Road to Tamale

Note: this is a pretty fractured telling of my trip from Kpandai to Tamale, some notes were taken on the road, most were added today(three days after the trip). I’ve got some decent pictures, hopefully they will upload from this cafe. I may have messed my camera up trying to take a video during a storm, I’m probably going to bike back tomorrow morning, I’ll try to get some better pictures this time around, but won’t be able to share them as I’ll be in Kpandai till the week I leave Ghana(August 20ish), although my departure date is up in the air right now, I may stay until Dec…

Piktures pretty disappointing, low quality and only from the first half of the voyage. Lost the stuff from when the storm began, camera is working spotty right now.

It’s 3:56 am, I’m about to depart, 42 miles to Salaga, 72 Miles from Salaga to Tamale. Should be an interesting trek. Listening to “Fat Time” by Miles Davis, eating fresh groundnut paste(PB my family made for me, haha Canada!), and enjoying a cigarette while sipping some Nescafe instant coffee. Mmmmmm. Why am I doing this? Mostly to see. My bike rides through Kpandai have shown me a lot of the district, given me a way to relax and sweat out some of that infernal palm oil they literally soak food in over here (not complaining, just a bid hard on the arteries). The mosque is doing it’s thing, the roosters are once again pleading with the world to show them a greater purpose. Poor bastards.

1 false dead end: after biking in the dark for almost 2 hrs I suddenly felt lost. I hadn’t seen many people and it was still before sunrise. I took out my map and checked for any possible false turns. I didn’t know what community I was in, couldn’t find a sign. I pushed on, the road seemed straight, but there weren’t any people to ask. I came to a dead end. There was an opening, the road stopped, there was a clearing(looked like a yam field) and I almost ran into a group sheep just relaxing on the road. I cursed the sheep, took a picture and returned the way I went. I finally found a person on the road, they understood “Salaga” and pointed me back towards the dead end. The sun had started to rise as I approached the dead end sheep, and much to my surprise I found them to simply be resting on a raise in the road. Laughing at my self and breathing a sigh of relief I began my journey again.

14 water satchels (seven ltrs of water):even with this much water I constantly felt dehydrated. When I got into Tamale I drank at least 5 ltrs more, barely urinated during the day or the next morning.

3 Minerals (two sprite, one coke): I consume more pop out here than in Canada.

1 Egg and Bread: during my stop in Salaga.

2 Double Nescafe’s with cream and sugar, one in the am, one in Salaga.

1 bag of chips (cookie like things my host family gave me)

10 or so spoonfuls of groundnut paste: perfect way to start a morning.

1 Feral Cow: Ninja jungle cows.

1 speed bike: My bike is strong!! I had brought the bike back to my fixer three days in a row, working out the kinks. Ended up getting a welder to do some work on the back axle. I love these Asian bikes, they’d be perfect for city driving, slim tires, one speed. It’s even got a disk breaking system for the back tire.

3 minor crashes, it’s hard biking while talking on a cell phone, or having a conversation with a motorcycle driver and navigating a dirt road.

12:13 am, taking a break under a tree, next to a big pile of cow droppings. Ever hear of a feral cow? They exist!! So far I’ve seen three herds of cows (one heard appeared to be oxen or maybe cows on steroids), even saw a brown cow all by itself, grazing in the woods. I’ve been travelling for around 8 hours now, only a few minor muscle cramps and spasms. I ran out of water about 2 hours ago, got so thirsty I considered drinking some of the brown water conveniently placed in delicious looking pools by the side of the road, it looked like chocolate milk, maybe a gift from the brown cow? Who knows, I ended up going to a market and picking up some satchels, all better now. The most interesting thing I’ve seen so far was back in Kpandai district (in Balai), it was around 6:40ish (I’ll have to check the time stamp on my pictures) next to a pretty well built bridge. Approaching the bridge I could see around 10 females gathering water, when I got to the other side I saw around 40 or 50 girl child and elderly woman all balancing huge bowls of water on their head. I would have taken a picture, but to be honest I don’t agree with snapping people without their permission, hate it when it is done to me, not my right to do it to someone else. You’ll have to take my word for it, it was surreal. I’m about 70 Miles in, the road was paved for around 10 miles after Salaga (capital of East Gonja District), and sometime soon it will be paved again, hopefully the last 30 Miles go quickly.

1 Village Chief: at around the 8 hr mark I took a break to work out a cramp in my thigh I sat down, sparked up and took out my laptop for a music break (sooooo important to have music, I have been lending my mp3 player to the DPO for his trips to Tamale, would have been great to have with me, if you’re ever in Ghana bring as much music as you can, share with everyone you can, I’ll have to write a post on music, they don’t do traditional in my District except for weddings and funerals, but man do I have a lot to say about culture and music). After sitting there for around 5 minutes a farmer came out from a field. We chatted for a while and exchanged numbers. He claimed to be a village chief and the conversation gravitated around hunting feral cows, sheep and what he was farming. Told me a great story about how he was in the Jungle hunting feral cows, saw these bright shining eyes and fired away, ended up with two Feral cows. They cut the tails off and bring them home, the meat is supposed to be delicious. It was a great conversation, wish I could have chatted longer(maybe I’ll pass by his village on the way back). We were interrupted by a group of Fulani women, they offered me some raw goat cheese, it looked delicious, but probably would have killed me. When I departed the Farmers friend(small boy, about 13) followed me for a few Km.

