On Safari!

I am glad to say that 2 1/2 weeks into my time in Ghana, I was able to achieve one of my big goals while here, and see elephants at Mole National Park! But before I get to the elephants, I will talk about the baboons! I feel as though every person I have ever known who has been to Africa, returns with crazy baboon stories. Within 2 hours of arriving at Mole National Park, I had mine. We were sitting out by the pool just before dusk, when all the sudden I head something run up behind me, I turned around expecting a person or small child only to be surprised that it was two baboons! Me, and several of the other tourists standing around shrieked, and the baboons backed off only for a second. They turned around and darted towards the pool, swinging around on the umbrellas over the tables and then running up onto the roof, as seen in the photo below.

After causing quite a commotion, they ran off, and about 20 minutes later a very shaken up American tourist came out to the pool explaining to his friends that he just walked in on baboons rummaging through his bag in his hotel room. When he entered the room, they looked up, scowled as if to say, "you got a problem" and then slapped the tourist on the arm on the way out. How rude!

Despite the encounter with the baboons, the rest of my time at Mole National Park was very enjoyable! The morning after we arrived, I went on a walking safari around the motel. While we saw several different kinds of monkeys and plants, the highlight was definitely seeing the elephants! We were able to hear the elephants munching on trees, long before we could see them. Once they came into view, there were about 4 or 5 of them hanging out together. The guide explained that all of the elephants we would see would be male. Female elephants are much more reclusive as they hang out in larger herds together with the young baby elephants. Female elephants only allow male elephants in their "prime" to hang out with them. All other male elephants are not allowed!

After watching the male elephants for a while, we walked down to the watering hole, where we were lucky enough to see another 8-10 elephants bathing in the water. They were so fascinating to watch as they splashed mud all over themselves to protect their skin from the sun, not even elephants want to wrinkle early!

After awhile, the elephants all decided to get out of the water and move onto the land. Once there they munched on trees and played with each other by locking tusks and pushing each other back and forth.

The elephants were really amazing to watch, and I felt so lucky to see them. Several other tourists we spoke with said they had spent several days at Mole and either seen no elephants or only 2 or 3. Watching the elephants will definitely be something that I will remember for years to come! (Originally typed September 1st, 2011).