Peaks & Falls

Karfiguela waterfalls

Onto the Banfora region of Burkina and we set up camp just minutes away from a series of spectacular waterfalls for a couple of nights.

Karfiguela waterfalls

Karfiguela waterfalls

Karfiguela waterfalls

Sunrise at Karfiguela

The second day we hiked a few KMs to see the Domes of Fagedougou, another spectacular setting completely devoid of tourists.  After some clambering around the rocks there was plenty of time to spend the afternoon back at the falls

Domes of Fagedougou

Domes of Fagedougou

Domes of Fagedougou

Ouga-Bobo

Back row L-R: Elizabeth, Simon, Clare, Hatter, Kristina,
Drew, Ray, Alexis, Sally, Dave, Gemma, Jimmy, Annie
Front row; Anna, Jamie, Ida, Rowan

First boarder crossing safely negotiated and we were soon on the road in Burkina Faso.  First stop was a sad one as we waved goodbye to Kristina in Ougadougou.  Here we a taste of some live music and stilt dancing, hopefully a pre-cursor to more of these things later in the trip.


Then onto the the equally fantastically named BoboDiolassou

The Grand mosque is one of the most picturesque in the region and a good reason, if no other was needed to get up in the morning to see it in a great light.

Grand Mosque, Bobo

Grand Mosque, Bobo

Grand Mosque, Bobo 

Women carrying water, outside the Grand Mosque, Bobo

The Islamic influence is strong, and extends to the design of the local railway station

Railway station, Bobo

The evening in Bobo was a chance to celebrate with the locals as Burkina qualified past the group stages of the African nations cup for the first tie in a number of years.

Burkina qualify for qtr finals

Bolgatanga

Final stop in Ghana was the town of Bolgatanga and the base for a trip into the Tonga hills and the village of Tengzung.  The president of the town has 18 wives and, depending on who you ask, 80-115 children.  There were a number of sacrificial alters and a variety of animal skulls from chickens to donkeys.  The girls declined the opportunity to visit the shrine, local rules are everyone must remove shoes and tops before clambering through the rocks to see a huge pile of chicken feathers.

Tonga hills

Tengzung presidential palace

Alter

Girl with water

Back in Bolga at the Stanford Bridge pub (there is an unhealthy interest in Chelsea, even if they can't spell),  we met a couple of girls who were organising a series of peace rallies around the country linked to the elections of last month.  The next morning we turned up to see what was happening, and although the event hadn't really got going we were given t-shirts and treated as visiting dignitaries, pressing the flesh with the local school children.

Peace rally Bolgatanga

On the road in Ghana

One of the many great things about overlanding is the opportunity to see the country, pass by villages and stop in towns to go food shopping in the local market or wave regally as you pass by.

a passing village

a variety of dishes 

Walking home

The other thing you can do is stop at some amazing little places along the way.  Larabanga mosque is one of the oldest in Ghana made of mud and plaster

Larabanga mosque

Larabanga mosque

Mole national park

Moving on north we stayed in Mole national park for a couple of nights.  West Africa is not really known for it's wildlife but in dry season there's still plenty of animals to be spotted. 

Elephants

A walking safari in the morning got us up close and personal with a couple of male elephants and we circled around to see them drinking at a watering hole.

waterbuck

Elephant

Elephant

Baboons and warthogs roamed around the campsite freely - as anyone whose encountered baboons elsewhere will know, they are a bit of a menace.

Baboon 

An afternoon game drive further into the park allowed us to see more antelopes and on the way back we came accross an elephant who had just walked through our campsite

Roan antelope

Hartebeast

Elephant

Water, water everywhere

Lake Bosumtwi was the location for watching the start of the Aftrican cup of nations, with Ghana taking on DR Congo in the first round of group games.  The pub wasn't exactly packed, it seemed the locals were more interested in bathing in the lake (which was formed by a huge meteor impact).  It proved a tranquil setting for watching the fishermen and playing volleyball with the bar staff.

Fishing on lake Bosumtwi

Kintampo falls is a series of waterfalls and the next stop of our journey through Ghana.

