Sam's African Adventure!: December 2008

Sunday, 28 December 2008

Elephants

This bit is for serious elephant lovers only - the video clip goes on forever!

We stayed here in extreme comfort at Mole Motel - built on the top of an escarpment that overlooks a waterhole. An elephant was having a bath when we arrived... We went on safari by jeep and on foot and saw more elephants, baboons,monkeys and antelope. Not to mention the warthogs that wandered round the motel! Sam is standing in an elephant's footprint. Enlarge the view point photo to see (part of) an elephant in the water... Slightly disconcerting that the guide always carried a rifle "to save our lives" as he engagingly put it. He said he had fired in the air on a few occasions to deter annoyed wildlife.

The mosque at Larabanga

This is the oldest mosque in Ghana. We were shown around by the local schoolteacher.

Tongo hills and Chief's palace

Salisu also took us to a place that our guide told us is now on the list to be considered a World Heritage Site. The Chief's palace houses his 17 wives and 300 people. Each wife has her own small circular room for herself and her children, and there are shrines, resembling circular seats, where the inhabitants can talk to their ancestors and make sacrifices. The guide telling me this waxed philosophical on how important it is to limit yourself to one wife, as you have to be responsible for them and their children, and it gets very expensive....

Slave camp at Paga

While Sam taught, Di and I went on a trip to the old slave camp. We arrived at a small shelter and were ushered in to sit down by a young man. He then began to whisper to Salisu, our driver. After some minutes we realised that he was the guide and had in fact begun his talk. We craned forward to listen, but when we asked any questions we were treated to a withering look and a (whispered) "As I have already told you,......." so we subsided into silence and concentrated hard. He told us that three men, one from Benin, one from Burkina Faso (the last from Ghana?) began the local slave trade. They captured workers from the land, put them in chains and marched them to the 'camp', a high bare rock with a natural spring providing water. If anyone refused to 'take the chains' they were killed publicly to discourage further resistance. At the camp they were forced to scour out 'bowls' from the rock, and their food was put into these as they squatted round them to eat. From a nearby higher rock a man watched all day for escapees or attacks from outside.If anyone was foolhardy enough to attempt escape he was caught and chained to the punishment rock, in blazing sunshine, and publicly beaten to death. The survivors were sold off in fortnightly 'markets' and marched to the Southern coast to be kept in the 'slave castles' until a ship came to take them to the plantations in America. Local chiefs kept the traders happy by providing some of their strongest men - duped into believing they were going for some kind of training, they were handed over to the traders. The guide also said that some families, having several children, would sell a couple to the traders to get money to feed the rest. Salisu said that the country was slow to recover, as the strongest had been taken, the weakest left. As the slaves huddled in the camp tended to be miserable and depressed, the slave masters used a special rock as a drum, and made them all dance to keep their spirits up. local men were on hand to give us a demonstration.

Ghanaian transport...

We travelled by taxis, which was an interesting experience. The cars usually had a cracked windscreen, no internal door or window handles, ripped or absent upholstery, and in one car the dashboard was held together with string. One driver asked us to wait while he fetched petrol, then we were bump-started by a group of his friends. Another had to stop twice to suck petrol through to the engine as the dusty roads caused blockages. It was a noticeable feature - non-existent or archaic technology, but a cheerful make-do-and-mend culture, and never any shortage of people willing to help. The drivers were punctual, polite, honest and friendly, and every ride was an adventure!

For our long trip to Mole we opted for comfort and Sam had booked us an air-conditioned 4x4 for the three days. The car was in excellent condition, fully upholstered and all gadgets working, and Salisu, the driver, was articulate and knowledgeable and provided detailed commentary on everything. The only downside was his habit of arriving each morning with a new reason why we should actually be paying extra to the agreed price per day. The reasons varied from the need to refill the petrol tank to having quoted us in dollars rather than cedi. We compromised on the petrol, but then refused to pay any other 'extras' as the rate had already been agreed. Fortunately he always gave in gracefully and never mentioned it again - until a new ploy was dreamed up the next day.