I found the hidden gem of Ghana – the people of the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary (WCHS)!! Don’t get me wrong, the hippos are amazing and totally worth the 4 hour drive from Sunyani, but it is the people who make this place one of the best ecotourism destinations that I’ve ever visited!
I visited briefly last year with my mom and KAS at which point I first met Agba (head guide) and Issako (WCHS Manager). During that trip I found them both to be extremely helpful and professional – this year I determined that they are simply amazing individuals with huge hearts, bigger smiles, and a wealth of information to share with myself and the students. Of course these two were only the heart of our visit and I cannot begin to thank Boom (guide and impromptu Dr.), Mary (cook), Haruna (NCRC), and Donna (Calgary Zoo/NCRC) for the amazing amounts of help and support!! But before I get teary thinking about how much I’m already missing these folks I’ll share some of our experiences!! Oh yeah - I need to check the spelling on ALL these names but will update those I get wrong!!
Our week in Talawana (community where we actually stayed while in the WCHS) was jammed packed! We arrived on a hot sunny day and immediately discovered that we actually got to sleep on the roof!! The lodge at the WCHS was constructed using the traditional mud and stick technique that includes a flat roof – perfect for setting up a bed. Using sticks and plastic chairs the staff set up our mosquito nets and we camped out on full double mattresses!!
To put the value of sleeping outside on the roof in context you need to realize that this community is located in the Upper West Region and the temperature in the day was averaging in the 40+ range!! I figure that my room in the evening was still over 30+ as I could only be in it for minutes without being completely drenched with sweat! In contrast the roof allowed us to take advantage of the amazing winds that would blow and we got to enjoy the temperature drop (high 20’s!!) each night! It even got to the point that I was getting chilly – the equatorial sleeping bag from MEC was GREAT!!
Start gazers would also love it out in this community as there is no light pollution and the night skies are beautiful! It did take me a minute to figure out what was missing though… no planes or satellites!! Very interesting! I did spend one night in my room but I’ll talk about that later!! J
There are numerous tours and activities available during your stay and we tried out a number of them! The hippo safari is great for folks who like the water – it consists of a 2 – 3 hour trip on the Black Volta in a traditional canoe. The boatmen hired by the WCHS are all members of the fishing families and thus have the skills and knowledge to navigate the river with ease.
The trip down was relaxing paddle that was a bird watchers dream! We saw a couple different king fishers and numerous other birds that later in the week Agba would identify for me but my brain is struggling to recall all the ones we saw! J On our safari we headed south along the river until we met up with a pod of about 9 hippos! Last year I was on the river in the afternoon so the hippos were much more active and presented us with large mouth openings but this year we were on the water in the morning and we got faecal marking instead!
I figure that I’ve got your attention now!! The pod contained a large female hippo and her calf that was estimated to be less than 6 months old. When other hippos (and perhaps us; however the crew made sure to keep us a good distance away) got too close she would stand up in the water, projectile poo, and wave her tail to distribute the faeces around! I was informed that this is a sign that should be read as “BACK OFF!” Apparently the tilapias (fish) love it when this happens and quickly swim up for a surprise buffet!!
On this trip I learned that Burkina Faso has also protected the lands on their side of the Black Volta, which is exciting – it wasn’t clear whether they have also started some ecotourism enterprises but it sounds like they are in consultation or at least communication with WCHS so the hippos should continue to receive protection from both sides.
There many other exciting activities for us to do including: A Lobi village tour (indigenous people who escaped from conflict in Burkina Faso who have permission to reside on Wechiau lands), a plants walk that shared the traditional, current, and economic values of the numerous species that grow in the sanctuary, a birds walk that was brilliant, a tour of Wechiau town, a visit to the Heather Graham Primary School, and a chance to participate in this season’s hippo census!!
I could go into extreme depth on all these experiences but instead I’ll simply share some of the highlight stories of my stay… you may notice that I haven’t even began to talk about the research project that we did while here!! That was brilliant too but is for a separate blog entry on our research.
Highlights from my Wechiau experience:
On our first night Cody and I took a walk to take photos of the Balboa trees in light of the setting sun. While taking my many photos (this is my fav Ghanaian tree) I hear the sound of marimba floating through the air. The rhythms immediately started my toes a tapping and a little jig in my step so I looked around to see where it was coming from, to discover an older gentlemen sitting outside his home playing. It was an easy decision to slowly approach the man – not wanting to disturb his playing in any way, as it was such a joyful sound!
It turned out that he was playing a version of a xylophone that requires him to dig a hole underneath it and the various depths affect the sound! We had enough shared knowledge to gain permission to take his photo and to have him pulling out another xylophone with a totally different sound! The second one was quite a bit larger and had gourds of various sizes and shapes hanging below it – this one sounded almost like synthesized music!! This impromptu concert reminded me of a couple of things: a) the joy of music is universal constant that crosses language barriers, and b) that showing interest in the traditions (leisure pursuits?) and other folks can make them really happy! We were luck enough to have a more formal concert later in our stay when we were visited by local cultural dance troop! Side note: the xylophone make is blind!!
