This is the entrance:
And the signboard:
We drove through until we saw this sign:
It was a sunny day.
The warthogs came to welcome us.
We were briefed on the dos and don’t of the place; No littering, no feeding of animals, no touching of animals. We were also educated on how the place came to be. It was a centre that was used by two traitors of Africa; Samole and Babatu. They caught our people and converged there and together, sent their victims to the Salaga market to sell them. The place was evaded by tsetseflies who brought with them the sleeping sickness. In their bid to stop the disease, the colonial masters started killing the animals which they believed gave room for the tsetseflies to breed. Many were killed but some remained, after a while, it was turned into a centre for protecting animals and little by little, it became a national park. Since the area was known to be a dangerous ground for slave trading by Samole and co, it was named the Mole National Park. It houses many animals. These animals are untamed and wild.
For protection from snakes and other creeping animals, we went to rent boots.
We were happy we were in tune with nature.
We set off to meet our ‘wildies’.
A section of the place.
We first saw the elephants though we were told there was a 50/50 chance of meeting them by this time of the year at the walking zone.
I shared a little bit of their space.
We moved on and reached one of the two ponds in the bush.
The students were thrilled and wanted to swim but it was a no, no from our guide. Crocodiles, he said lived in there. It is a shame we did not see any.
Being my silly self, posing for my students.
Enjoying the breeze.
We moved on and we saw a beautiful antelope grazing.
This baby elephant was rebellious. It really was mean to us.
And how did we know it was a baby elephant and a male? The guide told us and said, when the end of their tails have more hair, it signifies their youth. Although some are naturally born without those hairs, that is how they tell their ages.
I think I took a selfie somewhere.
There was a natural made lawn in the bush, we were told it was due to overgrazing and blessings from the sky by the provision of rain. If that is difficult to twist your mind around, try visiting yourself.
We saw the elephant dung, I’m not sure if it is rightly called so, but to put it “unladylikely”, I’ll say, we saw the faeces of the elephants. We were told their digestive systems were not that good but they could graze for hours.
Don’t be fooled, it is that of the antelope and not a goat neither is it that of a sheep.
Who says only humans know about love?
Our guide took us through some animal protection laws. We were fascinated and the children had many questions to ask.
Our tour guide posed in a safe mode with his very old gun.
We were told that this ground of rocks is called the salt lick, many animals lick this rocky sand including the elephants. They actually made the place hollow not humans.
The students were tired, we had roamed the forest for more than two hours.
Our bus, we were told, could not take us to see the waterfalls and more animals in the deep, deep forest. Disappointed, we troupe back to the information centre. We were told there were 4X4 for renting on hourly basis which could take us there, but considering our number, not a chance. We decide to leave Mole and visit the Larabanga Mosque which we heard was a mysterious mosque built by a devoted Moslem and some mysterious beings or spirits.
We go to the museum where we saw many things. First a dead preserved baby elephant whose mother was killed by poachers while pregnant with it in 1982. Let’s leave those pictures for another day. Meanwhile, a poem for you.
In the jungle of the jungle
We dance, they dance
It’s a fight for survival
We attack and they attack
It is a fight for the strong
We lose some, we win some
it’s a fight for the wise
We plan, we fight
They lose and lose
We know we need each other
So we fight, we attack
but we protect and their souls detect.
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2014.
Thank you for reading. I will bring to you pictures from the museum next time.
Mum Cee 