Mole National Park

This weekend was really awesome. We went to Mole National Park, which was about 3 hours from Tamale. It was beautiful and the hotel was amazing. It was on a ridge looking out over this park and these two watering holes where animals go to drink. It was an amazing view. You could see for miles and there was this terrace where you could sit under a tree and look out and it was awesome. On the second night we watched this amazing sun set from the balcony. The whole time it was so surreal because I was looking out at this amazing scene and it didn’t even feel like it was really there. It felt like I was looking at a picture, not a real landscape that I could reach out and touch. Also, the pool was so nice and refreshing and the food was good at the restaurant.

There were monkeys running around near the pool and stealing people’s food which was crazy. One day there were baboons running round and that was super scary because they are dangerous and can be super vicious. And they were so aggressive! They were jumping up on the tables, and trying to reach into people’s plates of food. One of the smaller moneys ran up to a women, hit her in the leg and then stole her mango!

We went on a walking safari on Saturday morning that started at 7 am. So the sun was up, but it was still fairly cool so more animals come out. But in the morning Patrick banged on our door at 6:15 and said ‘there’s elephants out here!’ So I walked outside and there was 3 or 4 elephants right outside the hotel buildings eating from the trees. It was so amazing! It was a pretty cool way to start the day. On the safari we saw a bunch of gazelles, warthogs, monkeys, and elephants which was awesome. We saw a crocodile too, but from far away. The elephants that we saw were in the watering hole and it was really cool because the guide had told us that elephant skin was black and the reason why they look grey is because they cover themselves in dirt to reflect the sun and keep themselves cool. So when we saw them in the watering you could see how black their skin really is. It was crazy to see these huge and powerful animals and they seem to gentle and slow. But at the same time, you have to be careful because if they feel threatened then they might charge. Erin said on her safari the next day they had an elephant give them a warning to back off.

It was really neat to see the National Park. It is a big park and people say that 95% of it is underutilized because there is really just the one hotel and most of the safaris are walking so it’s a 2 hour loop down into the valley. Apparently for the African Cup, the Ghanaian government paved a lot of roads, so the road to Mole was much better than it used to be. I thought that was cool because it shows that tourism can bring positive impacts like investments in infrastructure. However, on the flip side, when we were walking around Mole we saw the negative impacts of tourism like the piles of garbage in the park, the water waste, and the degradation of trails. There is a lot of talk about eco-tourism and community development here, but in the park and on the safari there is such an emphasis on seeing big mammals like elephants and not enough of an emphasis on the eco-system as a whole. I would’ve liked to have more information from the guide on the plants and the other smaller animals or the history of the area.

There were a few school groups from local schools in the area who were taking day trips to the park and doing a safari and then hanging out at the hotel for the day. That was cool too, because so often tourism is only geared towards foreigners with lots of money and local people can’t experience the things their own country has to offer. It was also neat to see because one of the schools was a girls school, and I’ve read about some initiatives where girls camps or girls clubs go on excursions around Ghana to experience different parts of the country to open their eyes to various to different things and build their confidence.

Elephants right outside our door! The Elephants in the water. see how black thier skin really is?

The Elephants in the water. see how black thier skin really is?

Me chillin on the patio over looking the 2 watering holes

I have more but I am running out of time. take care everyone!