Mole was one of the things I was most excited to do on the Northern trip, and it did not disappoint. Mole is the largest resource reserve in Ghana... I don't remember exactly how big it is, but it's big. We pulled up to the Mole Motel in the early afternoon, and most were delighted to discover baboons and warthogs running around the premises. Nordia was not. She is less than enthused by much of the animal kingdom. There was a little time before the afternoon safari walk, so we decided to take a dip in the pool. Happy as I was to see a pool, the cleanliness of this particular body of water left something to be desired. Ah, well, it was still nice to cool off a little. And thus far I have yet to contract a horrible bacterial infection (knock on wood), so I think it was actually maybe cleaner than it looked. Although after dinner, as they were throwing chemicals into the pool by hand, Anna said rather dryly, "Oh, look, they're feeding the fish." ...
While we were swimming, I saw an adult male baboon (with by far the ugliest butt any creature has ever been unfortunate to possess) approaching the outdoor dining facilities. I gasped, and spun around, then was paralyzed as my brain thought three things simultaneously: 1- Nordia is right here and if I alert her to the presence of the baboon, it will not be good; 2- I can't yell to the people in the dining area without alerting Nordia; 3- Maybe it will just walk away, what are people supposed to do in this situation, anyway? A few seconds passed while I tried to process all these things at once, and then I heard a scream/yell, and spun around again to witness said baboon leaping onto a chair and attempting to snatch a young German woman's backpack from the table. A waiter yelled and chased the baboon out of the dining/swimming area, and everyone laughed a little, but the waiter was very serious and warned all of us to remove any food we may have by the pool because the baboons will find it and take it. Yikes! I still remain in the dark as to whether or not I should have raised the alarm sooner, but what would I have done? "BABOOOOOOOOOON!!!! HEY! HEY, THERE'S A BABOON RIGHT THERE!" Would that have been effective? I just am unsure- we were not briefed on proper baboon warning protocol.
After that excitement, all of us (minus Nordia) and our bus driver, Kwesei, went on the afternoon safari walk. We traipsed down the cliff that the motel sits on (overlooking a man made watering hole- it's a reliable source of water for the animals so they can be observed by visitors in the dry season) using a rocky path. DK, our guide, pointed out various antelope and deer species as we went along. The real prize, of course, would be an elephant. All of the guides have cell phones so that when one spots an elephant the other groups can have a chance of seeing it as well. DK said that the walking tours had not seen elephants for the past two days because it had juat rained and so they did not need to come in this far to get water. About 45 minutes into the walk we came upon a small grove of trees that had recently been broken- DK was sure that an elephant had been here earlier in the day. The majority of the rest of the afternoon walk was spent tracking the elephant's trail through the forests, and seeing many more antelope, deer, and monkeys along the way. It was a great walk, but we were disappointed to have to return without seeing an elephant. We remained hopeful that the morning walk would work out in our favor.
