Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151258121876961.436031.562066960&type=1&l=b1ce201ff8
Sunday morning we had breakfast at the truck and set off from Kumasi for Bosumtwe Lake around 9:30 a.m. Kumasi is a big town and it took quite a while to go through it. Much of the same eclectic mix of business. I love it though. All of the people to watch, and the sights are much more interesting than at home, and of course it is much more friendly. That is one of the differences between our Western world and Africa. Africa is all about community. Everything is done outside. Probably because the houses have only one or two rooms people tend to live outside whereas in our society we all go into our houses and close the doors.
Sunday morning we had breakfast at the truck and set off from Kumasi for Bosumtwe Lake around 9:30 a.m. Kumasi is a big town and it took quite a while to go through it. Much of the same eclectic mix of business. I love it though. All of the people to watch, and the sights are much more interesting than at home, and of course it is much more friendly. That is one of the differences between our Western world and Africa. Africa is all about community. Everything is done outside. Probably because the houses have only one or two rooms people tend to live outside whereas in our society we all go into our houses and close the doors.
Not far out of Kumasi we headed into a mountainous region with huge bowls
of jungle all around us, and narrow, one lane roads that were sometimes paved
and sometimes not. We passed a resort "Paradise Resort” which had
beautiful grounds at the end of the lake. Our driver "Dave the Hat"
went in to enquire if we could camp in their grounds. We paid for 2 rooms at
170 cedis each for showers for the girls and boys, and pitched our tents by the side of the
lake. Once we were settled I set off with one of the girls to investigate. A
few yards through the trees we came to a small village of about 800 inhabitants
called “Abomo”. Lots of kids, chickens, stalls selling dried fish,
young boys swimming in the water, fishermen, people trying to sell you food,
bikinis, drinks, etc. When we started down the main street, we noted that the
houses are now mainly made of baked mud brick. Life seems simpler here out of
the big city. There was also an information centre where I learned that the
lake was formed 1.07 million years ago by a meterorite. The crater is 11 km in
diameter, and the explosion exceeded all of the nuclear resources on earth
today. Consequently there are no rivers in or out. There are several fish
including about 5 species of tilapia, one of which is indegenous to the area
and it looks like a Siamese Fighting Fish. Lake is about 54 km walk around it
and there are 22 lakeside villages. After this I came back to the resort we
were staying in for lunch and then took Ray with me to show him the village and
the Info Centre. On our way back we met some others from our group and stopped
off at a beach pub where we watched the Ghana vs Congo game. There were huge
cheers, and dancing, and much merriment when Ghana scored its two goals, and
lots of boos when the Congo tied it up!! We have a football pool going on in
the truck. I pulled Ethiopia, and Ray South Africa. Don't think Ethiopia stands
much chance but then strange things happen sometimes. As well as the football
there were a group of Africans making a video and we watched the make up
artist/hairdresser doing their hair and putting on their lipstick, as well as a
tiny little girl in a big puffy white dress with the finest arms and legs who
sat and ate fufu and didn't spill any on her dress. She could only have been 2
1/2. On top of that were the four kittens running around....so there was lots
of action.
I was on cook group so had to come back to the camp site to start cooking
around 5. Dinner worked quite well with the chicken stew and rice. Then we sat
and chatted till bed time.
This morning I was up to make breakfast around 6:30 (there are 3 of us in
the group and 5 groups). Then we left the resort to travel to lake Kintampo
Water Falls. We left around 8:30, stopped for lunch around noon just outside of
Kumasi, and arrived here at the Falls around 3:30. For lunch we made salad and
egg sandwiches which was quite refreshing. We pulled in to some sort of check
point. Couldn't figure out what the check point was for!! However, the guy
kindly let us stop there and make our lunch. We shared it with him so he was
delighted. We set up the tents then went
down to the waterfalls for a swim. Freezing......for a second or two. Fun, but
very slippy underfoot! Then we walked back up and messed around at the
campsite. One of the Africans fed the chickens which are running around
scratching for food in the arid red ground. They came from all around the picnic
area scurrying up to him for the food. The little chicks were all lined up
right at the back of the flock looking dazed and unsure of what to do!! It was
quite cute!
So far, we have been made to feel very welcome in Ghana and have had lots
of interfacing with the local people at many different levels. We are hoping
this friendliness continues, but are now heading into Muslim country, and need
to be a little more cautious. For example: everyone asks us where we are going
and we have freely told them. Now, we can't. We have to make something up, say
we are going to Accra but we are advised not to say where we are going because
word travels and we don't want the truck to be targetted.
Ray has been suffering from a cold for the past few days so hasn't been
feeling too great. People say it is the harmattan. It is the season for colds,
and coughs, etc. Hope he is better soon.
I think we have a long drive tomorrow. Not sure where we are headed. It
will be a surprise!!
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