Ghana Team Journal

Quote of the day: “Do not judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.” – Native American saying

Jounral by: Nancy

Today, we ventured out on a bit of an adventure. We visited both the monkey sanctuary and waterfalls, north and a bit east of Senchi Ferry, close to the border of Togo.

We departed the guesthouse early with our driver. We traveled for about 2 hours, through village after village, through farmland, across big green stretches of land. Sometimes the road was paved, sometime snot. Always alongside us on the road were people walking, carrying branches, water, laundry, yams, mangoes, and much more on their head. Walking slowly, and gracefully, there simply is no other way for most to go where they need to go and bring what they need to bring.

We passed several funerals along the way – a community affair, many dressed in black or dark colors – the mood was rather festive. Music played, people sang and food was being prepared.

As we traveled, the land around us began to change. The hills in the distance became higher, tall trees poking up from the undergrowth.

Once at the Monkey Forest, we were given a guide and headed into the forest for our hike to see the monkeys. First, it was very quiet, but then our guide made strange sounds to call out to the monkeys. They began to appear in the trees around us. We crossed a giant puddle and continued to walk a bit. Soon, with bananas in hand, the monkeys leaped from the trees right onto our arms, peeled the bananas, ate as much as they could, and leaped off. Some hung from tree branches as they reached for our bananas. It was a startling and magical experience.

As we walked back, it started to rain. A lot. We huddled under a huge canopy of trees and very practically dry under the protective branches. We moved to the covered porch of a little house nearby, huddling together and watching the tremendous rainfall. When the rain stopped, we ate our lunch and headed our with our driver to the waterfalls.

After what felt like a lifetime of bumps, potholes, dust, smoke from fires, exhaust from the cars, many more bumps, we arrived, exhausted and relieved, at the waterfall center. Our guide took us across 9 bridges deep into the rainforest. He showed us coffee beans, bananas, cocoa trees and more. The walk was long, but beautiful. We caught glimpses of the huge mountains ahead through the branches.

Finally, we arrived at the waterfall, an awesome site! Many young people were in the water, and Katie and Julia decided to join in. Quite a sight as Katie stood in the waterfall, arms stretched out, and her beaming smile reaching us across the water. Julia joined in and the two were a soggy happy mess when they returned to us on the shore.

A quick stop to shop in the village of the waterfall visitor center, and we headed home. We were all utterly exhausted from the walking and the driving. The sunset, we made our way home, in a daze and full of thoughts and feelings from our day.