I climbed the HIGHEST MOUNTAIN in Ghana! It was a very strenuous hike. Much more strenuous than I had imagined it would be. They did not tell us ahead of time that we were hiking a mountain, just that we were going for a hike. The mountain is 880 m high. That is the same height as two empire state buildings stacked on top of each other!!! I was so impressed that I was able to make it. A lot of students did not make it to the top. It was very hot and I was very dizzy during the hardest parts of the hike. During portions of the hike, it was so steep that we had to use our hands and feet to get up certain areas. Instead of hiking like at home, the path went directly up one side of the mountain instead of zig-zagging back and forth to make the grade less steep. Once we got to the top we could see the neighboring country of Togo. The panoramic view from the top was fantastic. The descent back down the mountain was nearly as strenuous as the way up! It was difficult because some of the rocks were slippery, and with the grade being so steep we had to be careful not to slip and slide. I only wiped out once, and it wasn’t too bad. I had drank my whole Nalgene bottle on the way up, so when we got back down to the bottom I had to buy some more water. In Ghana the water is not safe to drink, so we had to purchase water. In order to cut down on some of the trash/waste associated with bottled water (all the bottles), Ghana has changed to a system of bagged water. It is similar to those pouches of milk that some elementary schools have, but you have to just bite off one of the corners and drink it out of the bag instead of with a straw. The water did not taste great, but after the hike I was so thirsty that I was willing to drink it.
After our hike, our guide took us to some waterfalls to cool off. The waterfall was AWESOME! It is the highest waterfall in Ghana. The water begins its descent in Togo and lands in Ghana. Since it falls from such a great height, when it hits the water at the bottom it creates such a force that there is a constant wind generated. The wind picks up all the splashed water so even from a great distance away from the falls there is a mist, and as you get closer to the water it turns into a solid sideways rain. We were able to swim in the pool created at the bottom of the waterfall! We wanted to get close to the waterfall, but you could not walk facing it because of the water flying around. We had to walk backwards towards the falls and our backs were getting pelted with all the water from the falls. It was really interesting because it was SUCH a strong force from the water falls that the wind and water flying from the bottom were strong enough to tip us right over! I walked back as far as I could towards the waterfall until I was not strong enough to walk any further because of the wind. I tried to get some pictures of the waterfall, but since there was no ‘dry spot’ even within view of the waterfalls, I was not able to get great pictures because I did not want to wreck my camera.
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