Day 5: December 31st, 2007

NEW YEARS EVE!!

So, after a night and early morning of calling to prayer announcements in the village of Larabanga (a 100% Muslim community), we woke up at 6am to leave at 6:30 to taxi (there are only two taxis in the village-not an exaggeration) to Mole National Park. The early morning safari walk was supposed to be the best avenue to see the most animals. When we showed up, we were two amongst a group of about 25-30 Obruni waiting to set off on our hike around the park. After making sure that everyone was wearing close-toed shoes, they divided us into 4 or 5 groups. There were a few clumps of people that decided to be together, so Kristy and I not making any clique decisions got 'stuck' in the mish-mash group of pairs. So as best as we could at 7 in the morning, the ten of us '20-somethings' began to get to know one another. At the same time, we set off for the morning led by our guide and his rifle.

"The reason I am carrying this firearm is only a precaution for your safety in case any of the animals decide to become hostile."

Thanks Mister.

Our first stop was just up a dirt path to a chunk of trees where all of a sudden we realized we were surrounded by a bunch of sprinting monkeys! So, there were probably about five...but that was a lot when you come from a house full of NO monkeys! Then we walked through the area of staff-housing where we saw a bunch of humans on two-legs and THEN a bunch of WARTHOGS on four!! They were just roamin' around making nice with the humans. Then our guide, on his walkie-talkie got word of an elephant in some important direction. So as quickly and quietly as we could we followed the man with the rifle on a mission towards the possibility of an elephant!! Shortly after we started walking we came to an open area and caught a glimpse of the biggest behind I've ever seen in real life!! Just like in The Lion King, the elephant also had a few of those white birds hanging around with him. It was incredible!!! Although some may think elephants are large and lumbering, he was completely graceful in his slow, purposeful movements. I believe I would go back to that park if only to watch that animal move through his daily activities. After that WONDERFUL development, we made our way through the rest of the park, spotting a herd of antelope, a few crocodiles, and plenty different types of animal feces, haha. :) However, the end of the hike was the part I will not forget. We were making our way up this hard-to-climb-hill. Nothing really in sight except for the rocky earth-steps we had to focus so closely on. After climbing a few minutes, our guide stopped. He "about-faced" which caused the rest of us to turn. What we saw left us all speechless. I felt as if all of Africa was before me! When you are in the thick of 'the bush' you don't realize the land on which you're walking goes on for MILES! Below us was a beautiful watering hole, surrounded by a dusty landscape with a variety of trees and animals. We stood silent for a few minutes just taking it all in. To finish off the tour, we made our way up the hill and did our tourist duties by taking BOOCOO pictures.

We quickly found the Mole National Park Hotel's restaurant for breakfast which overlooked the beautiful sight we had just taken in. Somehow, two Australians, a German, three Canadians, and two Americans bonded quickly and easily in the morning, that they decided to hang out for the rest of the day! Kristy and I had plans just to get back to Larabanga before dark in order to see the OLDEST MOSQUE IN GHANA. This meant that the rest of the day could be spent sitting next to the hotel's pool, overlooking the wildlife park while enjoying the company of our new found friends. It was glorious!

The afternoon came quickly, but not without a few elephants bathing in the water hole and a few warthogs invading our space. We learned through our friends that their reservations were being toyed with and a few things had fallen through for ALL SIX of our comrades. Kristy and I realized there were open rooms at the Salia Brothers Guest House and offered this outlet. It WAS New Years Eve and how much fun would it be if we could all be together to celebrate! The decision was made and it took our taxi driver two trips to get us all back to Larabanga. Finally together, we asked Yaya (the son of the Salia Bros-about 12 years old) to show us this mosque! Little did we know, Yaya's older brother was given the opportunity to train in Accra to be a tour/guide. His specialty? The oldest mosque in Ghana, which is also one of the oldest in West Africa. We learned a lot from him and were able to take all the pictures (of the outside) that we wanted. We next mozied over to the local soda spot and sat down with 20 locals at our heels. We quickly made a few friends, who then invited us to watch a traditional dance performance that night! AWESOME! We sat for a little while longer, then went back to our place where we organized who would sleep where. You see, there are only three open rooms at this guest house, and there were eight of us. Problem. This actually turned out to be no problem at all, because Kristy, Daphne (Canadian-cycling across West Africa with her other Canadian friend Eli), and I opted to sleep on the roof!!! With this problem solved we had another incredible dinner and set out to meet our friend and his fabulous dancers! When we arrived we were met by about 70 young girls, ages 5-12, all dressed in traditional clothing. Somehow this afterschool program was started in order to teach these children homemaking skills, traditional dancing, as well as the English language. It seemed like an incredible program and when the celebrating began we knew it was going to be a good night. We were able to observe many different dances, until they decided it would be a good idea to make fools out of the obruni and have us participate, rather, try to DECIPHER, the rhythm and bounce and technique to various circle dances. WOO! It was hard!!

The show was spectacular and they even presented quirky poems afterwards which I imagine were tools in learning English. It was nearing 10pm or so when we arrived back at our place for the night. Immediately we grabbed a few sodas, and Bianca (Australian working at an orphanage here in Ghana, visiting Mole with her Australian friend who came to visit-Dayne) turned on her iPod WITH speakers! After the awkwardness of who-was-going-to-start-dancing passed, we were all up and dancing 2007 away (you know SOME of us were dancing MACHINES)! And we KEPT boogy-ing until the 'ball dropped' or until MOST of our cell phones said it was 12 am. We screamed our countdown, shouted and hugged, then winded down with a GREAT game of charades. Shortly thereafter we made our way to our respective sleeping quarters to catch a few hours of shut eye.

This was definitely my favorite day of the entire holiday :) Thanks for sharing it with me...and by the way, the stars were INCREDIBLE to fall asleep under in a town with no street lights. :)