Itinerary

Day 1- Arrival in Accra (the capital of Ghana)
We meet at the airport with transport when you arrive. We stay at a nearby hotel and then go to Vivian’s guest house for dinner. Vivian is the one-woman wonder of Ghanaian conservation. She established the Wildlife Clubs of Ghana which now has over 40,000 kids in a conservation education program. We have dinner that night at Vivian’s with a traditional Ghanaian meal prepared by Vivian and neighbours. In the evening we tour the old city market and see the major colony of fruit bats right in downtown Accra.

Day 2 - Accra to Cape Coast
This morning we get up early and drive south along the coast to Cape Coast and Kakum National Park, in the rain forest. We bird at lagoons and salt pans along the way. We then visit the historic slave castle at Cape Coast. These are UNESCO World Heritage Monuments to the incredible cruelty of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We stay at Han’s Cottage, a place you have to see to believe. “Dinner on the terrace” here involves watching your step, or you will be dinner, since the dining room is suspended above a pond full of crocodiles. Birding is amazing here with a variety of wetland birds and weavers right beside the dinner tables.

Day 3 - Kakum National Park to Boebeng/Fiema
We get up early and go into Kakum Park and the walkway as the sun rises and see birds of the West African rainforest. We bird the rain forest via a suspended walkway that takes us up into the forest canopy. This is one of the best sites in Africa for rain forest birding. Kakum is a recent addition to the park system, proposed by the local council of chiefs. Then, with Sylverster Azika, senior game protection officer, we walk into the interior of the forest. Later in the day we drive up country through the rain forest. We pass through Kumasi and spend the night at Boabeng-Fiema. This is a very special place. These villages and the surrounding forest are the oldest game reserve in Africa. Monkeys have been protected here, by traditional law, for over 400 years. The local people consider the monkeys sacred and as such prohibit physical harm to them. There are approximately 200 Geoffroy’s Pied Colobus and 500 Campbell’s Mona in the sanctuary and close-up sightings are guaranteed. This area also provides an opportunity to see birds of the “transitional rain forest”, as the rain forest gives way to drier, savanna conditions. We stay in the guest house there and meet the elders of the village and greet the fetish priest, a very special experience.

Day 4 - Boebeng-Fiema to Mole
From Boebeng we drive to Kintampo and have lunch at a beautiful local waterfall. From Kintampo we enter the Guinea savanna and we make our way north to Mole National Park. We spend the night at the motel at Mole Park Headquarters. The motel units are on a scarp overlooking thousands of square miles of guinea savanna and the Samole pools. Elephants are seen there daily. There is a swimming pool, so you can watch for elephant, have a beer, jump in the pool, and then watch for more elephant. Elephants were very uncommon when Bob worked at Mole 25 years ago, but they have recovered remarkably. There are probably in excess of a 1000 elephants in Mole now. The hotel area is teeming with antelope species including kob, waterbuck, bushbuck and red-flanked duiker. We will also see lots of warthog, baboon and monkeys around the hotel. Birding is spectacular throughout the park with a 300 plus bird list. Bird lists for Mole will be provided.
We meet Charlie Haizel, warden in charge and Charles Mackie, who is working with IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund on a major project to refurbish the park. We also meet James Issah and Robert Gonja, two exceptional guides that will do the remainder of the trip with us within the Park, and Mary, who runs the Wildlife Conservation Program there. We may go into Larabanga, a nearby village, to visit the ancient mosque, and for a taste of “pito”, a millet beer. The ladies of Larabanga are famous throughout West Africa for their brew. (You may never go back to Bud!).

Day 5 - Mole Park Headquarters to Lovi Camp.
We go on an early morning drive or walk to see elephant, antelope and savanna birds and then spend a few hours getting prepared for the safari. In the mid afternoon we drive to Lovi Camp to spend the night. We then establish our first camp deep in the African bush. We do an evening walk, looking for birds and other species found in the “gallery forest” found along the Lovi River.

Day 6 - Lovi Camp to Nyanga Camp.
We rise early to the sounds of the savanna and do a morning trek, walking down and upstream along the Lovi River. In the cool of the morning we are likely to see all kinds of wildlife coming down to drink at the river pools. The Lovi is a series of long pools and short running sections 2-3 feet wide, depending on the time of year. In John’s words: “Some of the most exciting days of my life have been spent hiking the dry beds of the Lovi and Mole Rivers. The Lovi/Nyanga corridor is the heart of Mole NP and is alive with the full diversity that the park has to offer. Buffalo, elephant, waterbuck, oribi, kob, hartebeest, roan antelope, red-flanked duiker, crowned duiker, bushbuck, black and white colobus, green monkey, red patas monkey, baboon, warthog, monitor lizard and crocodile are all common in the area. Lion, leopard, spotted hyena and yellow-backed duiker are also present.”
We are in the Guinea savannah or “orchard bush”, similar to the Miombo in East Africa and thornbush in southern Africa. It is relatively dense; you can see 150-250 yards most of the time. There are a few open meadows or “pans” but we will not be in the open grassland as in the Serengeti. After a day at Lovi, we shift camp north to Nyanga Camp.

Day 7 - Nyanga Camp
At Nyanga we build another camp, and likely hear lions as we sit around the fire. In the morning we walk down the Mole River bed into the very centre of the park, accompanied by the sounds of thousands of birds on the Guinea savanna. That evening we do another hike and after dark game viewing (looking for eyes in a spotlight). On two expeditions we saw a leopard, a very special experience.

