Day 16
We set off quite early as we had a big day ahead of us … We had two stops to make before we reached Mole Park.
So we set off … just stopping to take another photo of those amazing termite castles. We have seen dozens of them … all shapes and sizes … some quite intricate and really looking like sandcastles. Others seem to be embraced by a tree or have a tree growing out of it… beautiful!
As return roads always are this one seemed endlessly long …. especially when we took the rough sand packed road that would lead us…. eventually… to Daboya.
Remember the Fugu or theBatakari , the smock that is worn a lot in the North and becoming more and more in fashion all over Ghana? If the president can wear one…… Well, Daboya is the centre where these are made. And boy was it worth the trip in more ways than one….
The village looked quite upreposing but with gestures we were guided to the area of the village where the weavers, dyers and a lot of tailors worked. It was quite an industry as you can see with the photos. At one point our guide mentioned that a lot of the people were not working today as the village was installing the Queen Mother. That was the drumming we heard! And why everyone was so dressed up! We asked if we could go and see and were welcomed to go Ghana style.
What a commotion! The villagers were quite beside themselves dancing and laughing with various troupes of men playing drums, flute, cymbols … It made a great musical sound perfect for the rythemic dancing. The center of the commotion was this tiny older woman swathed completely in white with a white parasol someone was holding over her head… she was seated on a kind of bench which was perched on several men’s shoulders … It was hard to say how many because around her men were packed dancing and calling… She was being jiggled and tossed and it was (i know i keep saying this) the hottest day i have ever experienced. And she was all stern composure … wow! Queen Mother’s are the lionnesses of women!!! (for sure i would have fainted after the first 5 minutes, either of claustrophobia or heat exhaustion !) Check out the videos on Facebook here: and the photos speak for themselves….
Next we went off the Larabanga … we stopped to see the famous mosque there. It was picturesque in itself which is about as far as i can go with nice things to say.
Finally we entered Mole Park and got settle in our new abode. The setting is quite beautiful as it is on the escarpement overlooking the park. There are waterholes, as Bradt Guide promised, that you could see from a lttle lookout with benches. Two monkeys and several warthogs seem to be the mascots of the place as they were around quite a bit.
No elephants in view however. But we had a sensational thunderstorm that was awesome to behold and to hear… lighting slashing across the sky and booming in the distance. A wind had heralded it coming in very quickly and swirling the leaves and the sand down in the park up into dust clouds… We even had quite a spectacular sunset …..
All in all a very dramatic end to the day….
