Monday 9 July 2012

Girls visit lake villages, rainsforests, safari parks, and say good-byes in Ghana


COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Orphanage work
WRITTEN BY: Ghana girls 2012

It's amazing to think that we're already nearing the end of our placement in Ghana! Last Friday was a very emotional day for us all as we bid farewell to our schools and especially our beautiful children, that we already miss! But we're also getting really excited for the two weeks travelling that is coming up next when we'll get to explore more of Ghana and hopefully head all the way up to Mole National Park, which is reputedly the best wildlife sanctuary in West Africa.

We've also had a really great past couple of weeks. Two weekends ago, Sophie, Sarah and Tara headed west to see Nzulezu, a stilt village, and Ankasa, the largest rainforest reserve in Ghana. Both places were really beautiful and well worth the four or five hours sitting in a tro-tro! To reach Nzulezu also required an hour's canoe ride up a river and across a lake before we saw the village that had been built on poles, and because of all the rain that had raised the water level of the lake, looked as if it was floating on the surface of the water. We also really enjoyed seeing Ankasa and had a lot of adventures getting there, as we decided to hike the last 6km into the rainforest rather than attempt to get a trotro down the very long and very muddy dirt road. We walked in the rainforest itself later that afternoon and Sarah swears she saw some monkeys (they were probably squirrels) but we definitely did see a snake, because we almost stepped on it before it slithered off the path.

The weekend after that, Sophie and Tara went down to Kokrobite while the others ventured into the Volta Region to see the highly recommended Wli Waterfall (more on that later!). Kokrobite was a great experience filled with music and dancing. The best part about it was visiting friends that we'd made on our previous visit, so we spent a lot of time relaxing, chatting and hanging out. We were also pretty thrilled that we got to stay in a treehouse on Saturday night that had been built out of bamboo in the branches of one of the trees inside a hostel there!

This last week has been spent preparing our final donations to our schools, ranging from wastepaper bins to first-aid kits. We're also getting ready to say goodbye to our host-families, as tonight is our last night in Swedru! Next time we write we'll have a lot more news to tell you about life after our teaching placement, but so far we've all had an amazing time teaching and living here, and we'll really miss all our friends, family and kids that we've built relationships with.

We'll be in touch later, and as always sending you much love from Africa! Ghana Girls, xxx

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