One week remains in Ghana!!!

What a whirlwind week we have had since I last wrote to you. On Friday Mary and I were taken with our newest volunteer to Kakum National Park just north of Cape Coast for an overnight stay. Enroute there we stopped at a crocodile stocked manmade lake where we were as close as 3 feet to the crocs on a slightly raised platform. Very scary, but I took some amazing photos. We had lunch there, and I kept looking fearfully over my shoulder as the restaurant has no walls.

We walked the 350 meter canopy walk 30 meters above the magnificent rainforest. Yes, even with my horrific fear of heights, I was successful in traversing the 7 separate suspended rope/cable walks. They are so narrow that only one slim person can fit the width. Many Americans would be refused entry I think. Heard many birds but viewed no exotic wildlife. Apparently several species of monkeys and antelope live there, but we saw none. Kakum is enormous, about 357 square kilometers.

We then drove to Mesomagor, a remote village of a few hundred people with no electricity or running water. Our guesthouse had an open pit toilet and our dormitory style sleeping arrangement was sweltering hot. The villag is know for their Bamboo Orchestra, so they performed for us an ohour concert at night. The entire village turned out, but there was one camping lantern, so we could not see them. I took many photos with a flash that turned out, so I saw the visual part the following morning. The auditory was sensational, and we bought a CD to share in America. Mary took a 30 minute lesson on Sat morning and did a fine job with her musical talent. The musicians were impressed. All of the instruments are cut bamboo pounded onto rock hard wooden blocks.

Also, on Saturday we walked for 2 hours into the Eastern entrance of Kakum National Park with a local guide. We were informed of the many medicinal ways in which the trees and plants are used. We saw loads if cocoa trees with the pods in various stages of ripeness. Ghana is the world's 3rd largest producer of cocoa. One awful thing happened. We had a 2 minute, seemed like hours, assault by large biting black ants.Our guard was armed with a machete and rifle, but those did not help with the ants. We saw lots of evidence of the elephants, but no elephant. Thank heavens.

Until we meet again.....lots of love, Linda