Thursday, July 1st was Ghana’s Republic Day. While no one here in Abomosu seemed to care much that it was a “holiday” (they all still had farm work and life to attend to), the kids didn’t have school and we had VERY free day.
A week or so ago the Terrys were telling us about a waterfall, called Tini Falls, that they had gone to that’s not far from here. They said it was totally worth going to, so we decided we needed to make the trip.
Along with the four of us obronis, we invited Gloria and Susana (a girl in the branch) to come with us. Our initial plan was to catch the government bus at 9am to Anyinam and then a taxi up to the falls from there, but after waiting for the bus and realizing it wasn’t coming all six of us crammed into a taxi.
Gloria and Susana squeezed together in the front seat
And Emily, Joey, Spencer and I in the back
We switched cabs in Anyinam, and just trying to get out of the taxi station was a bit of a joke. One man parked his cab right in the middle of the pathway which prevented anyone from moving, and he refused to move. Well, that’s how we saw it because we didn’t understand a word of all the yelling that was going on. We finally made it to the base trail. Turns out, we arrived at the same time as an entire bus full of yelling, screaming, horn blowing kids. I decided it was an outing sponsored by a school if the kids wanted something to do for their day off, but whatever it was brought almost a hundred kids and adults along with it.
This bus was literally PACKED full of kids. I couldn’t believe it.
So when we got out of the cab we decided that we weren’t going to wait around for the people in the bus to exit and regroup, we were going to beat them there and have our own time at the falls.
The hike was really nice. It was more of a little uphill jaunt than a hike, but at points we all did get a bit winded. For a while it actually felt like we were circling the falls, hearing water falling on one side and then the other, but we enjoyed the journey.
It was all so pretty! I felt like we were walking in an enchanted tropical forest.
The forest around us was not even farm land (like all the other land we’ve been on here) and there were men who we saw just chopping away at the edges of the trail trying to maintain a good place for all the visitors to walk.
When we were almost there we ran into this fallen tree. It was huge! The Terrys actually told us about it. I guess when they went up there there were men there using a chainsaw to cut out 2x4s from this massive trunk. Incredible! So we had to stop and take pictures ourselves.
When we got to the waterfall this was the first thing we saw.
It was HUGE! But by huge I mean really high up and wide – the water coming over the falls didn’t really seem like very much at all. Apparently the falls are only a seasonal thing. Just a month ago there wasn’t ANY water coming over the cliff and about a month from now we’re told the amount of water will more than double here. Pretty cool huh? I guess that’s what the dry and rainy seasons will do.
Anyway, it didn’t take long for everyone to decide that the falls needed to be climbed (and since we didn’t think there was too much water, we really didn’t think we’d get too wet). Spencer led the way
The rocks were quite slippery and it was a bit more precarious than I’d imagined (along with A LOT more wet).
Gloria and Susana started yelling the second they walked in sight of the falls. At first I thought it was because they enjoyed hearing the echoes, but then Gloria told us that if you yell then more water is supposed to come over the falls, so whenever Ghanaians come up to water falls they just start yelling.
After we’d made it to the top (or as high as we could safely go) the bus people showed up, confirming what Susana and Gloria had told us, because suddenly there were not just 2 people yelling and screaming, there was a hundred! I actually found myself needing to join in, but more because I was getting completely soaked and poured on by a waterfall that I didn’t think had much water coming down. And as the surges came in we decided it was time to head down.
With all the slippery rocks it was quite a bit harder to make it down than it was to get up there so Spencer decided we needed a little help. Funny though, it was harder with his help because couldn't use both hands to steady our feet.
Here’s Spencer and I in front of the falls after we climbed down. The people behind us in the picture are only a portion of those that showed up. It was nuts, but really fun!
We then headed back down the trail and caught ourselves a taxi home. We then continued our vacation day by watching Mission Impossible 2 and making chicken tacos for dinner. It was a perfect way to the end the day and after eating our delicious tacos my stomach was definitely satisfied.
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