Water pelts the tops of my exposed ears, and the roar of water envelops me as I slowly walk backwards into the waterfall. My hands stretch out behind me as I make my way beneath the falling water and finally reach the back wall. My eyes are open, yet all I see is mist, while I listen to the crash of water against the pool and stone.
Wli Falls – the tallest waterfall in all of West Africa did not disappoint. It marked the beginning of my weekend trip in the Volta Region of Ghana.
The Volta Region is known for its diverse landscape. Volta region has the tallest waterfall in West Africa -Wli Falls, the highest peak in Ghana -Mount Afadjato, and it has the Volta Lake, which is the largest man-made lake in the world. I had the opportunity to visit and explore these places during my weekend stay in Ghana.
I hadn’t received too much detail on Mount Afadjato, only that the hike would be 45 minutes long, which is about the amount of time it takes me to hike my favorite trail on Spencer’s Butte, which is a prominent landmark in Eugene, Oregon.
Unfortunately, my internship cohort and I had spent the previous night in a hotel, that was hosting a night club, practically right next door. With pounding music and vibrations shaking our rooms until 4 a.m., it felt as if we were inside the club itself, and as you would guess, I got little to no rest. I was sleep deprived, hungry and knew I would regret it if I didn’t hike the highest peak in Ghana. Four of my peers stayed back to have a nap, while the rest of us began our trek.
It was clear when my heart started to pound after ten minutes, that this was not like my simple two-mile Spencer’s Butte hike back home. This was straight uphill, traversing high rocks and looming branches in sticky humidity, with my brain foggy and muscles drained due to the little sleep from the night before.
Our group took numerous breaks, me initiating some of them in the guise of needing to take a picture of the landscape. Which was half true, but mainly false. Still, we ended up making good time, helping one another when things got patchy and offering encouragement whenever it felt like the hike wasn’t for us.
45 minute hike? No, we did it in 44 minutes and we were very proud of it. Once summiting Mount Afadjato, everything opened up. We saw the lush valleys covered in green in the distance, which dipped into their own quiet valleys, while some peaks crowned the surrounding tropical forest.
After visiting the monkey sanctuary, we began our drive back towards Accra. Traveling by bus, we drove over the Volta Lake and stopped at a hotel by the waterfront to have some lunch. After filling our bellies, we took a step onto the water and cruised by boat down the largest man-made lake in the world, Volta Lake. It was lush and beautiful and I marveled at how such a vast expanse could’ve been built and not carved by nature.
I was practically drenched with sweat, my cheeks smeared brightly with red that wouldn’t cool down, and my water bottle empty from already downing it on my way up, but I couldn’t stop smiling. The view was beautiful, and well worth it.
After hiking back down the mountain and changing out of our sweaty clothes, I headed with my peers to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. The sanctuary was established in 1993, led by a community ecotourism initiative through Peace Corps involvement. The sanctuary is home to the Mona and Patas monkeys, who have lived alongside the villagers in the area for centuries. These monkeys were extremely friendly and I had the chance to feed them bananas and observe closely as they jumped through swaying trees and bundles of bamboo.
My peers and I were all excited to watch and interact with them. Some monkeys clinged to our arms while we fed them; others would sit for a moment, on shoulders and elbows, before bouncing off to look for more food. It seemed to me, while I was watching up in the trees, that the more I paid attention, the more I noticed how many monkeys were climbing around. I would search and find one hanging from a branch in the tree, only to find that another was perched, staring straight at me just a few feet away.
As our boat drifted down the calm waters of Volta Lake, and the ending note to our time in Volta, I replayed the weekend back in my mind. Each experience, the roaring waters of Wli Falls, the fast steep climb of Mount Afadjato, the playful ease of the monkeys at Tafi Atome, allowed me to develop a deeper appreciation for nature in a place so different from my home back in the States. My sense of presence was tested due to sleep deprivation, but my curiosity never wavered.
To me, the Volta Region presented itself as quiet power, spoken in the rhythms of its landscape and natural world.
By Anna Liv Myklebust, (American Intern at The Chronicle)
