Monkeys & Markets

The last few days have brought us from the concrete metropolis of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) to the NGO-saturated town of Tamale in northern Ghana, and tro-tro (mini bus) over dusty roads took us to the tiny forest village of Boabeng-Fiam to visit the monkey sanctuary.

Tro-tro travelers

I am not a fan of monkeys, my traveling friend knows this, but she's not a fan of my strange fascination with street food and chaotic markets, so we compromise now and then. A few negative encounters with the malicious baboons at Yankari game park in Nigeria has left me very distrusting of all monkeys in general. What can I say, I don't trust mammals that have essentially 5 hands (including tail) to pick my pocket and throw stuff.

Thankfully these monkeys were not like their primate cousins, not really aggressive or threatening, so I left my sling shot in my bag. Plus, as we later discovered, these particular monkeys (mona and colombo) are in fact sacred in the area, so it's a good thing I didn't pull out the sling shot or pepper spray.

Colombus monkey - not a fan, he was rather grumpy, and took a poo off the roof to show us how he felt.

Devious mono monkeys climbing into the grain milling hut to eat the scraps.

Poked my camera through the crack of the wooden wall and caught them in the act.

Monkeys were ok, but I was really more impressed by 300 year old trees in the forest, truly amazing sight for a girl who grew up in sub-saharan Africa and the Canadian prairies. The trees in the forest are sacred, and not only can they not be cut down, but even the branches that fall in the wind cannot be used for anything and must be left as they fall in the forest.

Ridiculously large tree.

Tree that grew around another tree and "ate" it, according to our guide.

Photo from inside crazy tree-eating tree.

We wandered through the jungle forest to a tiny little village find cold beer, it wasn't looking likely at first, but then we found it - Coors Light in a little shop, imported by some fellow Canadians, and while I wish they had chosen to export a better beer, this one would do. 

Chickens in the village, love the red dirt road.

Yes, the day must end with a lovely sunset.

Surviving the rather odd "hospitality" of the monkey sanctuary, we made our way down to Kumasi on another taxi and less dusty tro-tro. Arriving in the centre market of Kumasi, neither Jaimie nor I really had a good idea of where our Lonely Planet recommended guesthouse was located. We agreed large building with church spirals should be somewhere near the "downtown" so started making our way out of the market chaos in the general direction of the churches. Our taxi driver knew of the area we wanted to go and eventually took us to what seems to be a "love hotel" next to a very pumping party with wild youth (on a Sunday afternoon?!).

The hotel room is relatively clean, with a fridge and flushing toilet, and no we're not paying by the hour, so seems ok. Off to explore more of the Kumasi market chaos this morning, I'm interested to see how it compares to Makola market in Accra and Cotonou's Dantokpa market.

- Didn't get a chance to post this in the morning, now back from day in wandering the market and town. Market was definitely the largest sprawling African market I've ever visited, not quite as crowded as Dantokpa, but we went early so maybe missed the busy time. The rest of Kumasi, not quite sure what to think, couldn't find much for decent sit down restaurants, but neither of know the town well, so spent quite a few hours roaming the winding roads around the central market. 

Bus down to Accra tomorrow and home again home again on Thursday, can't believe we've been in Africa nearly 3 weeks, feels like we arrived just yesterday!