Day 8 - Nyanga to Wa
The next morning we leave Nyanga and head north to Gbanwelle Camp to join the ancient trade route through the north end of the park. This route has been used for thousands of years to transport cattle, salt, ivory and people, often in chains, to the ancient trading centre at Salaga. On our last trip we met women using the route to walk across the park to visit with family on the other side, much as they have done for centuries. We follow the old trade route north out of the park and to the ancient community of Ducie. This is one of the most traditional communities in the north. We meet the chief and elders there. From there we go on to Wa and stay at a great little Hotel called the Uplands which will provide a shower and a shot of air conditioning for a night.

Day 9 - Wa to Wechiau
The next morning we visit Ahmed Nuhu’s village and home compound. This is a special experience. His extended family lives in a pueblo-like mud structure of about 40 rooms. We greet the chief and elders and get a chance to see the house and fields. And we meet the Kumbale Naa, Ahmed Nuhu, Bob's old friend, which is an experience in itself! We then go to the palace of the Wa-Naa, a structure that dates to the 1400’s and greet Bob's fellow chiefs there. That evening we head south to Wechiau and the hippo sanctuary. Depending on the day of the week, we may stop at a local traditional market.

Day 10 - Wechiau
At Wechiau we again meet the chiefs and elders. This is special since three of the chiefs from this area were in Calgary January 2004 to officially open the new Africa exhibit at the Calgary Zoo. Bob was part of that event and had a wonderful time with these chiefs. Their experience in Canada was extraordinary, as one can imagine, especially for the senior chief, who had never travelled outside of the north before. (To understand the complexity of chieftaincy in Ghana, one of the other chiefs is a graduate of the Sorbonne and a former Deputy Minister). These chiefs and elders are the driving force behind one of the most exciting conservation stories emerging from Ghana in many years – the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a community protected area covering a 40 kilometre stretch of the Black Volta River which forms the western boundary of Ghana. What is so special about this initiative is that there is no government involvement in the establishment or management of the area – a very unique development in Africa or elsewhere. John Mason has been involved in this project for many years, so we will hear the entire story about this very special area. We stay in the mud brick “lodge” by the river and spend an evening watching hippos and birding along the river. While in the sanctuary there are opportunities to drink local pito beer and listen to the traditional xylophone music of this part of Ghana.

Day 11 - Down the Black Volta, then to Mole
Early the next morning we start our float down the river in traditional canoes. We will be on the river about 8 hours, with birding and hippos along the way. We leave the river at Saru and then drive 2 hours back to the motel at Mole National Park. (For those who do not want to do the river trip, birding from the vehicles will be organized for the day).

Day 12 - Mole NP
This will be rest day at Mole, with the pool and viewing from the motel. We will do birding and wildlife viewing trips, on foot or in a vehicle, into areas near the headquarters. It will also be a time for a party with the folks from the park who by now will be old friends.

Day 13 - Mole to Bolgatanga
From Mole we drive to Tamale and to Bolgatanga and into the Sahel savanna, through what is a heavily settled and very beautiful landscape. We visit the Bolga market and visit Azika’s home village of Zarre, which is famous for basket weaving. We may also visit community conservation projects at the Tongo Hills and Sirigu, a traditional village in the far north.

Day 14 - Bolgatanga to Tamale
We return to Tamale (2 hours) and catch the flights south to Accra.

Day 15 - Accra
Our final day in Accra, with a farwell dinner at Vivians and preparation for departures on the next day.

---

What to expect

This trip is an expedition, a unique experience, and not a "canned tour" of Serengeti or Kruger. The tour involves camping and walking in bush country. There are rope walkways in the rainforest canopy and canoe rides in traditional canoes along the Black Volta River. The tour takes in many cultural activities, including meetings with community chiefs and participation in discussions on local issues, along with visits to markets and towns.

Clients need to bring a mountain tent, a light sleeping bag, etc., for the in-park portion of the trip. You need light tents or insect netting (there will not be any rain), to keep insects from us while we sleep. If the “harmattan”, a cool wind off the Sahara, is blowing, it will be cooler during the days and almost chilly (like 75 degrees) early in the morning. There is “gallery forest” along much of the river that will provide shade for our camps. We camp by the river and there is water to bathe in. The Lovi and Mole drainages are almost entirely within the park so disease problems are minor, but we carry water filters and bottled water. We will have 2 rifles along with several people who know how to use them if it becomes necessary. Confrontations are very uncommon. There are no hippos in this area. Snakes and scorpions occur but are uncommon. The trip consists of a visit to Boabeng/Fiema, a tribal wildlife sanctuary where monkeys have been protected for 3 centuries, and to Mole National Park, where you will meet “the people’s friend”, an old elephant that lives close to the hotel and is everyone’s friend. We go into the center of the park for 2 days in some of the wildest country in Africa. Elephant, lion, leopard, several species of antelope are found here, along with hundreds of bird species, both resident Ghanaian species and many European migrants. The tour takes in Wa, a regional town where Bob is a chief, where you meet his fellow chiefs and visit the Paramount chief’s palace. We visit Wechiau, a tribal sanctuary for hippos, and float for two days down the Black Volta River, to see hippo and riverine birds. We also visit Kakum National Park, where we use a rope walkway to go up into the canopy of the West African rainforest, to observe rain forest species at close range.