Patrick and I started the next day before the sun rose. Our 6:00am wake-up call was necessary in
order to feed the monkeys. This was a
great experience, because the guide was knowledgeable about the monkeys and
truly cared about their welfare. In
order to feed the monkeys we had to go to the edge of the forest. The guide made a loud kissing sound and
monkeys started jumping from all parts of the trees. There was a family of 6 monkeys that came to
greet the group, 5 young and 1 mother.
The young monkeys were very friendly, while the mother more cautious and
stayed back, letting her children eat.
We fed the monkeys bananas by holding out our arms like a perch and keeping
a firm grip on the banana. The monkeys
did not bite or scratch and were more than happy to jump on our shoulders and
crawl up our arms to get the bananas.
The monkeys would not simply try to grab the banana; instead they would
grab each finger and peel it back and then once they peeled back 2 fingers and
a thumb they would take the banana. I
was awestruck at the intelligence of the monkeys, because they were still so
young.
After the monkeys and we were fed Patrick and I
started our trip to Mount Afadjato. The
normal way to get out of Tafi Atome is by moto-taxi. Moto-taxis are simply motorcycles that you
ride to a destination like a taxi. Since
there were four visitors trying to get moto-taxis and only two taxis Patrick
and I had to ride double. Strictly
speaking this is illegal, but sometimes rules are meant to be bent. Patrick and I ended up getting the moto-taxi
for 20 cedi to the mountain and then 10 cedi to get from the mountain to the
junction where we could catch a tro-tro to Accra. This was a pretty fair price considering the driver’s
opening offer was 25 cedi each. This
further proves that when getting transportations in Ghana bartering is a very
beneficial skill.
Once we arrived at Mount Afadjato Patrick and I set
out to climb the mountain with our guide Kofi.
Unknown to us at the time there are actually two paths to the top of the
mountain, one is rather easy and has steps, and the other is much harder because
it uses tree roots and rocks as makeshift steps; Patrick and I took the latter
path. Knowing now that there are two
paths to climb the mountain I must admit that Frost may have gotten it wrong
when he took the road less traveled because the path Patrick and I took was
extremely difficult to climb. Though our
guide said he has made the trip to the top five times in one day, once was good
enough for me. The trip up was extremely
steep and treacherous due to the fact that rocks functioned as steps and trees
as posts that we could use to help us up.
About fifty feet from the top I felt as though I could go no further;
however, after a rather long break I made it to the top. Making it to the top was worth the pain of
getting there, the view was awe-inspiring and the air smelled as though it had
never seen pollution. Though the sky was
somewhat hazy we could still see for miles.
The climb down the mountain was easier but not less
treacherous. Patrick ended up slipping
on some loose rocks and cutting his hand and we both had to use tree branches
to keep from slipping all the way down.
The path was the steepest I have ever traversed and going down rivaled
the difficulty of going up in some aspects.
Overall, the climb, and the entire visit to the Volta Region was a great
experience that made my experience in Ghana even richer than it had been to
that point.
