Was just handed the laptop by Steve at the hotel in Kintampo and said that I could write the Yendi Notes. Now all three are ganging up on me so what can I do but comply. Glad to help in any way while I am here so let’s get on with it.
Planned on leaving from the mission house at 7:00 am but found it hard to stay that focused since today was a long travel day. Left around 7:25 and got just outside of town when Steve informed Kandie that he forgot their passports. The hotels in Ghana require a picture ID to check in and Steve was not sure that the hotel would take their Ghana ID so we returned back to the house to get the passports. Now it is 8:00 amwhen we finally left the house and made our way west to Tamale and then south to the monkey sanctuary. Steve and Kandie have been there several times and thought that Pam and I would like it. They were right, but more on that in just a bit.
Anyone who travels with the Taylors in Ghana on a road trip must understand two things. Pack as much as you think you will need for a few days, especially food, and be prepared to eat snacks and breakfast on the road all the way. Charity, their daughter, had warned us before we left that eating while travelling is a must in Ghana. The 263 speed bumps from Yendi to Tamale now seem as part of the course of riding and we made it to Tamale in 1 hour and 50 minutes. Steve was impressed. Breakfast consisted of a piece of last night’s pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and anything and everything both the Taylor’s and Clark’s had brought for snacks. You may have a bumpy and pothole, twisting ride but you will not go hungry. We made the usual stop at the KFC/Shell station for a bathroom break and (wait for it) more snacks and drinks, if you can believe it.
Around 11 am we finally got through Tamale (where Steve said that they had really built up that area recently) and headed south on the Tamale/Kumasi highway. To say that this road is busy is an understatement. Many semi-trucks from out of the country were loaded down and heading up and down this major artery for transport. The road conditions of “drop the Volkswagen bug into earth and let it be swallowed” began in earnest. Those with high blood pressure just need to take a nap and don’t look. We won’t begin to describe the types of speed bumps on this road. We had travelled about an hour outside of Tamale when we saw an entire semi-truck loaded with charcoal laying on its side just off the road. Overloading the trucks in a V-shape configuration that would be comparable to a wide-load truck back home is so common that people think nothing of it. Traffic here is a culture shock event.
After crossing the two major waterways in the country (White Volta and Black Volta Rivers) we began to see different kinds of houses in the villages. Gone were the round houses and common were the square mud houses with bright zinc sheet metal roofs. At around 3:00 pmwe began to see the hill country of Kintampo. There is a famous waterfall there (which we saw 13 years ago), so we drove on to the inner city. As we were coming to a traffic light, Kandie saw a fruit vendor that sold bananas. The Shell station that we were going to stop at to get fuel and use the bathroom was on the opposite side of the street. So, what did Kandie do/ She got out of the truck while Steve was still at the light on the major road and bought what was needed for the day. After getting to the station, fueling and then parking away from the pumps, Kandie comes crossing the major road with two huge bags of fruit. She had bought 8 bunches of bananas (to feed the monkeys), white pineapple, pink papaya and then informed us that we were going to slice the bananas into rounds to feed the monkeys. I am thinking, “How many monkeys are we about to gorge with all of this?”
When we were travelling south of Kintampo, Steve was looking for the sign that directs one to turn to the left off the major highway. When we finally saw it and had made the turn, the traffic seemed non-existent (only in comparison to what you just left). The drive to the sanctuary was a drive of eroded highway (still with major potholes) or no asphalt road at all with a rutted dirt road for whenever. The terrain is now hilly as the monkey sanctuary is near a village in the hills. We travelled through one small town that only had six letters in its name but had 10 speed bumps. Steve thought it was ridiculous as small as the village was. When we turned onto the final road that led to the sanctuary, the road work crew had recently scraped it smooth and Steve could drive 45 miles an hour without hardly a bump. He and Kandie were amazed as they had travelled it before and said it was the worst section of driving to the sanctuary.
When we finally made it to the sanctuary, it was around 4:00 pm. When we first got out of the truck, there were monkeys all around the truck. There was hardly anyone there to take a tour but us, so we checked in, paid the fee and had our own personal guide to walk us through the woods. However, before going on the hike, we had cut the bananas bought in town into rounds (along with the bucket of bananas that Steve and Kandie bought from the sanctuary people). There are now two huge buckets filled with round slices of banana and a large bag that Steve is carrying half filled with the same content. The people at the tour site were astonished at how much was going in with us. Remember, feeding anything, especially monkeys, is not going to go down the priority list.
The monkeys were all in the trees and stayed together as “troupes” with a dominant male as the leader of each group. No troupe of monkeys would enter into the territory of another without a fight, so we moved from one section of the woods to another with the help of the guide. He was very informative about things and answered all the questions we asked. The monkeys would steal from the bucket, steal from you if you did not pay attention and even climb up on you to get what you had. It was an unexplainable experience to be that close to an exotic animal in its environment. There are only two types of monkeys in the sanctuary. The friendly type (the Campbell’s Mona monkey) that were not afraid of you and the black monkeys (the Geoffroy’s Pied Colobus monkey) with the white tail, white mane and beard with solid black face that were aggressive and must not be approached or fed by us.
When we got back to the parking area, Kandie had informed us that one of the monkeys had bitten her on the tip of her little finger and broke the skin. She asked the guide if the monkeys had rabies and he did not give a satisfactory answer. This concerned her and when we got to the hotel for the night and were about to eat supper, they informed us that they were going to the hospital so Kandie could get a rabies shot as well as any other shot needed. They did not have to wait long for the shots (one rabies and one tetanus) and gave us the play by play of the ordeal. You will have to ask her one day to explain it. It is a classic.
Well, there is never a dull moment when in Ghana. Whether working with the brethren or feeding the local fauna, life will never be the same. Thank the Lord for modern medicine and a God that will take care of you in every way.
Jimmy Clark
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