One of the main
attractions of Ghana is the Mole National Park. So the very first weekend we
packed a few clothes and a picnic hamper and off we drove to Mole from Mampong,
a distance of some 470 kms.
The road at this time of the year was beautiful,
albeit a little dusty in the last 90 kms. But that stretch of road is under
construction and looks to soon transform into a four lane tarred road. The
whole of Ghana is a little hilly so one sees long stretches of a straight road
going uphill and then dipping down for a long stretch with either teak or
cashew plantations growing alongside or massive mango trees laden with mangoes
near villages.
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| Beautiful roads of Ghana |
Neem trees are a common sight too (which incidentally are called
Neem there too). As we drove northwards through the towns of Nkoranza, Techiman,
Kintampo towards Damongo, the tall trees
gave way to the Savannah type of bushes and short, and at this time of year,
leafless trees.
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| Savannah Type of Vegetation |
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| Damongo village market in full flow |
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| Ant hills looking like castles can be seen everywhere |
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| Teak Plantation along the road |
Bush fires were a common
sight which spread quite fast as the grass and dry leaves catch fire very
easily.
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| Bush Fire |
From Fulfulso, we took a left turn on the 90 km long dirt stretch and
were racing with the setting sun so as to make it to the National Park before
it was dark. As we are at the equator once the sun starts to set it is gone in
no time.
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| The last leg.90 kms of dirt road to Mole Park |
As everywhere in Ghana, we were greeted warmly and made to feel
welcome at the Mole Motel, where we had made telephonic reservations as the
weekends can get a little crowded.
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| Motel Rooms |
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| Information Centre |
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| Breakfast on the house |
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| Don't miss the elephant symbol in the name! |
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| Swimming pool and restaurant |
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| All set for the Safari |
The next morning
we were off for a safari in our own vehicle with an armed guide, called
Christopher, for company. Christopher was a very knowledgeable and pleasant
person and took us to quite a few watering holes in the park. As it was the dry
season all the animals hover around the watering holes and are easy to spot.
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| With Christopher our guide |
Mole
National Park stretches well over 4577 sq kms. (approx.) patrolled by over 180
Rangers and Forest guards It has 94 animal species and some 344 bird and 33
reptilian species. Its vegetation is of the Guinea Savannah woodland variety
and comprises of about 740 different species of plants and trees.
The very first
creature we saw was this beautiful and amazing large bird. It is called the Abyssinian
Ground Hornbill. Our guide told us that many ornithologists come to the park to
see just this bird. Lucky, lucky!!
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| Abyssinian Ground Horn Bill |
This is one of the two most massive species
of Hornbill, the other being, the Southern Ground Hornbill. The male has a red
throat pouch and the female has a blue throat pouch. Modified feathers form
long eye-lashes, which protect their eyes from dust.
Their diet consists of
small vertebrates and invertebrates including tortoises, lizards, spiders,
beetles and caterpillars. It can also eat carrion and fruits, seeds and
groundnuts.
As we were
moving ahead Christopher got a call from a fellow guide giving him information
about the movement of elephants in the park. Elephants along with hippos and buffaloes are the large animals seen in the park – though we never saw the last
two.
Lions and leopards have not been sighted for long, though the park has a
night safari when, our guide told us, one can see some carnivores like hyenas
etc.
Right then we saw this huge single tusked elephant, who has become a
little mellow with age. The guides call him the “Old Man”. We wondered how he would
have lost one of his tusks!
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| "Old Man" the single tusked old Elephant |
As we moved
ahead, Christopher would make us stop
every now and then to see some animal and everywhere we managed to see a number of brightly colored birds, also some not so bright but exotic all the same.
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| Patas red monkeys |
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| Red throated bee eaters |
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| Bush bucks at the watering hole |
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| Bush buck |
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| Water bucks |
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| Guinea fowls |
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| Baboon and baby on a joy ride |
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| Senegal coucal |
Many of our
pictures are hazy because our hands shook being bitten by the nasty tsetse flies
-the deadly flies carrier of the yellow fever (sleeping sickness). We were glad
to have been inoculated against the dreaded disease before we set foot on
African soil. Incidentally, all our fears of contacting malaria have been
proved misplaced because we haven’t seen a single mosquito since we came here. Perhaps, the dry Harmattan (trade winds) which blow from December to end February
is not conducive to the health of the mosquito!