Kintampo falls

Kintampo falls

Wood is Good

Paul - the winner in action

Today's highlight was a visit to the cultural centre in Kumasi, essentially an area full of artisans selling their wares. We were lucky to come on the day Ghana was picking it's representative for pan African competition to be held in March, in Tanzania, celebrating local traditions in wood carving - "wood is good". The regional finalists were given 3-4 hours to produce something that represented their culture and to show off their skills.  We were welcomed in like celebrities, the craftsmen talked about their work and we even got involved in presenting the prizes.

Judges reveal their decision

Kumasi was also the chance to stock up on some provisions before we bush camp for the next few days.  The market stalls are plentiful and have a large range of fruit and veg, we did however avoid the roasted bat

bbq'ed bat

Cape Coast

Cape Coast coastline

Onto a bit of history, and a spot of camping on the beach.  Cape coast castle saw around 25% of the 35million slaves that left Africa over 3,000 years around the 16th-19th centuries

Cape Coast castle

The cells in the castle were where the slaves were kept for up to 3 months awaiting boats, mainly to the Americas.  The conditions were unbelievably difficult with little space or light and we saw a similar story at Elmina castle a little further along the coast.

Girl at Brenu

We were camping at Brenu, just down the beach from a fishing village.  It was great to escape the heat at night and fall asleep with the water pounding the beach.

Kakum NP

A short drive from Brenu took us into rainforest and the canopy walkways of Kakum National Park

Into Africa

A flying visit to London, catch up with a few friends and family and secure a visa and then onto Accra, the capital of Ghana.

Time to meet up with the gang I'll be travelling with for the next 5-9 weeks and a couple of days to look around the bustling city.

After an abortive attempt to visit Osu castle, being the home of the Ghanian government meant they weren't too keen on photos.  The first stop was the second largest city square in the world (after Tiananmen)

Black Star Square

Independence Arch

 Onto a pretty nice memorial park, spoilt a little by the main road running outside but full of a variety of trees and statues.

Kwame Nkrumah memorial park

One of the things Ghana is famous for is it's approach to slightly different approach to death.  The coffin makers really do make to order, and the only limit to what you can be buried in is your imagination; we saw ants, beer bottles, a camera, buses, trucks, basically anything goes.

Fish coffins

 There's endless photo opportunities when the kids spot a camera 

Kids in Accra

Last stop in Asia

So final stop for this leg was Kuala Lumpur. I realised I'd been missing city life so decided to explore for a few days and get to know the city.

Tourist information at Merdeka square

Petronas tyres

The first observation was the Petronas towers, that I expected to dominate the skyline, are actually pretty difficult to see unless you are right by them.  But up close there's no arguing they are pretty dramatic & an impressive feat of engineering.
The other thing you soon realise is that KL is a string of huge shopping malls, how a city can sustain just so many shops and restaurants remains a mystery to me.


My first objective was to locate some live sport to watch at the weekend, but despite some large stadiums it seems that I came at the wrong time with the football season just finished and no-one able to tell me of any sport taking place

Stadium Negra

Stadium Nerdeka

The first night in KL I took to the observation deck of the City tower, one of the worlds tallest telecoms towers.  The best views are to be had as the sun goes down and the city lights up.

KL city tower

KL view from city tower

I spent a few days around the same area of town, centred around a large botanical gardens this was home to the national mosque, which holds 15,000 people at prayer, the bird park and butterfly gardens (see previous posts) and national monument

National Mosque

The monorail

Squirrel

Botanical gardens

NAtional monument 

National Monument

Batu caves is a short train ride from central KL & is location for Hindu temples with huge statues & 272 steps making you work a little to see the caves.

Batu caves

Entrance to Batu caves

The aquarium is in the base of the petronas towers, and was a chance to catch up again with some Raleigh friends.

City aquarium

Petronas towers

Venturing outside the city centre to Putrajaya, the administrative centre of Malaysia, the highlights were a large mosque and a bridge

Putrajaya mosque

bridge at Putrajaya