Second day at Mole National Park

 
We woke in the tree house early on Sunday morning with tired eyes, stiff back and goose pimples. The night in the tree house can only be likened to sleeping rough but it was a great experience and we had a lot of laughs. As soon as we were up and ready we split into two groups and left for the walking safari. While on the walking safari the group that I was in were able to get really close to one elephant on its own while taking photo’s we heard an elephant in the distance stamping and raging. Karmal our guide said that it was an elephant charging on the other group, he then quickly pointed out some birds flying above. We were wondering about the other group and what this elephant was doing to them; Karmal had mentioned it like it was not a big deal but we weren’t so sure.

We made our way to the watering hole which was the highlight of the trip for me. There was 9 elephants bathing and drinking, we sat there just watching them moving slowly and gracefully in and out of the water.
The other group joined us at the watering hole and they all looked terrified. The elephant that charged them had stamped its feet, blown its trumpet and forced them to huddle together. Their only defence was their guide who stepped out in front of them and started waving his arms scaring the elephant back. This will definitely be a safari walk they will never forget!

We returned to the Mole Motel and quickly set off on our next activity after lunch which was a canoe ride of spotting birds. The canoe I was in, sat very low in the water and made the whole experience very nerve racking, especially when the water looked so dirty. The only strong swimmer in our boat was Katherine, Tolu can’t swim and Poppy and I are poor swimmers who resorted to yoga to calm our nerves. Shaun was our final crew member who remained unfazed by the level of the water next to the boat and the amount of water that was pouring into the boat. We saw a beautiful bright blue kingfisher which was sat on a branch watching over the river which was the highlight for me.
After the Canoe trip we returned to the motel, went for a quick dip in the pool and then we had to say goodbye to our friends from Bolga and Tamale who were going home.
 
We left Mole on Monday morning very early as 4am was the only time the MetroMass left Mole to Tamale. This day was to be the start of a very long day especially for me…
The MetroMass was comfortable and we were all getting some sleep until we were rudely awakened. We heard the driver having problems with his gears and there was a really strong smell of burning. A few minutes later a policeman was driving alongside the bus shouting to the driver to stop as the bus was on fire! Panic on the bus as we all evacuated. It was the back left hand tire which had caught fire, Ghanaian men from passing Lorries and from the bus began putting it out with fire extinguishers and soon the panic was over and we were sat waiting for another bus to pick us up.

The next stage of the journey was from Tamale to Bolga; we were cramped into a Tro Tro and began the next long journey. Jenna and I could not get comfortable and get to sleep as it was just too cramped but we were cool as they had put so much stuff in the back the doors were still slightly open allowing air to flow through #everycloud. Around 2 hours into this journey I began to feel very ill and actually vomited out of the window of the Tro Tro to the shock of all the Ghanaians. Everyone exited the Tro Tro so I could get off and get some air. All the girls were really nice to me and looked after me really well! When we arrived in Bolga we decided to get a taxi from Bolga to Sandema which was much more comfortable.

Overall this weekend was fantastic and one of the highlights of the whole trip for all of us despite illness.