Safari

Mole National Park (area 4,840 km2area)-  (Compare-Lake District 2292 Km2 , 4528 Cairngorms in the UK)

“Mole National Park in the Northern Region offers close-up encounters with huge Savannah elephants, baboons and other primate species, birds and large antelopes”-Ghana Tourist Board

“The Game Reserve which is the biggest in the country.... was established in 1971 and is home to more than 94 different mammals, 33 species of reptiles, 300 species of birds, four species of monkeys and 700 species of plants.”

Ghana has  seven national parks, huge tracts principally established for the conservation and safe roaming of animals,  ideally free from threats of hunting, poaching and illegal timber logging, sadly all reported by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature(WWF). Unfenced and difficult to patrol and protect effectively, the news periodically carries reports of such illegal activities by individuals and organized groups.

Map- showing position of Mole National Park- I could not find any map marking Mole and the road route- indicative of the lack of a road infrastructure. 

Bushmeat on sale by the road side- the term is generic, meaning any non- domesticated animal. Ghanaians spend an estimated US$ 200M per year on bush meat. (Wildlife Direct)

 In Ghana bush meat continues to be an important source of protein in a country where fishing yields have dropped and on land 66% of all households rear animals extensively, supplying families at subsistence level. The bushmeat trade is unregulated and researchers say it has lead to localized extinction of species and contributed to a  general loss of biodiversity across Ghana. On our journey from Tamale to Mole, we passed a lorry, rather like a cattle truck, loaded with hunters heading out for bushmeat.

Like much of Ghana outside the few major cities and throughout the more northern regions, travelling to Mole was a long, arduous trial of a journey, with hours spent bumping along a ridged, red dust pot- holed road- this route being the main road linking the key regional cities of Tamale and Wa.

Arrival at Mole- looking more like oompah-loompahs, the combination of dusty roads and a vehicle with ill fitting doors, windows and boot, allowing dust to circulate freely.

Comparing experiences later with volunteers  who have been “on safari” in Kenya, where jeeps travel in fleets and tourists are guaranteed to see lions and other favoured  big game, here the touring was quiet, low key, personalized, any sighting s of rarer animals, a privilege to be appreciated (or possibly also a reflection of the “empty forest” syndrome reported by WWF researchers.)

On an afternoon walk with guide Christopher, we watched within 10 feet of African elephants as they sucked the dust from the track and sprayed it onto their bodies-apparently to protect against ticks and parasites. They were surprisingly quiet, their movements slow, deliberate, even. After several minutes of dusting themselves, they smoothly turned and retreated back into the woodland, gently trampling back over shrubs and smaller trees.

An older male guides a younger elephant, estimated to be about 20 years old, back into the woodland. The elephants' life span is about 70 years.

Christopher took us to the Mole village settlement, built to accommodate all the park’s guides, wardens and their families. Amid the single storey housing children played, men sat with cards and opportunistic baboons, in search of an easy evening meal, ran, scaled walls, scrambled over zinc rooftops or sat and observed. The warthogs rolled happily in the mud. A kob (small antelope) stared at us from the football field.

A baboon eats the entire cabbage he has stolen from a nearby house- we heard the shrieks of dismay.