A few days ago we were invited to accompany a group of folks take a boat ride on the Volta River. The river runs between Lake Volta and the Gulf of Guinea. We drove a 14 passenger van from the Temple complex to the Alema Courts apartments where we met 6 other couples and we headed East from Accra to a small town on the Volta River called Ada Foah to enjoy a 2-hour morning ride down the Volta river that runs into the Gulf of Guinea. The first two pictures are maps showing where we went. The first map shows Accra on the left and Lome, Togo on the right with our destination about 3/5ths the way – Ada Foah. It was about 1.5 hour drive from Accra.
On the way there we had to stop and wait for a herd of Brahma cattle that were being herded across the road. We were a little slow getting our camera out and powered up so we just got the end of this crossing. The same thing happened on our way to church today, but we left our camera at home.
Once we arrived at the resort (not to be confused with resorts that come to mind in the U.S.) where we would start our boat ride we ordered our lunch so that it would be ready for us when we returned 2 hours later.
The boat we went on was very similar to the one we took when we went down the Usumacinta River between Mexico and Guatemala. Basically a large canoe and medium sized motor. The next few pictures are shots along the river as we floated south to the Gulf of Guinea. The river was actually quite wide – we estimate about a mile.
As we approached the Gulf of Guinea the bank of the river narrowed and we could see over the bank to the beach of the Gulf of Guinea in the background of our pictures. The picture below of us was taken from the top of the bank with the Volta river behind the camera. It wasn’t only about 50 yards wide from where we docked the boat on the river to the beach of the gulf behind us. In fact the tide was coming in and at high tide the waves appeared to almost reach over the little neck of land as the sand was wet over the top toward the river.
As we headed back up the river we past this man who was going out to place his crab traps. – pictured just above on the right.
One of our guides in the picture below (behind me) is just finishing his engineering degree, and drives boat to help with expenses, a very personable young man. He said that there are approximately 32 small islands in this area. As we were headed back up the river we stopped at one of them that had a village. He said that most of the islands are not inhabited and that the people who live on them are given permission from the government to remain on the islands.
We were told to bring something to give the children when we arrived. Most of us brought candy, but one girl, a law student here interning, brought balloons—a big hit with the kids. I asked one of the teenage boys where they go to school and he showed me a nice school building that didn’t look like it was very old, which likely some charity has built for them. The government seems to do very little for their people. The little guy with no clothes on (a normal thing here for little kids) had a very big personality, very cute and interactive with everyone. The rest of the village tolerated us ok, but we felt like we were intruding. Our guides were with us, and I guess they are used to the intrusion. In one picture you will see the people chopping the husk from coconuts and you will see throughout the other pictures the remains of coconut husks. The animals that are most prevalent are small goats, pigs, ducks, banty chickens, and dogs. We hardly ever see any cats.
On our way to and from the river we saw close to a hundred road side stands where people were selling watermelons and some had mangoes. We saw many “fields” being worked by manual labor off in the distance from the road. As we went through the small towns there were more well established fruit stands. The next two or three pictures was an attempt to capture how many places there were. It turns out that the watermelon patches are just off the road and the people pick the melons and then stack them next to the road and wait for cars to stop and buy them.
The last picture helped us understand how the fruit stands in Accra get their fruit. This tro-tro is full of melons (usually this full of people crammed in!) and there is only room enough for the driver and a passenger in the front seat. The rest of the van is full from top to bottom. We passed a good number of other vans just like this one.
It was a nice day out, and we enjoyed the company of many of the employees in the area like the lawyer, controller, the DTA and their wives, the interns, the mail room guy with his wife and two boys they are watching, and we were the only missionaries. Really fine people. But we still miss all of you and wish you could experience these things with us. And tomorrow, it’s back to the office!
Amazing! I loved the pictures, especially the ones with the children. I'm so proud to be a part of your family! Love Erin
ReplyDeleteStephen: Some very desktop wallpaper worthy pictues! Can't decide which one to pick. :) That little village is SO COOL! Did you ever think you would walk through one like that, ever!? You two live in a VERY interesting part of the world. How diverse this little planet is!
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