Kakum National Park Canopy bridge & Crocodiles.

Searching for other fun things to do in Ghana, I decided to go to Kakum National Park. I was told that there is a canopy walk that we can cross. After my experience in Rwanda attempting to cross the highest canopy in the world; I was courageous enough to be able to cross this one and this time around I have someone who watches my back all the time. No reason to fear! I thought….

After a long drive we arrive in Kakum National Park. It was nothing like the rainforest in East Africa but good enough to turn this into another fantastic experience. Upon entrance of the rainforest, we visit the museum and learn of Mount Afadjato. Mount Afadja is the highest mountain in Ghana, at an elevation of 885 metres (2,904 ft). The mountain is located in the Volta Region of Ghana at the border with Togo. I made a mental note to myself to research more about it and maybe organise during my next visit a hike up to that mountain. After hiking the Bisoke and Muhungwe in Rwanda, I have hiking fever.

It was time for us to enter the rainforest, it was raining a little bit and mosquitoes came from everywhere. The long sleeve jeans shirt and pants came in handy. We began the climb upwards and I realise I am not in good shape. How is that possible ? I have long time given up my sedentary life. Maybe it was the heat in the forest ? Not sure… The sweat was literally dripping off my body like a waterfall. There is a sign saying there is a rainforest suite at the highest bush point for rent. I quickly take the number as I would love to spend the night there.

We have finally arrived at the canopy bridge and it is nothing as the one in Rwanda. No steel but ropes only ! It is ladder or plank combination precariously hung  as suspended rope-style bridges. It defenitely brings you into a jungle layer that is usually reserved for birds and monkeys. The canopy walk opened on Earth Day in 1995, and technically consists of seven separate bridges constructed with materials of the forest  that hang from the trees over 130 feet above the ground, the walkway is about 1,000 feet and it does have a safety net. (So no worries.) According to the park guide it is regularly maintained; however by looking at the condition I am not so sure if that is true.

It was my turn to cross the bridge. As soon as I got on I felt I was in a scene of a Indiana Jones movie. The entire bridge was shaking, I was moving as a snail and it bothered other tourists. I was scared and thought the ropes were going to crack. But I made it across. Woohoo !!! Another canopy experience down my belt!

On the road away from Kakum, I stopped to buy fruits and many fruits I haven’t seen in West Africa so I had to taste them! 

For lunch I went to a crocodile place called Hans Cottage. I got out of the car and saw a crocodile. I laughed and said HAHA, that is not a real one. It is a statue, look it has its mouth wide open that is not real. Little did I know that Crocodiles do not have sweat glands and release heat through their mouths. Therefore they often sleep with their mouths open and sometimes even pant like dogs. I ordered my lunch and the lady said: ‘Would you like to see the crocodiles ?’ Yes for sure I said. I thought to myself; I want to see the real ones not the fake ones yeah? Our guide slash waitress said you will buy some chicken and you can feed them. For sure no problem I have held a baby alligator in Miami before. You are talking to the crocodile mother here… I began walking and she points at the same crocodile that I pointed out earlier. Look he is sleeping …. Euh? So that is a real one. She goes and explains why they lay with their mouth open. I still thought it was a joke and really wanted to kick one to see if it was real. Thank god, I didn’t do that. Soon the crocodiles began crawling out of the pond and closing their eyes and moving. They smelled the chicken; it was feeding time. I threw the chicken and took pictures with a few sleeping crocodiles. Some are hidden in the grass and you almost trip over them. It was fun but not to do with little kids as there is no way that you can be kept safe. Definitely AT YOUR OWN RISK! Anyhow it definitely entertained my Dora the Explorer Spirit 

After a long drive I arrive at Anomabo Beach. Yes for the first time I am saying it right! (I did have to google the name in phonetics though.) I kept on saying Animabi, Anumabo, Ambibo… ridicilous… So yes ANOMABO Beach it was. I decided to spend the night in the clay huts; watch the fishermen pull in their nets and dream away. Attached some beach pictures !

