It's Ghana Be Wild

Baboons hanging around our hotel. You can see a baby baboon
sitting atop its mother's back in this photo.

Today was truly an African day. We went on safari in Mole (mo-lay) National Park, Ghana’s largest national park. We did one on foot with an armed guide and one on a jeep with an armed guide. Right before setting out on the foot safari, Felicity got charged by a baboon. A large group of us were waiting outside our hotel for a few stragglers when a baboon showed up and gradually starting approaching us, then full on ran at Felicity. It got within about a yard before a large Ghanaian man threw a rock at it and scared it off. After the fact, we realized that the reason the baboon charged her was to steal the protein bar in her hand. Because baboons are larger monkeys, they will always try to steal food or small bags right out of your hand, more often from women than men. They are more afraid of men. Baboons are incredibly smart. Our park guides warned us to always ask “Who is it?” when we hear a knock at our door before opening it because baboons have been known to knock, then immediately run into the room when the door is opened and steal everything they can. This afternoon, a baboon tried to steal a women’s handbag. It came up to her and grabbed the bag but the woman wouldn’t let go. Then it bared its teeth at her, and she cried out for help. A bunch of men (mostly hotel workers) ran to the noise and chased the baboon away. All it got away with was a cookie out of the woman’s bag. Crazy!

This is the elephant we found on the foot safari

The foot safari was a thrill. Mole Park is home to lots of elephants, 5 different types of antelope, warthogs, baboons, grey monkeys, patas (Columbus) monkeys, crocodiles, pythons, hyenas, leopards, and a few lions. As we walked on foot with our armed guide we saw several warthogs, kob, bushbuck, and a few water buck. The creepiest thing we saw was a small crocodile that slithered into the small pond we were walking towards as we approached, and swam away. Eventually we found an elephant; it was using its trunk to eat green leaves and branches off of trees. It was an isolated young male, not fully grown, but it still looked huge. We got within about 50 feet of it. That was as much as the elephant would allow before it gave us a warning sign of attack, which we heeded by backing off a little bit. Elephants give three warnings signs before attacking. The first is that it will face you, walk towards you, and conspicuously flap its ears at you, then it will blow its trunk, and lastly it will charge. When an elephant runs at full speed, it can get up to 25-30 miles per hour. So yeah, don’t get charged by an elephant. You will lose.

Us with the elephant we found on the foot safari

I took this photo just as the elephant on the right started approaching us.

While on the jeep safari, we saw even more elephants, up to about 15 in all. This was a beautiful, majestic sight. Elephants are incredible animals. Seeing them up so close in person was an awe-inspiring experience. How glorious are God’s creations! We found some of them soaking themselves with muddy water that they use as both insect repellent and sunscreen. Others were eating off of trees, and still others we found swimming in a large pond. It was cool to see them in all of their typical daily activities. We even saw two large males playfully locking tusks with each other. Go Africa! I love the wild of Africa.

A video of two large elephants locking tusks

A beautiful view of these 3 large elephants

We found these 7 or 8 elephants, including a few very young ones, swimming
in this large pond

Us with the elephants swimming in the background

During the jeep safari, we saw 3 or 4 more crocodiles, and even some recently hatched crocodile eggs. None of them were super large, but there was a decent sized-one that we saw with its mouth open for a little bit. Later we saw it slither into the water. The others that we saw were swimming in the water, barely visible. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little scared walking around that pond. We also saw more of the same antelope that we saw on the foot safari, as well as grey monkeys, patas (Columbus) monkeys, vultures, and hornbill. We did not see any hyenas, leopards, or lions. Seeing lions in the park is extremely rare, and the hyenas and leopards at the park are typically only seen at night (and even then only occasionally). Baboons and warthogs were around our hotel all the time. One of our professors even found an elephant right outside her hotel room in the morning, eating the flowers. How cool is that?! I love elephants!

Three large elephants on the march and a young one catching up to them

This is one of the amazing viewpoints from our hotel. We could see elephants walking around
and swimming in the lake throughout the day. Here you can see them walking in the distance
just above our heads.

We certainly enjoyed the park. I was sad to leave it. This afternoon we traveled to Kumasi where we are staying the night, before traveling further to Cape Coast tomorrow. More adventures to come!