A Harrowing Hike and a Breath-Taking View

 Wli Falls

And yet again, I fail to deliver on keeping this blog updated regularly. Alas!

Even though it is almost the weekend once again, today I write about what we were up to last weekend. Jessica and I set off to hike Wli Falls and Mount Afadjato last Saturday morning. We did not have to wait long before we were heading off down the highway (after spending an hour in Accra traffic, as per usual) towards the town of Ho-Hoe in the Volta Region. I was but minutes into my typical tro slumber when I was awoken by Jessica poking me and telling me to look out the window. At first I only saw trees, and was just about to give her a good little smack for waking me up, I saw what she was excited about: baboons! Here we were, less than two hours from Accra, and there was a large troop of baboons just right there on the side of the road. This being the first time seeing a baboon (or any significant wildlife in Ghana so far), I was very excited.
 
The five hour trip felt much longer. When we arrived in Ho-Hoe (pronounced "ho-hoy" for those of you wondering), we decided to just get out of the trotro and stretch our legs before beginning our search for a share taxi to Wli. Ho-Hoe itself is not much to write home about it seems, and before long we were done exploring and we headed back to the station to find a taxi. This was not difficult, and we were squished into the backseat of a well-loved vehicle with two lovely ladies to begin the short ride to Wli. 

Village of Wli

Wli itself was remarkable. It truly lies in a valley, and you can see the hills rise up out of the earth from all directions. These hills are not mountains by any means, but significant, majestic, rolling green hills that appear so lush and life-giving. Whenever we went anywhere through the course of the weekend I found myself stopping continuously to admire the views around me, and wondered how the locals could ever get through a day without doing the same. 

We stayed right in town at the Wli Heights Hotel (lovely spot - highly recommended). After not having had water for about four days at this point, the first thing we chose to do was shower when we got to the hotel, after which we read a bit and then headed off to dinner. There were other obrunis in the restaurant with us eventually, most from the UK. While I was feasting on absolutely delicious fried chicken and jollof rice, a very large horned beetle made its way into the room, loudly flapping its wings and scaring the life out of all the ex-pats in the room. June bugs are nothing compared to this lot! After a good chuckle about the bug (and the UK guests' reactions to it), Jessica and I settled down for a long winter's nap as it were.

We were awoken by the sound of the rain around 1am. When I say the sound of the rain, I do not mean a relaxing and peaceful drizzle tapping on my roof and walls. I mean torrential, terrifying, deafening rain and thunder, the likes of which makes one consider if Noah could even handle this level of moisture. Luckily our room remained leak-less and we considered sleeping. The rain was still quite heavy when we woke up at 6am - and again at 7am, 8am, and 9am. Around 9:30, we heard it come to a drizzle and stop; so by 10am, we hit the road to start the hike to the Upper Falls. 

Wli from above!

 The first part of the journey was flat and enjoyable. We felt lucky to even be able to do the hike at all since it had rained so much, but Godwin, our guide, assured us that it would not be too slippery. We walked for about 45 minutes before we saw the very steep and sudden incline that marked the beginning of the real hike. Walking sticks in hand, we tackled that hill valiantly but cautiously. I will not try and fool you into thinking that it was easy - it was extremely physically demanding and time consuming, but quite worth it for the views! You could see all of Wli village nestled in the hills from above, and it was amazing.

The Lower Falls

We walked down to the source of the lower falls and were so pelted with water I thought we may never be dry again. Normally, according to Godwin, people actually take a refreshing dip in the pool beneath. However, this was absolutely not possible when we were there! The rain had made the falls so powerful and windy that the drops that reached us were almost painful - and I could not stop laughing. 

Beginning one last brief climb and descent absolutely drenched was both refreshing and challenging, since our clothes were so laden with water that they made us heavy. But before too long (though admittedly it seemed like an eternity at times), we were walking back towards the visitors' centre, wiped out but pleased with ourselves. We ate a good meal and put ourselves to bed in no time.

In the morning, the original plan was to hike Mt. Afadjato; however, this did not pan out. We only had so much time to get there and back before check-out, and it was raining again when we woke up. Hopefully we will still be able to do that hike before we leave. Of course, the second our tro to Accra pulled out of the station at Ho-Hoe, the sky turned an absolutely brilliant blue and it turned into a gorgeous hiking day. C'est la vie!

It was so nice to get away and see some more amazing sights. This weekend we plan to enjoy Accra (probably our last weekend to really spend in Accra as we will be traveling the last few weekends), and relax a bit. Hard to believe there are only 29 days left! The whirlwind begins as we try and do everything we want to before going home - it should be fun!