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned yet that this group of students are different from any others that I’ve ever travelled with but they are! One of the primary differences is that they LOVE local food – particularly in the north! The joy showed when Mary and her assistant (a wonderful lady who’s name I cannot remember but who is forever in my heart for the great food and daily language lessons!!) prepared Yam Fofo, Red-Red, or other traditional dishes will forever be a highlight of this trip for me! I loved these dishes as well but was so incredible thankful for the fish that we got to eat!! YUMMY
I talked about sleeping on the roof but my highlight night was actually the night that we were moved off the roof around 12:30 am! This is a perfect example of just how dedicated the staff were (Agba, Boom, and other folks at the lodge) to providing us a great experience! We had all retired for the night at our usual time (around 8:00 pm!!) and were busy dreaming about hippos, birds, and eating fofo when Agba stuck his head above the roof’s edge to let me know that it was going to rain soon so we need to get off the roof quickly.
I started the process of waking the students and we all quickly make our way down the ladder after throwing our bedding to staff waiting below. In what can only be viewed as a mission of military-like precision the staff our nets re-hung and our mattresses ready for us to go back to bed. The students were sleeping under the covered veranda of the lodge and due to water flow patterns I had to spend the night in my room.
My room could be adequately called a sauna with a river running through it – it turns out that a down side of mud and stick construction is that when you walk on the roof while wet you tend to cause mud to fall and holes to form! However, this night turned out to be a night of comic relief and will always bring a smile to my face! It turns out that goats, while they appear to be quite stupid, are smart enough to get out of the rain! As soon as the students were settled into their bed the goats started returning to the covered area – finding the gaps between the walls the students to sleep out of the rain!
Now you are probably wondering why a goat sleeping beside you is problematic! Well goats tend to have little bladder/bowel control and generally let loose wherever they are!! The end result? You have a number of students who are constantly trying to scare off the goats, as they have to deal with the fragrant evidence of the goat’s lack of control. At one point Devon snapped and after finding a light went on a goat-clearing rampage that even included a little goat toss! I couldn’t see any of this but the sound track had me laughing in my bed for a long time! It was a nice break as sleep was slow in coming as I felt like I was going to drown in my own sweat!
My last highlights are again about the people and of course the goat named Dinner!
Refrigeration at the lodge is not possible as there is no hydro out to it! We had a cooler of minerals (pop) and beer that was kept on ice brought in from Wechiau on a daily basis (30 mins away) but meat for meals was always killed and prepared the day that we would eat it…and that is why we got to know the goat that would become part of our final night’s celebration.
To truly understand the joy that came from eating this goat you need to have a picture of the role of goats in this community and in our daily lives while staying at the lodge! To put the label “Free Range” on any form of meat in Ghana would be the understatement of the year! In Talawana goats, sheep, cows, guinea fowl, chickens, and children (not meat I know but similar in ranging patterns) all run free! However, no animal (domestic or wild) ranges with as much joyful expression (noise) than the goats! These animals surround the lodge from first light to late into the night and despite the time I have spent on my grandparents’ farm as a child I was not prepared for the weird noises that they make or the volume that they make them at!! Of course the morning goat alarm was only one aspect of our interaction with them – the constant use of the cover veranda outside our rooms as a latrine also added to our epic goat battle! Perhaps now you have some understanding of how we came to name one member of the goat tribe “Dinner” and just how lovely he ended up tasting!!
All kidding aside – this was a great lesson on “where” food comes from and how close people here are to the food supply, in contrast with us who figure that chicken comes in predetermined pieces and without feathers! Side note: Guinea fowl do not brood their young the chickens do this!!
Back to highlights! The night that we ate Dinner we also were treated to a great cultural dance, bonfire, and the dancing skills of the staff! We had a wonderful party that took us late into the night and involved everyone dancing and being entertained by a ‘dance-off’ between Issako and Haruna! We eventually got Agba onto the dance floor too! There appears to be some history between the two guys about their abilities to dance and while I have NO idea what they were saying to each other (using local language), it was very clear from body language that some serious smack was being levelled!!
The night ended with them teaching us a game and much laughter – What an amazing end to what can only be considered an AMAZING week!
My final highlight from this community was our interactions with the Paramount Chief and the Metana (vice chief). These two gentlemen welcomed us with open arms and hearts and were extremely supportive of the work that we were doing. We presented them with wooden bowl with First Nations prints on it and package of smoked salmon (thanks mom!) and they LOVED it! When I later asked if they had tried the fish they said that they ate it all the first night! J During our opening session I had mentioned that I had visited the previous year with my mom and when the Chief did his welcoming he said that I was his ‘daughter’ returning and brining others with me – I cannot begin to explain how touched I was by that simply statement! These two fellows also participated in our research and when taking our leave from the community (we sought permission to leave while also reporting on the success of our visit) the Mentana gave me a lovely book on Tanzania and wished me good luck and safe travels when I visited there.
Okay – this has been a long posting but we were there for a week! Wait until I start reflecting on Mole and Larabanga!!! Without a doubt this stay was one of the greatest ecotourism adventures I’ve ever had and I recommend that folks travelling in Ghana make the time and effort to visit the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary! I also recommend that anyone looking for a place to take a study tour group to in Ghana consider this as they are equipped to handle the group (we were a group of 9) size and to provide an amazing, life changing and mind altering experience!
