Tamale, Northern Ghana

Seems like a long time ago.....

Am dashing this off before opening my emails just to make sure something gets done. Have spent the last three days forlornly haunting the three internet cafes in Bolgatanga in the far North in the hope that some of them might reconnect to their servers after the last lot of stormy weather put out all electricity. It all takes time...

Am still very much in rude health and spirits. Nothing seems to get me down, despite the fact that I had a spell of Heatstroke once again. The trip in a ferry up the Volta Lake was a real highlight. Left 3 pm and arrived the next evening @ 10.30 pm. Only problem was that I had become used to the subtropics, and had reduced my water intake accordingly. The gradual travel into the savannah/sahel caught me by surprise. It is currrently incredibly beautiful and I feel so priviledged to be able to have seen it at this time of year. Only a few weeks ago it was a dustbowl of grey/brown and now it is incredibly green with the maize, millet and rice sprouting and growing at a pace. They say it will be brown again within two months. After the ferry I travelled with a lovely American girl and two boys from the family in a coastal village where she is staying. The boys were very lucky to have such an adventure! We went Northwards to a village where there is a 'witches' camp' (the local chief has kindly taken on the women banned from their villages by their families -- currently about 150), which was an interesting experience, as witches are very much a taboo subject. My prejudices against do-gooders really comes out here when one hears of how the feminists in the 1970s tried to say they were 'prisoners' and got them sent back. They just returned minus an ear and warnings that the next ear will disappear if they returned..... Kim asked one if they believed in witches, and she said yes. At least in the village they are safe and make a living through selling wood or doing farming for others. This time of year is a very busy farming time and even the usual busstling markets do not open until much later in the afternoon.

Kim and the boys returned South and I languished for a few days before going to Bolgatanga and yesterday, the Northeren border where the slave trade had its pinch-point in the 18th and 19th centuries. Very moving to see where they were kept until sold off to start the treck down South to the Slave-ships. The town, Paga, is also famous for its very tame revered/sacred crocodiles in two ponds. About 80 of them. They walk amongst the villagers....

Am off to the Eastern hills I missed by going by ferry.