Wli Falls

       

        After leaving the monkey sanctuary we drove  another hour or so to Wili Falls. Driving here is very difficult to describe. It is made easier by limited cellular. The Cannon's Ipad gets cellular when it is available so though many of the roads are not even on Google Maps we can program and star approximately where we are going.  These roads were all dirt with unreal potholes making the ones by our apartment seem like nothing. What is the worst is to have puddles and potholes full of water because then you cannot judge the depth of the water. It makes you think of Arizona washes when there is a Monsoon storm. Sometimes you are even driving through tall grass so that there is only room for one car at a time. There are always people walking on the roads that you have to dodge. They walk for miles and then all of a sudden they vanish into the grass and you assume that they live somewhere back in there but there is never any sign of a path let alone any living quarters.

        The Wli Falls is the highest falls in all of West Africa. Once you get to where you can park it is an hour walk to the falls.  The mountain range here is what separates Ghana and Togo on the east. You have to pay an entrance fee, always more for foreigners, and have a guide go with you for this moderate climb that takes you over seven bridges back in the jungle. The falls are twice as high but we were only able to see the lower falls. It is another two hours climb to the upper falls. It is not that the climb would have been bad but you do not want to be on these roads after dark. Driving even in the cities is not comfortable after dark.

Our guide had planted his own banana tree and shared the sweetest bananas.

Thousands of bats hanging on this cliff.

Half of a cocoa pod.

Ghanaian pineapple. Not mature yet. Will be green.

        In all of Ghana, because we are so close to the Equator, the length of the day varies only about 40 minutes during the year. People here have no concept of seasons unless the very few have been somewhere else. We have met a few that have been to England on holiday, even less that have been to the US. Most of the returned missionaries have only been to Nigeria or Sierra Leone. Since we have been here it is completely light by 5:45 A.M. and completely dark by 6:00 P.M. As we drove back to Ho it was a little disconcerting because we did not have light for an hour but we arrived safely to meet the Cosgraves for dinner right at seven.

        The Cosgraves are MLS, Membership, Leadership and Support missionaries. They are truly loved here in Ho. Elder Cosgrave is a doctor and though he is not on a medical mission he has had many opportunities to use his skills. They serve the members and support the 18 missionaries in the environs and have been instrumental in helping so many of the young people that really have no families. The Cosgraves will be missed so much when they go home before Thanksgiving. They are leaving the mission early because next July they will be assigned to be a Mission President couple somewhere. They will know their assignment in December or January.