ON THE ROAD TO TAMALE
I arrived in Tamale yesterday afternoon, which is the captial city of the Eastern Region. Compared to all the other regional capitals I have been this one diffinatly has a different feel about it. There is a large Muslim presence here. There are motorbikes and bikes everywhere. There is diffinatly more of a rural feel about it also.
Tamale taxi station in the centre of the town.
The last few days have been challenging ones for me.... and if I do say so myself I am very proud of myself for making it through without any emotional breakdowns. You see, the route I took to get to Tamale is diffinatly the road less travelled. Most Obruni take the Kumasi route to get here. I however took the the Eastern route, this route it is strange to see a car. Where water cost nearly double the price as to anywhere else. Where there is no paved roads, 95% of places do not have any electricity, where peoples houses were made out of mud brick with thatched roofs or were simply made out of thathed flax, where I could say I was the only Obruni there. By going this route I was very much in the hands of the locals. For the places that I went to get to Tamale were not on my map as I was forced to take detours. Locals would however take special care of me and makesure I had the "best seat" avaliable, that I was in the shade when I waited and was feed. It was not uncommon for me to wait for anything between 2-5 hours to wait for a car or truck (I use these words losely) to fill up. You just have to sit and wait as you had no idea of how long it would take to fill up and if you went anywhere it could leave without you. If I did not have a book to read, I have no idea what I would have done.
The cars that I have travelled in of late have been very scary on NZ standards. Some cars would need to be jump started to go and the doors would only open from one side. Somewere large convoy trucks where people would sit in the back and on the metal bars that were above the trucks. Others were tro tro's that continued on travelling knowing that they had a bunktered tyre. All of these vechiles were on dirt roads that had large pot holls left from the the Large Yam trucks. Sometimes I think to myself, that doing road safety before comming here was really not a good idea as I could just be nieve about some of the risks that I am taking to get to where I need to be.
On my travels however I have meet some amazing Ghanain's who have shared their stories with me, given me insights into how this country works which I dont think I would have gained if I travelled with someone else or taken the different route. I think I have been trully privelleged to see how rural Ghana works. It also makes me appreciate being in Tamale a lot more.
Tomorrow or Thursday a friend (who arrives here today) and I are off to Mole National Park. The bus leaves here at 5am so it will be an early start. Though I am normally awake by 5.30am anyway and find it hard to sleep in till 6am! We plan to spend a few days there before we both head off in different directions again. Not that I am really that certain where that is yet... but I'm sure it will all work out in the end as it always has so far.
Other side notes
For those who know me and my way of packing , I think this may surprise some, I am travelling (this is for 3 weeks) in a day pack (which is the size of a school bag). It is not even entirely full!!! and I think I over packed as I dont need 2 skirts and 2 pairs of trousers. Additionally, if I did not have all the cord for my camera, phone and MP3 player I think my bag would only be half full.
I am really loving to read... If this is the only thing that remains when I get home from this trip (which Im sure it wont be) then I think I can call this a success.
I have managed to write in my dairy every single day since being in Ghana... normally dairies do not last more than a week or so.
Apparently my accent has completly changed. No Obruni that I meet would ever think that I came from NZ. Though they really cant think of where I could come from. Here is hoping that it goes back to normal pretty fast when I arrive home.
I now have 2 names. To the Ghanains now I always introduce myslef as Kay. the name Kylie is proving to be too difficult for them. Instead I get names like Hayley, Kylief, Killy and other names that I have no idea how to pronounce or spell.
So anyway this is enough about me for now...
I arrived in Tamale yesterday afternoon, which is the captial city of the Eastern Region. Compared to all the other regional capitals I have been this one diffinatly has a different feel about it. There is a large Muslim presence here. There are motorbikes and bikes everywhere. There is diffinatly more of a rural feel about it also.
Tamale taxi station in the centre of the town.The last few days have been challenging ones for me.... and if I do say so myself I am very proud of myself for making it through without any emotional breakdowns. You see, the route I took to get to Tamale is diffinatly the road less travelled. Most Obruni take the Kumasi route to get here. I however took the the Eastern route, this route it is strange to see a car. Where water cost nearly double the price as to anywhere else. Where there is no paved roads, 95% of places do not have any electricity, where peoples houses were made out of mud brick with thatched roofs or were simply made out of thathed flax, where I could say I was the only Obruni there. By going this route I was very much in the hands of the locals. For the places that I went to get to Tamale were not on my map as I was forced to take detours. Locals would however take special care of me and makesure I had the "best seat" avaliable, that I was in the shade when I waited and was feed. It was not uncommon for me to wait for anything between 2-5 hours to wait for a car or truck (I use these words losely) to fill up. You just have to sit and wait as you had no idea of how long it would take to fill up and if you went anywhere it could leave without you. If I did not have a book to read, I have no idea what I would have done.
The cars that I have travelled in of late have been very scary on NZ standards. Some cars would need to be jump started to go and the doors would only open from one side. Somewere large convoy trucks where people would sit in the back and on the metal bars that were above the trucks. Others were tro tro's that continued on travelling knowing that they had a bunktered tyre. All of these vechiles were on dirt roads that had large pot holls left from the the Large Yam trucks. Sometimes I think to myself, that doing road safety before comming here was really not a good idea as I could just be nieve about some of the risks that I am taking to get to where I need to be.
On my travels however I have meet some amazing Ghanain's who have shared their stories with me, given me insights into how this country works which I dont think I would have gained if I travelled with someone else or taken the different route. I think I have been trully privelleged to see how rural Ghana works. It also makes me appreciate being in Tamale a lot more.
Tomorrow or Thursday a friend (who arrives here today) and I are off to Mole National Park. The bus leaves here at 5am so it will be an early start. Though I am normally awake by 5.30am anyway and find it hard to sleep in till 6am! We plan to spend a few days there before we both head off in different directions again. Not that I am really that certain where that is yet... but I'm sure it will all work out in the end as it always has so far.
Other side notes
For those who know me and my way of packing , I think this may surprise some, I am travelling (this is for 3 weeks) in a day pack (which is the size of a school bag). It is not even entirely full!!! and I think I over packed as I dont need 2 skirts and 2 pairs of trousers. Additionally, if I did not have all the cord for my camera, phone and MP3 player I think my bag would only be half full.
I am really loving to read... If this is the only thing that remains when I get home from this trip (which Im sure it wont be) then I think I can call this a success.
I have managed to write in my dairy every single day since being in Ghana... normally dairies do not last more than a week or so.
Apparently my accent has completly changed. No Obruni that I meet would ever think that I came from NZ. Though they really cant think of where I could come from. Here is hoping that it goes back to normal pretty fast when I arrive home.
I now have 2 names. To the Ghanains now I always introduce myslef as Kay. the name Kylie is proving to be too difficult for them. Instead I get names like Hayley, Kylief, Killy and other names that I have no idea how to pronounce or spell.
So anyway this is enough about me for now...
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