As in a few it is back to work - microfinance it is!

P.S.: If you ever take part in “Who wants to be a millionaire ?” and you are asked “Where is the international association of the honeybee ?” The answer is: KAKUM, Ghana. ;)

Francine

www.francinecarron.com

It can't be all work and no play

Its been almost six months since I have written an article on my blog. Well the title of this post says it all… It can’t be all work and no play… While at microStart  I was always working and if I wasn’t working I was volunteering for a greater cause. Not that there is any problem with that but sometimes its time for a break and relax a bit. Around May I set up my financial inclusion consultancy and went to research the Ghanian microfinance market 

Besides work I decided to explore Ghana. Before going to Ghana, I had already explored Instagram and identified what I wanted to see in Ghana. I had seen pictures of people next to very tall palm trees.

Aburi Gardens is a botanical garden in Aburi in Eastern region of South Ghana occupying an area of 64.8 hectares. It opened in March, 1890.  Aburi garden was the official site of a sanatorium  and later a botanical department built in 1875 for Gold Coast government officials. Apparently the gardens played an important role in encouraging cocoa production and rubber production  Ghana, by supplying cheap cocoa seedlings and information about scientific farming methods. 

I entered the gardens with our car and parked in the assigned parking spaces and decided to first devour my packed lunch. Oh I had a blast sipping on juices enjoying nature. The gardens aren’t completely clean either, However I loved seeing the trees. They are incredibly old and beautiful. Dead trees had beautiful carvings and I did take my picture next to the old helicopter. It did have a big pile of poo in there! I just hope it was from an animal and not from a human being as flies were swarming all over the place. I took a quick picture like nothing happened. Snap :) I enjoyed the cocoa trees - I had never seen one before and was looking for the double tree. Apparently there was a tree that was inside another tree that you could go inside. Lots of children came to beg s but one kid said I will be your guide so I agreed. He wasn’t able to give me a lot of information but he did bring me to the double tree. I bought him some ice cream as a reward and told him to read the information boards on the tree and when I come back; he should be a supreme guide. He loved his ice cream and happily ran off. From there I made it way back to Accra in order to prepare for another trip. 

On the next planning is the Slave Castle, unfound waterfalls, a canopy bridge and a hike… See you on the next post and I am back with more R&R & work information. Together we strive for a better world. 

In love and back in business. 

Francine or aka Team Chandine ;)

