back of the seat in front of me.  But the scenery was worth it, beautiful open areas, with trees of various sizes, with mountains  rising in the distance. We first went to Gemi  Mountain, one of the tallest in the country. Since this was William’s hometown he knew how to get close to the top before we had to hike the last bit.  It was a spectacular view to look down and see different towns, and some fields even, and the lake & rivers connecting. Of course it is Africa, and a hot hike, but when a breeze came by on our way down, Christy took a picture of me with my arms spread enjoying the breeze completely.  Like most tourists, I’d learned to take along lots of water and a few sandwiches for food, so we took a break for lunch before next heading to the monkey sanctuary near HoHoe.

These places I was fortunate enough to see are not like American tourist attractions. No big tourist brochures or signs telling you how to find them (or that they even exist). This was a small village about the size of my church campus, on the edge of a jungle. The “guide” was dressed casually and spoke excellent English, giving us small bananas and telling us about the village history and how they came to consider the small monkeys sacred (now an endangered species) and protected them.  Two large busses of school children had just left, so the monkeys were not as hungry and didn’t care to come out in droves. About fifteen or twenty monkeys of the 300 came out  and got acquainted.  If I held the banana unpeeled as the guide demonstrated, a few came right up to peel part of the banana and grab a piece before scampering off. I made the kissing sound like they make, and eventually they gently climbed up my leg and sat on my forearm to get some of the banana. It was so neat, and I could have stayed there an hour, but the peels did start getting me messy and we had other places to see. I sent one picture with my last blog entry, and I’ll send another now probably.  I have hundreds of pictures, and I have a hard time choosing only four per entry, so I’ll sign off before telling about Wli Waterfall  and the rest of my last trip.

Just looking at the pictures again makes me sad I don’t have anyone close by to remember these things with. It was a remarkable God-given opportunity I cherish, even if I don’t chose to return.