Ghana - Volta region
Day 94 (7 January) – From a dip in the Volta to the Waterfall Lodge
We have spend the night on the shore of the Lake Volta. There is a pool next door for Eowyn to play in and a rope swing over the lake for the guys – who have some very impressive ‘dives’! The relaxing environment also allowed for some time to work on the cars. So much fun, again!
The drive after lunch from Akosombo takes us past Ho and Hohoe to the Waterfall Lodge in Wli. Matthew and Niels got into the spirit of shopping from the car or along the road and we put on our shopping list some bananas, Fan Milk (frozen yoghurt) but then strawberry flavor, CD with local music and some movies on a DVD if they had some interesting pirates. By the time we reached the lodge we managed to buy it all! The first CD we listened to had a ok first song, an alright second, but the third some contained some static and as we near the Wli village the track became more distant and by the time this sound ends it was gone some moments. Track 4, 5, 6, 7, … didn’t give any sounds at all… It sounded like the radio but that on a CD. I guess the guy recorded from the radio while driving his car further away from the radio station… Not so good quality these pirate copies.
Reasons for police arrest.
So far on the trip we must have been stopped by the police over a hundred times with various potential felonies. To name a few:
- It is illegal to drive a right-hand drive in Ghana
- You are not allowed to drive with barefoot sleepers, nor barefoot
- Not using signals when you are pulled over at a police stop will result in a fine
- It is illegal to have only one rear light for driving backwards (which all Land Rover’s have)
- It is a severe public offense to make an illegal left turn even when there is no signs indicating it is not allowed:”Everybody knows it is not allowed!”
- There is a signature missing on the car transit permit, so this needs to be rectified at a cost (and at a random location in the middle of the country).
- You only have a class B driving license which does not allow you to drive a car (class B is for cars……)
- Your driving license is only valid for vehicles up to 3500kg. Can you prove your car is not heavier?
- …..and if nothing is found………”do you have a cadeau?”
Day 95 (8 January) – Waterfall of Wli
Also known as Agumatsu Falls. We take a peaceful forest walk to get to the 40meter high lower falls which can be accessed from the Togo or Ghana side. Niels and Stanley go the extra distance and scale to the top for a better view while Julia, Matthew and the kids head back to the village in search of curtains for Matthew’s new house and lunch. We decide to try the local dish ‘fufu’ which is a thick porridge made from manioc pounded, cooked and pounded again. We find a small stall where they are pounding the fufu for the second time. While we wait another woman picks up what looks like a HUGE rat and shaking it by the tail says ‘grass cutter! grass cutter!’. Hmmmm ok, we smile and nod, thumbs up- lucky you to have a grass cutter! She keeps shaking the animal and saying ‘grass cutter’ with some pride. The fufu is finally ready. They take a heaping portion and put it in a plastic bag for us. Now for the sauce, the choice is fish or grass cutter! Fish we say before she is finished saying grass cutter. She opens the fish pot and there is something that looks more like a snake or an eel curled up in there. Hmm, we are trying to be polite and trying to make it look like a good difficult decision. Actually, it is difficult to choose, but we will try the grass cutter after all, we say. She opens that pot as we see small paws bobbing around with some other parts and ask just for the sauce – no meat please. I am sure they think we are completely ridiculous. Back at the campsite we could only take half a bite. Fufu with another sauce maybe, and another time…
While Julia and Matthew were enjoying their grass cutter fufu, Stanley and Niels were hiking up the “mountain” to the upper falls. It is a steap hike with amazing views of the national park. The track leads you right up the mountain through rainforest bushes. And then… The upper falls of Wli! Looks just as impressive as the lower… but the hike and views are well worth the effort.
The water is freezing cold but the men take a shower no matter what! Freezing… Photo, photo, photo… Out out out the water! Did it, done it!
In the afternoon we took time for you guys to write the blog. We are way way behind…