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| Forest Trails |
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| Wart hog and babies |
After going
through the forest for some 3 hours we turned back. On the way we were stopped
by some guards on foot who had found three animal traps in the forest for
trapping buffalos! Hideous! Poaching is a major problem in the park as the
human population which was dislocated from the park to start with, is now
located only a little distance away from the park boundaries. The guards
requested us to carry the heavy traps in our vehicle back to the Park office.
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| The Forest Guards with the Animal Traps |
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| African Fish Eagle |
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African Fish Eagle. It
resembles an American Bald eagle and is the National Bird of Zimbabwe and
Zambia. The male of this species has a wing span of about 2 metres (6 feet),
while females can stretch upto 2.4 metres (8 feet), the female being larger
than the male.
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| Bush Bucks |
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Antelope – Bush Buck (used for
sacrifice in some communities) this antelope barks like a dog.
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| Water Bucks |
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| A Kob sitting majestically |
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Antelope – Kob (Bachala Herd).
The Adult males are very territorial and possessive about their areas of
demarcation. As such, the young do not have much grazing territory. Therefore,
they have little option, but to gang up together and fight the adults in a body
to gain territorial possession. In some
communities, for the village Chiefs, it is very essential to possess the skin
of a Kob antelope, before they assume the office of the Chief.
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| The Savannah Elephant |
- The Savannah Elephant. The young elephants stay with the mother for a period of 10 – 14
years. These elephants can live upto 65-70 years.
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| Pattas Red Monkey (don't miss the baby's paws) |
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| Violet Turaco |
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The Violet Turaco also known as
Violaceous Plantain Eater. They are 45 cm long, including a long tail, the
plumage is glossy violet except for the yellow forehead and chestnut crown. The
bill is thick and red. The violet Turaco’s crimson primary flight feathers
contrast with the violet plumage. It feeds on fruit, especially figs and some
seeds.
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The Tsetse Fly also known as Tik-tik
flies are large biting flies inhabiting most of mid continental Africa between
the Sahara and Kalahari deserts. They feed on the blood of vertebrates and are
the primary biological vectors of tripanosomes which cause human sleeping
sickness and animal tripanosomiasis. We tried to swat them but they would just shake their wings and fly off like fleas. We did not get the satisfaction of killing a single one.
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| Tsetse Fly |
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| Guinea Fowl |
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| Francolin |
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| Wart hogs |
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Warthogs live in grasslands,
Savannah and woodland in sub-Sahara Africa. The name comes from the four large
wart-like protrusions found on the head of the wart-hog which serve as a fat
reserve and are used for defence when the males fight.
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| Purple Glossy Starling |
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| Western Grey Plantain Eater |
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Western Grey Plantain Eater.
This is a large member of the Turaco family. It is a group of large arboreal,
near – passerine birds restricted to Africa. A Resident bird, it breeds in open
Woodland Habitats in tropical West Africa, laying two or three eggs in a tree
platform nest.They are 50 cm long. Including a long tail. The plumage is
mainly grey spotted with brown. The head, erect crest, neck and breast are
brown streaked with silver. The under-parts are whitish heavily streaked with
brown. It has a thick bright yellow bill and shows a white wing bar in flight.
The sexes are identical, but juveniles have a black woolly head without silver
streaking. It feeds on fruit especially figs, seeds and other vegetables.
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| Europian Roller |
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| The Red Throated Bee Eater nests in the ground. |
A whole lot of bee eaters were nesting in these holes and flew out when I inadvertently disturbed them.
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Red throated Bee Eater
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Grey Headed Kingfisher |
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| Hammercock |
- Rufous cisticola (very small
bird)
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Green Monkey, Sabaeus monkey
