I seriously have not had a second to blog about my amazing time in Mole National Park. Here is my experience in a nut shell. We started out on Monday and headed toward Mole. We first saw a man walk out of the bush with a wild chettah cat, hit three goats and a pig and then finally made it to Mole 16 hours later. At one point in our travels we had to transfer from a large bus to two small vans, because of how bad the dirt roads were.We separated into our vans and were squashed in them like a can of sardines. We all expressed how we felt like we were on the Indiana Jones ride. We arrived late to our motel which is in the park and had dinner at about 11:00pm. While eating dinner outside we heard monkeys and cats in the jungle. Our plan was to set out at 6:00am the next morning for our safari.
It was time to wake up for the safari. I went outside to brush my teeth when all of the sudden I made eye contact with a Baboon that was about 15 feet from me. I was scared because my professor had warned us that they are not the most friendly animals. I then went back outside to find Wart Hogs, Baboons, and Gisele’s. I could only imagine what was going to be on our safari if all of this was already right outside of my motel room. As we were sitting waiting for our guide to come, I looked into the jungle and spotted a man in green come out with a riffle as big as him. This man was Adam our safari guide. Adam was going to take us on a walking safari.It really did not hit me that my life was on the line until we were in the middle of the jungle standing face to face with the second fastest mammal on earth…the elephant. Adam said that if an elephant charges there is no hope to escape it, the only way is if he has time to shoot it. We literally walked all around the jungle trying to find animals, it felt like a scavenger hunt. For example we found a fresh mud pond that you could tell the elephants had just been in, we then found a tree some mud on it so we knew they were close, we continued by following some of their tracks and finally made it to them. We continued to walk and seem 5 different species of monkeys, alligators, water buffalo, Gisele…… It was absolutely amazing.
In-between our first safari we went to a village that lives on the outskirts of the park. When I saw and met the people of the village I was very happy that I had brought some humanitarian items. This was a very intense village unlike any of the other ones we have visited. During our visit we climbed on top of the chiefs hut which overlooks the whole village. We met the chief, medicine man, danced with the tribe, and learned how they make their famous shae butter.
After the village there was another safari that evening which was much different then the morning safari. We had a different guide Christopher who took us through other areas that we had not seen earlier. . At one point we were standing in a grass land that was surrounded with trees.Christopher stopped and listened, he informed us that just last week he saw a lion in that area(yes all we had for protection was a gun). We continued on our safari and found a huge turtle. Christopher wanted to keep this turtle and put it back in the museum because their last one died. We all took turns carrying the turtle because it was so heavy. To say the least both of these safaris were very different but so fun. O gosh I almost forget to tell you about how the Baboon attacked one of the students. When they see a plastic bad in your hand they think it is food and will come and try to get it from you. One of the Baboons jumped midair and started fighting Ben for the bag. The Baboon actually ended up drawing some blood. A short while later Ben had a knock on his door and before he could get to the door 2 Baboons decided to let themselves in. These are smart little animals and now you know why I was nervous to be around them.
We left Wednesday morning at 5:00am and only drove for 15 hours this time. We made it back in time for bed, so we could wake up early to finish the rest of our college course. Today we went through the rest of our lectures ate some lunch and then I went and picked up my skirt from Olivias. The skirts is so adorable I cannot get over it. I came home and started to study for my final but could not help but think how I wanted another skirt. I finished my final and rushed back to Olivia’s picked out some fabric and am having her make me another one. I am so excited to see how this one turns out! Some of us went out to dinner tonight and celebrated being done with our class. When I came home I had to do some data mining with a partner on the information we had gathered through our pre and post testing on HIV. Now I am sitting here blogging at 3:15am. What is sleep??? Sleeping is for the dead.
Tomorrow I am going to the temple early in the morning, to the market to pick up some last minute items, and then to the day care to play with the little kids. We will be celebrating tomorrow evening by heading into town to a very nice restaurant. I will be leaving Ghana around 11:00 pm Saturday night and will arrive home in SLC at 2:00pm Sunday. I am so sad for this journey to be coming to an end but am so excited to come home and share all of my experiences with everyone.
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