Exploring Volta Region

Janna and I are on Christmas break between December 16, 2012 and January 9, 2013. Given the length of time we decided to do some exploring as we have been mostly just in Accra since arriving outside of our one trip to the Cape Coast region. We decided to explore Ghana's easternmost region (which is actually east of the region actually called Eastern region). Volta is home to a major tribe called the Ewe whereas much of the rest of Southern Ghana is peopled by Ashanti tribes, more on them in a future post. The Ewe people were, as is so common in former European colonies, split apart by colonial borders and many Ewes are found in neighbouring Togo. During the late 19th century European scramble to establish colonies in Africa the British and French were taken by surprise when latecomer colanizer Germany signed a treaty with the paramount chief (king) based in present day Benin creating the protectorate of German Togoland. This colony only was the hands of the Germans for about 34 years before the League of Nations (the often ineffectual World War 1 predecessor to the United Nations) split the colony between England and France as victor's spoils. The westerly section became known as British Togoland eventually merging with the British Gold Coast colony, both eventually becoming part of modern day Ghana. Volta region lies to the west of the Togolese border and to the east of Ghana's Lake Volta, the world's largest man made lake. It is a beautiful, hilly waterfall full area that is a must see if one has the time when in Ghana. Janna and I began our journey by heading from Accra to Hohoe. We stayed in Taste Lodge for 40 cedi a night for 2 nights. The food was simple but good and the hot water buckets available upon request, when used with the unheated showers made for a pleasant experience (we have no hot water at home in Accra, and often no water at all). On the first full day in Hohoe we hiked the nearby Wli falls. There is a low falls hike (relatively easy) and a high falls hike (strenuous and sweaty!). We did both, the views were amazing, the tropical vegetation luxurious, and the waterfall was spectacular. It is the tallest in West Africa but is quite thin being approximately 6 m wide. We swam in the pool at the base of the lower falls. The water was refreshing and the extreme vertical fall of the water created a surprisingly strong wind/spray blowing out instantly cooling our overheated bodies. The waterfall cliffs were covered on either side with large, golden fruit bats which are sacred in this are. The fruit bats in Ghana are harmless, while still being alarmingly large. They have bodies the size of a good sized squirrel and a wingspan of about 2 feet. Just outside the entrance to the waterfall hike is a delightful German owned place called Waterfall Lodge. The view is amazing and the food is good. We did not stay there but rooms were 32 cedi. Late in the afternoon we returned happy but a little tired to Hohoe.
From Hohoe we headed to Mountain Paradise Lodge near Fume. While we did not visit on this trip there a two shrines to the Virgin Mary nearby. At one of the grottos some children a few years ago reported to the local Catholic priest that the statue's solid, carved robes were blowing miraculously in the wind. The local priest interpreted that the robes in their fluttering were pointing towards a local palm tree. From this it was assumed the tree had healing/blessing properties and it was not long before the tree had been so carved up for relics that iit died. Also nearby is a second interesting Virgin Mary shrine. This religious retreat/contemplative centre is called the Blues of Ur. Ur is the ancient city in present day Iraq, formerly ancient Mesopotamia where Abraham, the father of Judeo-Christianity-Islam was from, at least 1500 years before the Virgin Mary was born. Blues refers to followers of the Virgin Mary in Catholicism, for instance a group of Virgin Mary focused Catholics in Canada has the name the Blue Army. This contemplative centre has an interesting start, supposedly a local Ghanaian Catholic saw a blue star flying above the jungle and followed to where it landed on top of a cliff. It was at this point the centre was founded. Definitely not something I expected to find in Ghana, especially in a remote area!
Janna and I for exercise (and for budget :)) decided to walk the 2 km from town to the lodge. This may have been a better idea in theory then practice as it ended up being a very steep 4 km walk under a blazing sun with no shade, along a road under construction. Just to paint a picture, when you see the words "road under construction" in Ghana picture a strip of land seemingly purpose built for one thing and one thing alone, the production of dust that covers everything in sight, especially and insidiously the dust infiltrates your clothing, hair, nose and throat. It is this type of road we walked up all while large construction trucks and vehicles drove periodically past. To be continued...