1 Intense storm: Approaching the last major village before Tamale(was on asphalt at this point, about 40 miles left to go) I saw some angry looking clouds, even angrier sounding thunder (gunshot lighting, ground shaking roars, f**king awesome storms in Ghana). I was actually hoping for rain on the trip, it brings the temperature down by at least 10C, first you get a slow cool breeze, then the temperature drops, then you get a hurricane like wind(I’m assuming that is what it is like) and all of a sudden, BANG side ways rain and you’re soaked in 30 seconds.

1 Soaked/spoilt digital camera: I was taking video as I approached the village on my bike, the wind got so strong I had to walk, my camera got soaked and the best video I had from the entire trip is nowhere to be found. I’m pretty pissed(which is why I am planning on going back to Kpandai tomorrow morning by bike).

1 hour of shelter provided by a Ghanaian family: When the rain starts to come, before the harsh wind all the Ghanaians disappear, it takes about 5 minutes and you’re in a ghost town. I was trying to walk forward through the storm when a woman ran out and motioned for me to come with her. They brought me into their hut and offered me some porridge. It was a lot of fun, I was soaked to the bone but felt warm. One of them(the woman who ‘rescued’ me) spoke english, so we sat and chatted. They had a baby with them, usually the babies cry or scream when they see me (not just me, they scream at the sight of any white person) but this one giggled. It was a pretty cool overall.

1 Marriage proposal: the only bad part of my 1hour stay with the family was caused by a pushy Ghanaian. He came over and basically harassed me, trying to show off for the women. He ended up trying to marry the english speaking woman off to me. Pushy bastard. I was glad when he left.

1 Change of clothing: Stripped naked during a storm. After I left the hut and got out of the community(it was still raining) I found a tree and stripped down, took me about 5 minutes, my body was frozen and getting my legs through the shorts was a task.

1 Motorcycle dealer; I met a parts dealer on the way, he seemed to be quite well off, with a main office in Tamale plus several branches in other communities. He was returning from his weekly rounds to the markets, dropping of parts and checking in on his staff. He drove beside me for about 20 minutes, just chatting away. He said he loved travelling on the road, never knew who he would meet. Offered me a free moto whenever I was in Tamale(which I had to decline due to EWB policy on motorcycle use by JFs.)

1 serving of watchie (beans, rice, noodles topped with hot peppers). The rain picked up again about an hour after I left Kpelbe, I ended up taking cover and grabbing a bite to eat. This was closer to Tamale, so the people were less friendly.

1 pack of cigarettes: These things are rough on the body, going to have to quit soon. I found an a street vendor(had a shop) around 30Km from Tamale, chatted with him for around 20 minutes. We talked of his family (they were Dagomba, long lineage in the Tamale area), spoke of Accra and how intense and overwhelming it is. Chatted about Canada. He told me about a local school that had been built by a bunch of foreigners, they came over here and laid the brick by hand. Doing all the work themselves, and now they send over a group every summer. Walking through the community, keeping tabs on its development and maintaining the school(which was supposed to be quite impressive). He was pretty old, almost senile, forgot to give me my change(which was fine by me), gave me a box of matches with super Mario on the front. Pretty cool dude.

1 French Fulani (Burkina Bay): I can speak colloquial French, who’d of thought it? Somewhere between the 25 and 23 km markers before Tamale I was joined by a Fulani returning from a near by market. He was selling rubber slippers for 3 Cedis a pop (kind of expensive). We talked about Canada, what he had seen on television; big houses, green pastures, etc. He explained using hand gestures, Franglaise, and the occasional animal call that he was a Sheppard who lived near by and had come over from Burkina Faso. He spoke of his family, having moved to Ghana with his father, and spoke of the poor sales from his market. The Fulani are interesting, they usually are hired to herd cattle. Doing the community action plans(development plans for communities, outlining the problems they are experiencing) it is common to see “Fulani stealing cattle” as a huge problem, I think it is bs, these people get a bad rap. They have no homeland, they are true nomads, rarely educated but seem to serve a purpose in the lands they occupy. But really, what the hell do I know?

15.5 Hours of travel: Left at 4:15am, arrived in Tamale at 7:45pm. Sunrise to sunset.

6 hours of rain: I was hoping for a light rinse, I ended up with constant downpour.

1000 Smiles: they declined in intensity the closer I got to Tamale, people really seemed to get a kick out of an Ebroni travelling through their village on a one speed. The smiles I received felt genuine and I had no problem returning them. It was kind of fun, I started experimenting with my greetings, sometimes bowing low over the handlebars to show respect (works great with the groups of women), sometimes trying out my limited Twi, Basare or Dagbani, interchanging my broken greetings based on the area I found myself in. Man I haven’t smiled that much while sober before. I felt like I was at my sisters wedding, everyone was somehow a friend.

So why did I do it? I wanted to see a bit more of Northern Ghana. I wanted to know what it is like to bike to Tamale (it is rarely done, but what if you had to do it?). I needed the exercise, and wanted the experience, it is pretty simple.

When I was around 30 or so Km from Tamale some of my co-workers passed by in car. They backed up the vehicle and offered me a lift (insisted on one). I explained to them that I had to finish, I couldn't explain why but they understood. One thing about these overseas placements is that things don't ever finish properly, you never get what you want, you never see drastic impact. It's tough stuff, seeing so much and being helpless (aren't we supposed to be the liberators with our landcruisers, bank accounts and M&E requirements?). I suppose I wanted to see at least one thing through to the end before I go back to Canada, it was in my control. I wanted to bike to Tamale. So I finished. I almost cried when I saw the lights of Tamale (not really, but yeah kind of), my legs were cramping (for the last 20 km I would bike for 2km then walk for 10minutes, wash rinse repeat), I was almost passing out as I rode. It is silly, it was just a bike ride, but it was a great experience and I was able to finish something I started.