A series of unfortunate events

Was up in Kumasi at the AIESEC house over the weekend as they had planned for a integration trip up north for the interns and the new members. The original plan was to leave Kumasi at 2am on Friday and travel the night to reach Yeji by dawn. At Yeji we will take a ferry to cross lake volta and travel on to Salaga which was formally a slave camp. After that we will journey on to Bolgatanga where we will spend the night and leave early the next day to travel to Paga. At Paga we will take pictures with crocodiles at the sacred lake and travel onwards to Wa. Not sure what's to see there but after that to Mole National Park to see the elephants before dropping by Larabanga to see the oldest mosque in Ghana after which we will head back to Kumasi and hopefully reached the house before midnight. Sounds crazy? Yup it is. I wasn't convinced that the plan will work especially since it usually takes longer than expected to reach anywhere in Ghana. For example, I was told that it would only take 45mins to 1 hr to travel from Kumasi to Obuasi and in the end it's more like 3-4 hrs. And they didn't want to spend another night up north in order to keep the cost down. But in the end, as things goes here, the plan didn't work out. Quite glad of that actually as I wasn't looking forward to spending so much time on my bum travelling on lousy roads. Some how everyone overslept and we left Kumasi at around 6+ in the morning. And lo and behold, some of the members that were suppose to come on the trip changed their minds at the last minute and we were left with a bus, a few of us interns and some members wondering whether we should still carry on the trip. But I guessed everyone wanted a short break so we decided to take a day trip instead to Tamale, Mole National Park and Larabanga which are all near each other before heading back at night. But the delay meant that we only left Kumasi at around 9+ and the trip to Tamale will take around 6 hours. We reached Tamale at 2+ in the afternoon and became worried that we might not make it to Mole in time before it closes for the night. So we took a short spin round Tamale and left for Mole. The road to Mole was atrocious even by local standards. The road were unpaved, full of potholes and stretches to nowhere. And when we reached Mole at 4.30pm, we were told the park is closed. So we went to Larabanga and took some pictures of the mosque and stayed the night there even though we did not plan to do it. But was glad that we did as we saw the most beautiful night sky. Stars, moon and the milky way. Gorgeous! The next morning we went to the park and if you are picturing those images you usually see on National Geographic or Discovery, forget about it. Those wide swathes of Savannah are only found in east and south Africa. Furthermore we visited the park at the wrong season. It's the rainy season now and the best time to visit is in Feb when its the dry season and the grasses are shorter and water more scarce forcing the animals to congregate at watering holes which makes viewing easier. Anyway we left for Kumasi and after what seems like eternity we finally reached the AIESEC house again at 3 something in the afternoon. So there you have it, this is Africa for you. Unexpected surprises are always around the corner waiting for you. Just in case you're wondering if I enjoyed the trip, I did. The great company made up for the rest.