On September 17 and 18 we headed out on a bus trip up to Akosombo (where our daughter Janna taught school in 2005-2006) and northeast into the Volta region. The Volta region was part of the German colony of Togoland until after World War I, when it was split between France and Britain. Michael Ayenseh and his two children Nana Adwoa (11) and Paa Kwesi (6), our grad student assistant Samuel Abokyi and another grad student, Peter , joined us and our 16 Calvin students.
We stopped first at the Volta River Authority offices in Akosombo and arranged for a tour of the dam. The tour consists of a walk on top of the dam, with explanations by the guide about the construction of the dam (it was finished in 1961), the formation of the lake (the largest man-made lake in the world), the amount of power produced, etc. (This was Nkrumah’s biggest project and illustrates both his vision and naivety). Peter, whose dissertation is on the family structures of migrant fishermen’s families in Dzemeni, a fishing village on Lake Volta (pronounced Gemeny), supplemented the official guide with information on the sociological and political implications of the dam project, which silted up the lower part of the Volta River and inundated many villages above the dam.
We ate packed lunches of jollof rice and chicken as we crossed the Volta. After about 45 minutes of driving past groves of plantain and banana, and grass taller than our heads, we stopped on the outskirts of town at the Dzemeni medical clinic for a pit stop. Several of the students took the opportunity to speak with the midwife, admire a month old baby, and view the delivery room. Peter continued his commentary when we arrived in the center of Dzemeni. Peter described how the town grew as fishermen on the lower Volta River moved north because they could no longer support themselves in their home villages after the dam was built. Now they are finding they must travel further and further up into Lake Volta to catch fish and many of them are returning to their wives and families infrequently, some never.
As we approached the lake, we encountered a woman who has prospered in the generally poor town. She owns 24 fishing boats and she described a new practice that she has just started, which is to go out in a motor boat to her boats and pick up the fish so that the boats do not have to make the journey back. Due to heavy rain in the north and the release of water from a dam in Burkina Faso, part of the market area of Dzemeni was under water. Having just seen the high water mark on the dam and heard the guide say that they anticipated reaching it and sending water over the spillway this year, it was clear that a lot more of Dzemeni would soon be reclaimed by Lake Volta.
We then traveled to the kente cloth weaving village of Kpetoe Agotime. As our students watched the weavers, we began negotiating for stoles which will be presented to the students at the final dinner. The initial asking price was GH 15. Samuel told us that last year the price was 10. I went to work to get the price down and we ended up at 13 per stole. Then we went to the “office” building next to the weavers, where the receipt book had only a few entries between our order and the one Calvin placed the year before. It turned out that last year’s price was 18! We will “dash” the weaver something extra when we get the finished work to assuage our sense of guilt. We were happy to have Peter along to conduct the negotiations in Ewe, since the head weaver could not communicate in English or Twi beyond a few phrases.
We spent the night in Ho and arrived at Freedom Hotel about 6:00 pm. For dinner, most of the students hit the street to scrounge up food. One group went with Michael and put together a real feast, but others made do with bread and Milo (an instant drink powder, like Ovaltine). We ate a good meal at the Freedom Hotel restaurant, on the roof-top patio, and then enjoyed a swim in their pool.
The next morning we headed further into the hills. It took more than 2 hours to drive to Wli Falls, which is right on the border with Togo. As we approached the falls, the hills got taller and finally the ribbon of waterfall came into view. We found the area around the trail head at the park headquarters much more developed than it was 5 years ago, with several booths selling artisan made jewelry and batik cloth. We hiked to the falls through dense rain forest, following a trail with seven bridges crossing streams. The trail was in a lot better shape than it had been in 2005 and the forest just as beautiful. Because of all the rain we’ve had, the falls were pounding down in a torrent. Just after we arrived, it started to rain again. Most of the group changed into suits or simply swam in their already wet clothes. When the rain finally let up, we hiked back down and went to the Waterfall Heights restaurant for lunch.
By the time we got back on the bus after lunch, it was 3 pm. Our final stop was the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. The village traditionally did not hunt the local monkeys because their oral history about the origins of the settlement identifies the monkeys as protectors who warned of danger and brought them success in battle. Peace Corps volunteers helped the village develop as a community-based eco-tourism site after the population of monkeys had dwindled. The village has carried on and it is now doing a great job of conserving wildlife, which is rare in Ghana. We arrived about 5 pm and were led to a spot at the edge of the village where we encountered one of four groups of mona monkeys that live near the village. Our guide gave us all bananas to feed them and instructed us to hold firmly to the stem end. Most of the monkeys approached timidly, nimbly peeled the banana, grabbed a hunk, and scampered away. The head monkey was bolder and grabbed several whole bananas by intimidating those holding them out into letting go.
It was after dark by the time we arrived back at the main road where 4 of our students disembarked to head back north for another day of hiking. It was hard to see them disappear into the night, but as is so typical in Ghana, they were immediately approached by people who helped them get transportation to their destination.
All told, the trip was a good combination of education about culture and development and immersion in lush, green countryside—a welcome change from congested Accra.
