The Traveler's Bible

          If you’ve been reading my blog posts, you might have already noticed how religious the vast majority of Ghanaians are (dominantly Christian in the South and Muslim in the North). In case you’re still a little unsure, let me put it this way – one can be kept awake at midnight by crowds chanting in tongues on the field outside, one can be woken up at 6:00am by the variety of preachers lined up in front of nearly every dormitory yelling at the top of their lungs (no wonder their voices are so raspy) about Jesus, and one can be hunted down at any point in the day by that one-guy-you-mistakenly-struck-up-a-conversation-with-in-front-of-their-church-and-now-won’t-leave-you-alone-about-joining-him (mine is named Kenneth). I hope to write a blog post about my encounter with religion here soon, but today I am interested in an entirely different kind of bible… The Traveler’s Bible.

          There are rumors of a Traveler’s Bible, an ephemeral tome sacred to the lone traveler, for it contains only the wisest advice of the most experienced travelers who have walked in their footsteps before. Maybe this relic exists, maybe it’s just folklore, but I’m hoping to start a collection of my own little kernels of knowledge that I’ve gained so far that will work their way - here and there - into my blog. Maybe one day, if you stumble upon it, you’ll find them in the Traveler’s Bible…

         … until then, we begin with a story of this past weekend’s adventure. Seven of us woke up before dawn on Saturday morning (can you even call it morning when the sun isn’t up yet?) to get a head start on our travels for the weekend. Our Destination: the West coast of Ghana and the prized gem of any “crunchy” nature buff - Ankasa Protected Area. Ankasa is regarded as having the greatest biodiversity of any reserve in Ghana – with up to 870 vascular plant species so far on record, more than 600 species of butterfly, and all ten of the forest primates found in Ghana playing somewhere in the evergreen rainforest (including chimpanzee!). We weren’t fazed by the park’s monstrosity, however, and were ready for some serious hiking and sightseeing! The trip there is the longest I’ve been on so far: about an hour down to central Accra, four hours to Takoradi (the Western public transport hub and the site of newfound oil on Ghana’s coast), and another 2-3 hours to Ankasa whose Western edge almost grazes the border with Cote D’Ivoire. We hired a tro-tro from Takoradi, on which I was able to finish Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (amazing book and definitely needs a re-read right away to think more about it), which raced down the road, dangerously passing slower cars as Ghanaian drivers always do, to our destination. It seemed as though the driver knew where he was going, not least because there wasn’t anywhere to stray off to (one major road leading in and out of the park), so we let him take the lead since we weren’t quite sure what our plans were, where to stay, or much about the park other than the few paragraphs written in our guidebook.

Lesson 1 - Always Take Primary Responsibility Over Your Own Safety: rather than assuming the driver knew where to go and putting our future in only his hands, we should have communicated with him better and figured out that he had never actually been to Ankasa before. It turns out that tro-tro’s aren’t allowed past the main gate and we would have saved ourselves a lot of grief if we had asked for directions in the villages before the park and figured that out.

          The road was quickly becoming more and more treacherous, going from pavement to gravel to just dirt eventually. We passed what seemed to be the main gate and a little cabin with a sign saying “Akwaaba” (welcome), slowed down, honked, and drove on when it seemed like nobody was there to greet us. Soon enough, we came upon some giant mud-filled puddles, but for some reason Francis (the driver) was confident enough in his (as-close-to-broken-down-but-still-running-van-called-a) tro-tro and driving abiliy to maneuver around them. I remember him going through a particularly deep pool of brown mud and water, almost losing traction, but making it across – all of us erupted with applause as he gave us a little smirk to show how pleased he was with his driving skills. Unfortunately, we celebrated too soon.

          We didn’t make it past the next big puddle. I couldn’t open my door, so I hopped out of the window as the first to witness the insanity of what just happened (some others took pictures so look out for them on facebook). The tro-tro was sitting in a giant mud puddle, with most of the right wheels literally under the mud, terribly stuck with wheels spraying gunk all over the place as the driver slammed the gas… only to sink deeper into the sludge. We were there for about an hour, covered from head-to-toe in mud by the end of it, hopelessly trying anything to free the car – we ripped large branches off the nearby trees to put under the tires for traction and we all pushed together as Francis gunned the gas back and forth. We eventually gave up, excited to call this the beginning of our adventure, and started hiking up the dirt road to try and find some help.

Lesson 2 – Especially In Times of Trouble, Attitude Can Make Or Break You: at one point later in the night, when things got a little worse, my adventurous attitude settled into a considerably frustrated, hungry spat. I knew that I would only do the group harm by complaining, so I got quiet (which was also noticed) and just tried to take some alone time to get my attitude back in order before getting back with the group. We would later share stories about our lowest points on the trip, usually when we were having some bad thoughts and were getting scared for what could happen, and its at these times that attitudes make or break you. A bad egg can ruin the trip for everyone and a good egg can raise everyone's spirits and get you out of trouble!