The morning safari walk began at 6:45am. Our group, still with DK, was down to Leigh, Kelsey, Anna, an old German couple, and myself (have I mentioned that this is the whitest place I've been on the trip? Still, even to this day, this is true. The only non-foreigners present were the park workers and our program staff). We took the same route as we had the day before, and cut across a swampy grassland. My hopes for seeing an elephant were all but dashed at this point because it had rained the night before. Halfway across the swmp, though, DK spotted a place where an elephant had wallowed early in the morning, and we set out to track it. After 15 minuts, DK informed us that he had lost the trail, and so we disappointedly began walking in a random direction. Then, his cell phone rang. He answered, chatted quickly for a minute, and began walking hurriedly in a different direction. We followed. 5 minutes later, we spotted another group of tourists stopped and observing something a ways away. And there it was: a large, full grown, male elephant, chomping away at a grove of trees, 50 yards away, and not a care in the world. Yay! What followed was a 10 minute, gleeful picture taking session. During this time the elephant moved further into the trees because a 3rd group came up making too much noise, and he got scared. Well, our group decided to move around in front of the guy before making our way back to the motel. We moved and were taking a few final shots, when the big guy decided he didn't like us standing directly in front of him, and began to charge at us. DK urged us to, "Move back, move back!" And we obeyed- some better than others. Kelsey, the german couple, and I moved only a little faster than DK, my thinking was that if the guy with a gun was between me and the elephant than I was probably OK. Leigh and Anna, though, have an impressive survival instinct and they shot past the rest of the group like Olympic sprinters, showing an ability for track and field that they had thus far hidden from the rest of us. DK stopped jogging, and motioned for us to continue taking pictures. The elephant had stopped his pursuit, and was now even clser than it had been before. He turned and started walking away. Then, I guess he decided he just wasn't finished with us, and turned around and charged us a bit more aggressively. DK, this time, just said, "Go, go!" and actually started running, as opposed to a hurried walk, so I didn't look back and took off for the trees. There was, of course, no way that I was going to catch up with Anna and Leigh, but I thought I could definitely take the old German couple, and I had always been taught in situations like these that you only have to outrun one person (thanks, Dad), so I wasn't too worried. When we finally escaped disaster, we stopped to catch our breath. DK gathered us and smiled, saying, "Now that nothing has happened, I think that it is good that we got to see how the elephant charges." And the rest of us laughed, many thrilled to be in one piece, and heartily agreed.
One other mentionable thing took place at Mole- we ran into the other SIT group, the Arts and Cultures program that's based in Accra. It was around that time that we began to count our blessings as a group. First, we had not appreciated our collective good health. A handful of the other group had had Malaria, and one unfortunate soul had had malaria twice AND typhoid fever. Thankfully she was OK and doing well. Second, it brought to my attention that I personally was happy that we are only 7- it could have turned out really awfully, but I can safely say that I have been to Ghana with a group of wonderful, intelligent, caring, culturally sensitive, thoughtful, and (emphasis is heavily placed on this last one) fun-loving people. Just thinking of preparing meals, and waiting for bathrooms, and group dynamics with 18 people seemed then, and still does now, incredibly overwhelming. Third, they traveled around in a trotro like van, which made our bus seem like a Hilton compared to a Holiday Inn in need of renovation- they openly bemoaned our access to two seats per person and air conditioning.
Well, that was Mole. It was an exciting adventure, and how many people can say they were charged by an elephant twice and lived to tell the tale? I mean, there's probably not a statistic out there on it, but I assume it isn't all that many.
Yay study abroad!
While we were swimming, I saw an adult male baboon (with by far the ugliest butt any creature has ever been unfortunate to possess) approaching the outdoor dining facilities. I gasped, and spun around, then was paralyzed as my brain thought three things simultaneously: 1- Nordia is right here and if I alert her to the presence of the baboon, it will not be good; 2- I can't yell to the people in the dining area without alerting Nordia; 3- Maybe it will just walk away, what are people supposed to do in this situation, anyway? A few seconds passed while I tried to process all these things at once, and then I heard a scream/yell, and spun around again to witness said baboon leaping onto a chair and attempting to snatch a young German woman's backpack from the table. A waiter yelled and chased the baboon out of the dining/swimming area, and everyone laughed a little, but the waiter was very serious and warned all of us to remove any food we may have by the pool because the baboons will find it and take it. Yikes! I still remain in the dark as to whether or not I should have raised the alarm sooner, but what would I have done? "BABOOOOOOOOOON!!!! HEY! HEY, THERE'S A BABOON RIGHT THERE!" Would that have been effective? I just am unsure- we were not briefed on proper baboon warning protocol.
After that excitement, all of us (minus Nordia) and our bus driver, Kwesei, went on the afternoon safari walk. We traipsed down the cliff that the motel sits on (overlooking a man made watering hole- it's a reliable source of water for the animals so they can be observed by visitors in the dry season) using a rocky path. DK, our guide, pointed out various antelope and deer species as we went along. The real prize, of course, would be an elephant. All of the guides have cell phones so that when one spots an elephant the other groups can have a chance of seeing it as well. DK said that the walking tours had not seen elephants for the past two days because it had juat rained and so they did not need to come in this far to get water. About 45 minutes into the walk we came upon a small grove of trees that had recently been broken- DK was sure that an elephant had been here earlier in the day. The majority of the rest of the afternoon walk was spent tracking the elephant's trail through the forests, and seeing many more antelope, deer, and monkeys along the way. It was a great walk, but we were disappointed to have to return without seeing an elephant. We remained hopeful that the morning walk would work out in our favor.