www.francinecarron.com

Climbing Bisoke Volcano After a weekend in the Serena hotel in Gisenyi, enjoying the morning sun above lake Kivu; my holiday journey through Rwanda was starting. I had invited my mom to come along on this trip. The first day I had planned to climb the Bisoke volcano while mom would be boarding her plane to Kigali. At 5 AM I head out for National Volcanoes Parc. The view of the 5 volcanoes is magnificent. I have never experienced such beauty in Africa. We arrive at the volcanoes national Parc and Western tourists are swarming the place. All of them were planning to do the Gorilla Trekking, I was the only one planned to climb the Bisoke Volcano today. I receive a park guide, who was rather obese and we were going to climb Bisoke together. I was told that climbing Bisoke would take about 7 hours. The park guide looks at me and told me that the trek would depend on my speed. He was basically insinuating that I would take forever. I thought to myself; ‘please go ahead underestimate me’… We’ll see who will lag behind. The game was on for me. My competitive spirit always troubles me. I receive 5 military men, 1 porter and the park guide. The military comes along as in the volcano rainforest, there are wild animals. Buffalo’s, gorillas, etc.., according to the park guide also elephants. I didn’t believe this. The trails are tiny, close to impossible I can not imagine for an elephant to climb so steep towards the volcano top. I later checked with  and indeed there are  elephants up there… So we began the hike, my porter was named Augustin and had chosen to accompany me. Porters stand in line near the volcanoes and then they choose which tourist they’d like to accompany. Augustin fluent in French and an amazing smile was my porter man. He must have been in his fifties but the man was strong as steel. I followed the pace of the military men which was incredibly fast but I wasn’t going to give up. We had lost our park guide due to our high speed hiking. We waited for him at the first peak. He tells me that he has allergies caused by the rain season. Bullsh*t I thought; you can’t keep the pace. The joke is on you now. He told me that because of his allergies, he will climb alone and I was now part of the military team together with my porter. Ohhhh goshhhh, what did I get myself into? The pace went faster and faster because the military said a storm was coming. It started to rain and the trail became muddy and almost impossible. The porter began to help me, drag me up and I started seeing stars. I had eaten a lot in the morning and all of a sudden I was hungry. My stomach was growling. The blackouts became more frequent but my body supported by the porter continued the pace. I grabbed my packed lunch by Inzu Lodge and ate 2 bananas. This wasn’t enough, I needed a quick boost of energy. The porter told me while holding my hand firmly that we were 30 minutes away from the volcano top. My lips were blue, I was freezing. I couldn’t believe Africa would be this cold! The last 30 minutes climbing the mountain felt like hours, I wasn’t going to make it. I was too courageous and now I was going to embarrass the military by fainting. Luckily, I had an orange. I bit with my teeth the orange in two and started sucking on it, till nothing was left. Slowly I felt better. 10 minutes the porter said, only 10. At this point I wasn’t sure whether this was a tactic or it was the truth. Augustin, the old porter throws his arms around me lifts up my upper body. I close my eyes and let him lift me; we have finally arrived on the volcano top. I, we made it!!! I look into the crater lake of the volcano but I can’t see anything. The mist is impossible, the same setting as Gorilla in the mist by Diane Fossey. This was beautiful! While climbing up the mountain, I saw the beauty of the rainforest, the faeces of wild animals without seeing the animals. While walking up the volcano, many feelings went through my body. Love, hate, pain, persistence, gratefulness … You name it; but one thing went through my head again. This place was blessed; it’s unbelievable. I quickly search in my bag for another sweater in order to put it on, I had to remove some other layers. There I was -5 degrees in a t-shirt. I was shaking, my fingers frozen trying to put on these clothes.  I unwrapped my chicken sandwich and ate quickly like an animal. I needed energy fast to make it back down again. I show my hands to the porter, he said my god and he gave me his 2 pair of gloves. We needed to get out of there. My body temperate was dropping too fast. Who do we see? The park guide! He had made it up the volcano. He tells me now it is too cold we have to go. The running down the volcano starts. I slip, slide, fall at least fifty times. My legs were like spaghetti and the heavy rain flooded the trails. I was surprised to notice that my Timberland boots were impeccably waterproof. Nice buy Francine, nice buy :) Augustin supported me. Many times I thought I was sleep walking or dreaming because I have no idea how I descended through the second peak. The speed was just too fast. I didn’t want to rest or drink anymore. All I could think of was reaching down and seeing my mom. She was now flying. The faster I would be down, the faster I could leave for Kigali. Half way we stop and the park guide tells me no stopping because the sun is shining so the thunder will come. What? I know rain season, again he was just making up things. He wanted to go home. I check my packed lunch again and there are fresh carrots in it. Little did I know that these were going to be life saviours. I felt better, I began chewing on the carrots while running down. The second part was dryer. The heavy rains were on the highest peak. I could do this. I want to arrive before 2 PM. The carrots distracted me from my exhaustion and I just rolled down. The second descent was long, I didn’t remember it being so long when walking up but the carrots had me on a roll. At exactly 2pm I had made it back. This fast? This is not possible. Yes it is!    The park guide tells me I am a great hiker. Aha, you shall never underestimate anyone but my competitiveness had killed me. I still had a 4,5 hour drive to Kigali after this. I was hungry and  stopped to eat at Diane Fossey favourite place Muhabara Hotel. My body was shaking and I suffered a severe headache. Silly me I can’t lose. Later the park guide was reported for not staying with me and letting the military take the responsibility. The military is for safety but not for guiding me on the volcano. Off to Kigali to see my mom.