          We were probably hiking with all of our gear for 4-5km when we saw a little wooden bridge leading somewhere on the side of the road… civilization?! Nope – just an abandoned campsite that seemed like it used to be some sort of children’s camp but now was just broken down and collecting cobwebs. Some of us thought about turning back since it was going to get dark soon, but Eliya noticed that our guidebook said that there should be a second campsite just another kilometer down the road. We decided to go for it and the gamble paid off – we ran into human beings! It was just our luck that we ran into what must have been the nicest fellow travelers on this side of the planet, Tom and Jodi, who (after hearing about our accident) didn’t even catch our names before coming up with a plan with us to try and free our car tonight.

We made off quickly - with just enough sun out to grab some (mostly broken) shovels, buckets, and a pickaxe – and headed back down the trail as the darkness encircled us. All of us, including a somewhat frantic Francis, got in the back of Tom and Jodi’s pickup truck, which was much more powerful than the tro-tro and made it through the mud, just as the volume of the rainforest came to its peak: frogs croaking, insects chirping, the rhythmic squawking of an annoyed bird, and the occasional deep bellow that must have been a howler monkey. We drove back to the site of the tro-tro and spend the next (very sweaty) hour or two trying inventive ways to free the beast. We didn’t quite have enough tools to spread around but we did our best: bucketing the muddy water from the puddle to the vegetation, removing the now-hardened clay-like mud gripping the car’s differential, and trying to dig a levee so the water would flow away from the tro-tro. Exhausted, and without too much to show for our efforts, we made two valiant attempts to try to push the tro-tro out with Francis at the helm smashing the gas. At one point, I thought we were going to make it – Tom called the rescue an example of “African Magic” since it exemplified what a little ingenuity and a few somewhat functional tools can whip up – but the mud held out as the forest had its way with us and we had to call it a night. We didn’t have much to eat and were running low on water, with many of us (including me against Eliya’s better judgment) making the silly assumption that there would be some provided here (otherwise, how do the rangers or staff eat?), but Tom and Jodi generously shared some of their food with us so we wouldn’t be left with our measly handful of hard-boiled eggs, popcorn, and crackers.

Lesson 3 – Like a Boy Scout, “Be Prepared (for the Worst)”: I always remember my dad saying this to me as we got ready for our trips. Devin chuckled at my stuffed backpack - telling me that he only takes some spare clothes, a toothbrush, and some money when he travels - but I think I got the last laugh. I definitely learned my lesson on my last trip to Keta when I ran out of money and couldn’t make my way home. This time, I kept 30 cedi in a hidden pocket in my backpack as emergency money and packed some essentials that really came in handy!.The most useful were my camelbak, a long pair of khakis to keep out insects, and my amazing, waterproof (and mud-proof) hiking boots that kept my feet dry and clean. I remember some of us - on the other hand - had nothing but open-toed shoes, shorts, and almost no water with them!

          We ended up singing songs, reading stories, and chatting until what seemed like the wee hours of the morning (but was actually probably no later than midnight) and all seven of us passed out lying on the mega-bed we created in one of the cabin rooms. We woke up at 6:00am, with the sky just beginning to transition from a deep black to a lighter grey, drank some water (we had no more food for breakfast) and made our way on a morning hike. There was a trail leading out of the camp and to the bamboo cathedral (pictures are up on facebook), which was just breathtaking. Gigantic collections of bamboo stalks lined the vegetation as the trail led to a shallow creek that we washed our faces in. We spent the next two hours exploring the tiny trails in the area: fighting off insects, hearing monkeys everywhere, and really hoping to run into a clearing with some elephants at a watering hole. Unfortunately, the closest we got to an elephant is through its excrement, but we were excited about that anyway! We made our way back to the camp just in time to see a victorious Francis, who snuck away before we had even awoken, roaring into camp with some wildlife management staff on a giant tractor – they freed his tro-tro! After some rest and relaxation, Tom and Jodi agreed to load us into their pick-up truck again and drove us out of the park and a considerable distance closer to our next beachy destination (in the town of Busua). They really saved our day.

Lesson 4 – What Comes Around Goes Around: When we stopped by some small food-stands after leaving the park (we LOADED up on water and wolfed down some snacks), I offered to buy Tom’s drink as a little gesture of thankfulness for all he and Jodi did for us this weekend. He kindly turned me down, smiling, and said something to the tune of: “are you kidding? Do you know what others have done for us when we got into trouble in the past? What comes around goes around, right?”