The morning safari walk began at 6:45am. Our group, still with DK, was down to Leigh, Kelsey, Anna, an old German couple, and myself (have I mentioned that this is the whitest place I've been on the trip? Still, even to this day, this is true. The only non-foreigners present were the park workers and our program staff). We took the same route as we had the day before, and cut across a swampy grassland. My hopes for seeing an elephant were all but dashed at this point because it had rained the night before. Halfway across the swmp, though, DK spotted a place where an elephant had wallowed early in the morning, and we set out to track it. After 15 minuts, DK informed us that he had lost the trail, and so we disappointedly began walking in a random direction. Then, his cell phone rang. He answered, chatted quickly for a minute, and began walking hurriedly in a different direction. We followed. 5 minutes later, we spotted another group of tourists stopped and observing something a ways away. And there it was: a large, full grown, male elephant, chomping away at a grove of trees, 50 yards away, and not a care in the world. Yay! What followed was a 10 minute, gleeful picture taking session. During this time the elephant moved further into the trees because a 3rd group came up making too much noise, and he got scared. Well, our group decided to move around in front of the guy before making our way back to the motel. We moved and were taking a few final shots, when the big guy decided he didn't like us standing directly in front of him, and began to charge at us. DK urged us to, "Move back, move back!" And we obeyed- some better than others. Kelsey, the german couple, and I moved only a little faster than DK, my thinking was that if the guy with a gun was between me and the elephant than I was probably OK. Leigh and Anna, though, have an impressive survival instinct and they shot past the rest of the group like Olympic sprinters, showing an ability for track and field that they had thus far hidden from the rest of us. DK stopped jogging, and motioned for us to continue taking pictures. The elephant had stopped his pursuit, and was now even clser than it had been before. He turned and started walking away. Then, I guess he decided he just wasn't finished with us, and turned around and charged us a bit more aggressively. DK, this time, just said, "Go, go!" and actually started running, as opposed to a hurried walk, so I didn't look back and took off for the trees. There was, of course, no way that I was going to catch up with Anna and Leigh, but I thought I could definitely take the old German couple, and I had always been taught in situations like these that you only have to outrun one person (thanks, Dad), so I wasn't too worried. When we finally escaped disaster, we stopped to catch our breath. DK gathered us and smiled, saying, "Now that nothing has happened, I think that it is good that we got to see how the elephant charges." And the rest of us laughed, many thrilled to be in one piece, and heartily agreed.
One other mentionable thing took place at Mole- we ran into the other SIT group, the Arts and Cultures program that's based in Accra. It was around that time that we began to count our blessings as a group. First, we had not appreciated our collective good health. A handful of the other group had had Malaria, and one unfortunate soul had had malaria twice AND typhoid fever. Thankfully she was OK and doing well. Second, it brought to my attention that I personally was happy that we are only 7- it could have turned out really awfully, but I can safely say that I have been to Ghana with a group of wonderful, intelligent, caring, culturally sensitive, thoughtful, and (emphasis is heavily placed on this last one) fun-loving people. Just thinking of preparing meals, and waiting for bathrooms, and group dynamics with 18 people seemed then, and still does now, incredibly overwhelming. Third, they traveled around in a trotro like van, which made our bus seem like a Hilton compared to a Holiday Inn in need of renovation- they openly bemoaned our access to two seats per person and air conditioning.
Well, that was Mole. It was an exciting adventure, and how many people can say they were charged by an elephant twice and lived to tell the tale? I mean, there's probably not a statistic out there on it, but I assume it isn't all that many.
Yay study abroad!
