Four walls and a keyboard: Various Pictures

Four walls and a keyboard

'I love talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about.' ~ Oscar Wilde

Monday, May 07, 2007

Various Pictures

This is a village on the way from Tamale to Kpandai. I took it out of the bus as we were driving by, but it gives a good idea of the type of traditional architecture in the area. Lots of firewood for sale too!

This is 'Mango grove' in Kpandai. All the yellow fruits on the ground are mangoes that didn't make the cut. It tells you how many mangoes there are around Kpandai right now. If this were closer to Salaga or Bimbilla, where mangoes are a little more scarce, you wouldn't see rejects on the ground.

These were the mangoes that made the cut- these mangoes were on sale for 2,000 cedis a for one of those steel pans you see in the pic. That's about 25 cents Canadian.

We saw this deathtrap on the way to Navrongo. It's seriously overloaded and we could see the load shifting more and more to the left each time the bus went around a corner. By the time we passed the bus, it was seriously tipping to the left. Raymond and I were making bets that we would be seeing it rolled on it's side the following day as we came back to Tamale. Fortunately we didn't and that probably meant that the driver re-adjusted the weight.

The countryside on the way to Navrongo. The landscape was a little more open and there was less brush to obscure views. I really liked being up there because it reminded me of home- I could see for some distance!

It was also interesting up there because they farm differently than around Kpandai. Up here a person farms the land around their compound, which makes the villages very spread out and large. The farming is almost comparable to Saskatchewan where people's farms are scattered and you live on the farm. Around Kpandai, people live in town and travel out to the bush to their farms.

More countryside around Navrongo

This is at Paga, the village near the Burkina Faso border where they have sacred crocodile ponds. This is the first croc the guides at the pond lured to the shore, but they sent him away because they thought he wasn't big enough for us.

This is the big croc that finally got the chicken we bought to lure a croc out of the water.

Vivian, Raymond and I, and our new friend. It almost looks like he's smiling for the camera!

The big guy and the little guy (up and towards the left).

One of the traditional houses at the museum we visited after going to the crocodile ponds. The roofs are flat, and the museum guide told us that during the slave trade people would use log ladders like the one shown in the pic, climb up on the top of the roof, take the ladder with them and hide while the slave traders came looking for people. After the slave traders left they would come back down. I am assuming that after the slave trade finished, the stairs were developed to make going to the roof easier. It would be a good place to sleep on hot nights!

Another traditional house.

Me on the log ladder.

Me in the 'no man's land' between the Ghana and Burkina Faso borders. The Ghana Immigration Service just let us stroll on by.

Me and Raymond at the sign for the Burkina Faso side of no man's land. Not quite as grand as the Ghanaian one!

The Tongo (?) hills near Bolgatanga. The landscape is essentially flat here in Ghana, and this is the only variation so far in the north.

posted by angelina @ 3:48 AM

2 Comments:

At 1:51 PM, Anonymous said…

Ya the alligator is smiling - and so are you?? He looks like he's planning to chomp your face off...what the flip?!
At 10:53 PM, Anonymous said…

Hows about some updates Mang.???

Only a month left then your back to your dope smoking days and intoxicated nights, wondering where you are when you wake up.