Volta Region

This last weekend our program took the Fab Five (my roommates and myself) on an excursion to the Volta Region. It was a three or four hour comfortable drive east from Accra. I didn’t know what to expect the Volta Region to be like, but I instantly liked what I saw. It has lots of “mountains” (known to Pacific Northwesters as large hills) and is draped in greenery. It was breathtaking! We arrived early in the afternoon in Wli where we hiked down a path to a big waterfall. It was wonderful to hike around in the forest for the first time since I arrived in Africa, I had missed hiking a lot.
The hike was beautiful. Our guide pointed out pineapple, cocoa, and coffee plants to us, none of which look like I had expected them to. There were some shacks with really cool carvings on the way. It was so peaceful walking through the tropical forest, listening to all the exotic birds and insects make their noises. When we arrived at the waterfall it was pouring down the cliff at full force. It was so powerful that we could feel the mist from really far away. I went swimming with Emily and Molly and though we got really close to the waterfall, it was too powerful to go under it. It was lots of fun and a nice get away from city life.
On our way back to the bus we bought some things from the villagers and observed their pet ostriches which are possibly the strangest looking animals that I have ever come across.

Our next stop was a small village that is home to a monkey sanctuary. A local took us into the forest and called the monkeys. They jumped over to the tree we were standing near and climbed down so that we could feed them bananas. I held out my banana and they ate it right out of my hand! One little monkey jumped onto Gina’s arm to get her banana. As we where standing around listening to our guide, Molly got the pleasure of having the monkey sitting in the tree directly above her start peeing. It was truly hilarious.

As the sun began to set we realized how tired we were, so we made our way back to the hotel. After a long dinner at the hotel we finally went to sleep. It was a really nice hotel and I wish that I could have taken my bed back with me.
On Sunday we relaxed all morning and afternoon at the hotel’s pool, it was wonderful. We then got into the bus and made our way home. It was a great weekend, and I only wish that we could have spent a little more time there.