Travel and Traditional with Butterflies
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Kumasi,
Ghana
Saturday, July 19, 2008
We traveled back from Sunyani to Kumasi Saturday morning in a trotro. It was completely full but all in all was a relatively comfortable ride. The ride was smooth until we got into Kumasi where we got stuck in massive traffic. We were heading towards the large market and there were just people everywhere. Everyone else but the seven of us already had gotten out of the trotro. We decided that there really wasn't anyplace for us to go so we just sat and waited. It turns out that we didn't head up at the same bus station that we were used to getting dropped off at. We were dropped off right in the middle of the market. The best way to describe the market is to think of a huge flea market and then imagine that it is the day after Christmas and you are shopping. It is complete craziness with people everywhere selling everything and anything. This was not the ideal place for us to get dropped off with four large suitcases.
Nana had somehow met a friend that said he knew how to get us to the taxi stand. He grabbed one of our suitcases and after about all six of us tried to grab it from him Nana explained that he knew what he was doing. This did not make any of us feel at ease. Inside of that suitcase were all four of the XO laptops, as well as, the photo printer. We were not going to let this guy out of our sites. He began to take us right through the market. We were all trying to stick together, get the luggage through the crowd, and make sure nothing got stolen from our backpacks. It was a miracle that we made it through the maze all safe and sound and into a taxi back at KNUST.
After this excitement we grabbed some lunch from a local joint on campus and then spent the rest of the day doing laundry, journaling, and soaking up some of the sun.
Today, Sunday July 20th, we experienced some of the most beautiful sites that we have seen on this trip. During the middle of the night there was a huge rain storm. It just sounded so much louder off of the tin roof that covers the dorms.
Waking up Sunday morning, there were a few puddles but the sky looked like it was going to be a beautiful sunny day. We had heard from Emanuel last night that he would be taking us to the butterfly sanctuary, the place where they make kente cloth, and to dinner later at his house. Sundays are a slow day in Ghana. It is a day meant to rest and to spend time with family and friends.
After a relaxing morning, Emanuel and Lord picked us up and we headed to the butterfly sanctuary a little after one p.m. It is a short 30 to 40 minute drive ride outside of Kumasi. We turned down a road that contained what seemed to be sort of like a suburb of Kumasi. This road led down to a dirt path which was just surrounded by shrubs and trees. We were entering into a different world. Just a short distance back was the hustle and bustle of the city filled with cars and pollutions and driving down this road you would have never guessed just how close you were to this. After about 10 minutes we reached the sanctuary.
As we drove into the entrance there was this beautiful garden filled with so many flowers that are exotic to us, westerners, but are quite at home in this habitat. The garden had rows of beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows with butterflies flying around you as you walked through it. You could get close enough to touch the them but they seemed much too quick for our cameras. As we entered the sanctuary we were first shown the guest rooms. They all were set up with mosquito nets and butterfly wall paper. Then we were shown to the deck where Emanuel told us that some forestry professors really enjoy relaxing after a day in the field.
Emanuel then told us that he would like to show us some of the work that he did his PhD research on. He showed us the three different light levels that he tested mahogany trees at to see if they would be able to potentially grow in plantations. There were three varying amounts of canopy cleared for each of the plots ranging from shade grown to almost open grown. There was a large difference between the plots. The shade grown trees were much smaller and it looked like suffered mortality; they were at most 2 feet off the ground. While the more open grown trees were almost 10 feet tall. They did suffer some resistance problems but there were still enough of the trees in good form for there to be successful growth and yield of the product.
During this explanation Marcie was pretty much in heaven but other people were in varying degrees of exciting trampling around the forest. After the brief tour with Emanuel we got a tour of the ground from one of the guides. He was pretty interesting to say the least. He carried around a large machete that he liked to use whenever we came up to a tree to talk about. He did this to ever tree but one and he told us the only way we should cut this tree was if we first bring the tree an egg and a shot of alcohol and then wait until dusk. If we did not do this we would crazy and die. He then asked if any of us were crazy. This is how the whole tour continued. He talked very fast so most of the information slipped by us. We did get to see some huge trees. Some of the trees are so large that they measure the diameter by placing a stick up to it and then measure from there!
After finishing up the tour, we all took a few more moments to really take in everything that was surrounding us and try to catch some pictures of these butterflies. We then headed off to buy some kente cloth. Kente cloth is hand woven traditional cloth that has three different weaves. Each increasing level of weaves makes the cloth heavier, more intricate, and thus more expensive. The highest weave that we found was a three layer weave.
We walked into the Kente factory and were just surrounded by cloth and people trying to sell us cloth. There were so many different colors as varieties. In downtown Kumasi Kente cloth was going for 300 cedis for six yards of three weave fabric. We were able to get two yards of three fabrics anywhere from 32 - 40 cedis which is a price that us college students could afford. After everyone looking and finding the cloth, bag, or belt that fit their taste we were finally able to start exiting. However as we were shopping there was a child that kept asking our names. It turns out that he was making personalized Ghana bracelets for each of us. Mitch, Cory, and Marcie all ended buying one this way not only will we not forget that we are in Ghana but we also won't forget our names!
We soon headed over to Emanuel's house were his wife and family prepared a great dinner of rice, hard boiled eggs, fufu, and chicken. We all got to meet Emanuel's two children and David Emanuel's youngest took especially to Marcie. He made sure that she was eating enough by offering her his pieces of chicken during dinner but in return stole her hardboiled egg. After dinner we all sat around and talked about our trip so far. It was so nice to spend time together!
