Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Elephants




This weekend Lee, Anna and I got an opportunity to go to Ghana’s National Park. It is called Mole; sounds like Molay (Amy it is like when you are cutting my hair and sing molay, molay, molay…)

Mole was build to protect and preserve Ghana’s land and animals. It is about 3 hours east of Wa and the roads on the way to Mole none of the roads are paved. It was a bumpy ride but worth it. We had to leave at 4:30 in the morning to catch our bus so we arrived in Mole around 10am.

After we dropped our things off at the motel we walked to the over look and right there before our eyes was a family of elephants cooling down in the river. I saw elephants! It was so cool, oh but wait it gets better.

We were on our way to sign up for a walking safari (you have to have a guide with a gun that goes with you) and right on the road to the safari office are 5 elephants just standing there eating the trees. Right outside our motel room! COOL!

We walked to the office and found baboons digging through the garbage cans. They are sneaky little creatures. There were monkeys and warthogs walking all over the motel area. These warthogs do not look anything like the one in the Lion King (they are much uglier) but the babies were very cute. (so right now as I am typing this I can hear the family of pigs snorting right outside my window; they must know I am talking about one of their relatives :))

The safari walk was really cool. Our guide was really nice and told use a lot of facts about the park and the animals that live there. There are these deer looking animals that bark like dogs; we saw crocodiles sun bathing and then mischievously lurking in the water; there were birds I had never seen before, monkeys playing all around, a few more elephants and a lot of very large food prints. I liked the food prints…

It was a really fun trip. Fun facts our guide told us: elephants poop about 15 times a day and their average life span is 70 years old.
I sent pictures of elephants to my mom so hopefully she will be able to edit this post so you all can see the elephants; stay tuned...

9 comments:

  1. Uploaded some photos for everyone!!!!

    Maddy What a Great Experience!!!

    I love the photo with you, Lee & Anna's feet inside the elephant foot print - wow that is amazing how large it is!!!!!

    Hugs - Mom

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  2. I am asking this cuz I know your G ma will....and we think alike. What was the motel like? Was it modern? With all the wild life it sounds like two worlds at times. Loved the photo's....mostly the ones of you as you look so happy and enjoying you adventure. Nice to see someone living their dream.
    Chik Patsy

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  3. What an amazing adventure. Elephants, live, in the wild. Sooooo great.

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  4. Maddy, how awesome! so jealous of you right now (in a good way!) Can't wait to see more photos. We're all living vicariously through you right now. Thank you for making the time to keep us all updated on your happenings.

    As you're heading into your last few weeks, do you have any prayer requests for us to lift up?

    (Sandy, you tech-savvy-mama! You've mastered this blog thing pretty quickly. Thank you as well.)

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  5. OMG - it makes me want to go there....Ahh maybe not...glad your having a good time...Be Safe..Don't trust those animals...LOL

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  6. We are totaly speechless, and you know thats not easy to do!. We're glad your back safe at the school. The pictures are great. It must be different now that your alone with Anna leaving. Time seems to be really flying, you'll be home in a month. We're looking forward to it.........Take care...Love Ya.....G-Ma & G-Pa

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  7. PS.........gRANPA AND I WERE WONDERING, HOW AND WHERE DO YOU DO YOUR LAUNDRY? gRANPA SAID MAYBE YOU BEATING IT ON A ROCK IN THE RIVER,... OR NOT!

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  8. MADDY!!!!

    those are some really cool pictures and im soooo glad that you go to go to the wildlife park. and its really nice that africa has set up somtething like that to save the habitat and the animals.

    i hope you are having fun and enjoying the warm weather. its awesome to hear about the kids you are teaching.

    be safe and hope to read more soon. love jessica!

    Tracy- man thats what i call wildlife. the elephant track was huge. WOW. be safe and wishing you only happiness.

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  9. Hi Maddy!
    What a great adventure and great stories too. Sydney says hi and of course is looking forward to a play date when you get back. I'll be reading some of your adventures to Sydney later today.
    Take care, Russell

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