"The Recap" - August 26th

I woke up at about 3:30am because of the great amount of noise being made by a few people in th dormitory getting up to catch their bus that was returning to Tamale. I dreaded the fact that I would have to be getting up that early for my return trip. I slept for a couple more hours and awoke around 5:30am. I got dressed and made my way out to the dining/pool area where there was a viewing platform that looked out over the park. There was a steep bluff in front of the viewing platform that gave people a bird's eye view of any activity going on down there.

There were two water holes in sight and I couldn't believe me eyes when I saw an elephant taking a morning bath. I watched it for a long time reminding myself that it was real. After a while I noticed a bunch of noise coming from a nearby tree. It was full of monkeys. In the next moment a couple of them had jumped out and were coming towards me. Unbelievable! They made their way right past me and over to the next set of bushes. I was able to snap a few pictures of the action that I will be sure to put up soon.

Time passed and soon I made my way over the group of tourists gathered around the safari office. We were eventually divided into groups and given a guide. His name was Deke. A middle-aged man who looked quite strong with his rifle slung over his shoulder. He gave us a short introduction to the park and what we were about to see. He tried to learn all of our names and then we set off. HE told the group as we were walking that if anything happened I was in charge of getting people back to the motel. There was a long moment of silence and then I said to the group, "Don't you feel safe now?" The group erupted with laughter.

I could write a small book about the beauty of the land an d the things that I saw, but I will let the pictures do the talking. ( Trust me they are coming.) As we made our way through the bush I couldn't help but think about all the fun times I have had in the past hiking through the woods with my friends Kevin Carter and Chris Loeber. We never followed the path. I smiled thinking about it. Of course, this was no hike through a forest preserve. There was real danger here, no guarantee that you will come out alive.

The whole thing was surreal. We saw monkeys, baboons, exotic birds, bush buck, water buck, forest deer, crocodiles, and warthogs. We had walked for nearly three hours and had not seen any elephant yet. I said to myself that I could not leave the park without seeing any elephant. It didn't look good. There was a serious moments when our guide would stop in his tracks and so would we. He would look at a print in the mud, markings on a tree, or would just stare into the bush seeing and hearing things that we with our untrained senses could not. At one point the guide called us to look at one print. I didn't know what to make of it. He said very calmly but with great seriousness, "Lion...couple days old." No one spoke and fortunately we were spared of meeting any lions on foot that day.

Our guide was frustrated and told us that he would be happy to take us back out later when the elephant came. So we made our way back through the forest towards the motel when it happened.

We came to a clearing and there he was. A giant elephant slowly lumbering towards the water hole. He took no notice of us until we drew within about 50 feet. He turned and began lapping his ears, grunting, and stamping his foot. The ranger told us to get behind him as he quickly swung his gun off his shoulder and into his hands. The elephant must have known this scenario because he quickly turned and made his way into the bush. We were all so excited, but dared not to say a word. Deke took us back to the waterhole where there were another four elephants bathing in the water. We stopped at the bank across from them and watched for about 15 mintues. I was quite close to the water and checked it frequently for any signs of an approaching crocodile, which there wouldn't be anyway. I kept my position and tried to document as much of the scene as I could.

Without knowing he had left, we turned to hear Deke returning from the bush to inform us that another group of about 5-8 elephant had appeared in another spot. We all followed him and saw it to be true. These elephant seemed much bigger even from a distance. I watched with amusement as another tour group appeared very near to these elephant and the same scenario happened with them that happened with us. Eventually, the time came and we made our way back to the motel after spending 3 1/2 hours under the sun searching for animals. when I returned to the motel I got a large bottle of water, sat at the viewing platform, and tried to take in what had just happened.

After taking a long nap I awoke and showered, a bucket shower that is. I realized that I was incredibly burned from my morning in the sun. I changed clothes, grabbed my journal and made my way out to the dining area for some refreshment. There were many young people there from England, Holland, and Germany. They seemed quite satisfied with their own company and I was also with mine. I watched the beautiful scenery as the sun began to set. Very much at peace with the world, I sat and wrote in my journal.

I sate dinner that night with my American friend and some young ladies from England. It was nice to have some good conversation about "western" things. As frivolous as they may be I still enjoyed it very much. We stayed up much too late laughing, drinking, and chatting with our Ghanaian friend Jerry who worked at the Motel. Before I knew it it was 11pm and we all had to get up at 3:30am for a bus that left at 4am. After everyone had departed I took one last look into the now pitch black void and listened for the different animals. I dared not go back down there now. My experience at Mole Park gave me the true understanding of wildlife.

I also want to take time here to tell you that if you have any questions at all please ask by using the comment tool below this post. I would love your feedback.