The lecturer strike was officially called off about two weeks ago and classes resumed with the Ghanaian students. Classes are a lot better now. Unfortunately though the semester has been extended for the Ghanaian students and their classes/finals don't end until like the beginning of January and they only have Christmas off. Crazy. Fortunately though the international students are taking their finals in early December since we have to leave. Our program ends December 12th and I fly back Dec. 15th so I will get to see everyone over Christmas break.
Moving on, two weekends ago we traveled to Akosombo to see the Akosombo hydroelectric dam. Technically speaking though this structure is not a dam and rather it is an "embankment" since it is made entirely of natural materials (rock, clay, etc.). This embankment provides 65% of Ghana's energy and also supplies energy to neighboring countries such as Burkina Faso to the north, Togo and Benin to the east and Cote d'Ivoire to the west. This structure has created the largest manmade lake in the world measuring 12 times the size of Singapore. The embankment has gone into record/history books as the best "dam" in the world since it has not needed any renovation or reconstruction since its construction.
It was really cool to see and walk along the dam and to think about all the benefits and consequences that it has brought with it since its construction in the 1960s. It was crazy to put it into perspective because while the environmentalist side of me disliked the dam and was listing all the environmental hazards it had brought with it, the "development" side of me saw the massive benefits that had stemmed from damming the Volta River. It was a really cool experience and one that I think I enjoyed more than my friends did. :)
After visiting the dam we traveled to the Shai Hills Game Reserve. Originally we were to drive through the reserve in our bus but as it had rained that morning the vehicle could not make the trek, but we could. And so we set out on a two hour trek/hike that none of us had been prepared for. We were trekking through mud in flip-flops, skirts, dresses, etc. Even so it was still a lot of fun and the views afforded at the top of one of the mountains we scaled was absolutely beautiful and looked like a scene out of "The Lion King". It was so stereotypically "African" looking that I almost couldn't believe the landscape. 
The reserve is also where we got to see baboons! I must have taken like a hundred photos of these baboons because even though they were used to humans it was still really interesting to see wild baboons. Some people even fed them bananas and mangoes but they were starting to become aggressive and so we had to stop. We got to see like an entire group of them including alpha male and female and even a baby baboon.
This past weekend I traveled to Safari Beach a very secluded beach near the fishing village of Akwidaa. We stayed at the Green Turtle Lodge, an eco-lodge with composting toilets, solar powered lights and focuses on green turtle conservation. This tourist lodge made the best food; I had French toast with honey and baked bananas and coffee and it was so delicious. I have not had coffee since coming here and I have missed it. Also there is no other way to enjoy breakfast than overlooking the ocean.
Anyway the beach was absolutely gorgeous and the waves were absolutely huge. It was common to see people getting knocked down by these waves but it was so much fun. One morning my friend and I decided to take a sunrise walk along the beach away from the lodge. Once we got a little ways from the lodge there was all this trash on the beach. It was so sad and my friend and I decided that while we couldn't pick up all of it we would collect as much as we could. We found a huge plastic bag and began collecting all the styrofoam, plastic pieces, bags, etc. that we could fit in this bag. During our walk back (with arms full of trash we collected) it began storming on us. It was so beautiful to be walking on the beach in a thunderstorm at sunrise. Once we got back to the lodge we got so many weird looks for carrying a bag of trash back from the beach. You would have thought we committed a crime or something and the people working at the lodge were hesitant to allow us to throw it away at the lodge. It was so strange because all these tourists and workers were at an eco-lodge and yet they couldn't comprehend why we would pick up some trash that we found along the beach. It was a bit aggravating and made me realize that people talk the talk but don't actually walk the walk. Even so the beach was absolutely beautiful and the trip was very relaxing. |
| Akwidaa, the fishing village nearby |
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| Sunrise |
During my time there I went on a canoe trip through the mangrove forest. I got to see a toucan, mangrove crabs and the African version of squirrels. We went at sunrise and it was really cool and made me think about doing field research in mangrove forests because they are such an unique and endangered type of habitat.
Trips and adventures like these make me realize just how much I love traveling and makes me not want to come home. I propose that all of you come to visit me instead. Nante yie. :)
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