Fire (Mole) National Park

We decided to splurge and hire a taxi to take us to Mole since public transport seemed like a bit of a nightmare. It was a pretty rough drive-check out the super safe bridge we went over. The road to Mole might just be the worst road in the world, but we made it. When we got there be had a bit of disagreement with our driver over fuel, but it was worth it overall.



At Mole we went on a couple of nature walks and saw tons of wildlife-elephants, baboons, patas and green monkeys, antelopes (or cantelope as Ama calls them), warthogs, crocodiles, birds, hyena poop, and various insects and lizards. Ama was thrilled with all the animals, particularly the elephants. When we had to leave them she cried and cried, it was pretty sad! The guide was heard telling the story of Ama the next day-she must have been memorable! In addition to the the wildlife seen on the walks, there were also plenty of monkeys, baboons and warthogs near the hotel. The primates in particular are pretty bad-stealing food and drinks from people, and getting into garbage and drinking the pool water.













The pool was a refreshing yet slightly disgusting treat. The water was definitely not treated properly, which was evident by the algae that was growing in it. However, when it's 40 degrees out that's easy to overlook-even for Pam, the environmental health girl!



We got swindled into going on a river safari, which I cannot recommend for the high price we paid. The most interesting thing was probably watching the girls and women get water from the river, which they used for everything from washing to drinking (it was far from clean!). Our guide new nothing, and probably couldn't really be called a guide. He was even a different person than we had originally discussed the trip with, but I suspect the first guys knowledge would have been slim to none also. When we asked about trees they were all "river trees" and all the birds (remarkably different) were "river birds." Overall it was still a good time, but not what we had expected.




Our last day at Mole was highly eventful. During the mid afternoon, while Ama and Pam were sleeping and I was relaxing by the pool, there was major commotion. Someone yelled FIRE and all the staff ran to the block of rooms where Pam and Ama were-closely followed by me! It turned out that there was a small fire in the room 5 doors down. The girl had left everything on in the room and left to a different town, and the air conditioner caught fire. I've never seen Ghanaian men move so fast in the mid-day heat-they kicked down the door and had that fire out very fast!

That night I said "there won't be another fire will there?" and Pam said "No, of course not." Well, at 2am we woke up to smoke and a hysterical girl-THE SAME GIRL, and this time the air conditioner 2 rooms away had caught fire. Pam bravely held the flashlight while the guard poured water on the electrical fire. Hmmmm.... Needless to say, their was no more AC for the rest of the night!



Although the wildlife at Mole is pretty spectacular, we were happy to leave the unsafe, slightly shabby hotel behind! It amazes me how the park has so much tourist potential but it is largely unrealized. Maybe one day, but at least it was affordable for us!