Boti Call

Today is Republic Day here. Ghana gained independence from the British in 1957, although Britain had organized the first general election in 1951, in which Kwame Nkrumah, currently in jail was elected by a landslide. It was he, as Prime Minister, who formally declared independence in 1957. In 1960, he modified the constitution to make himself President (rather than PM) with broader powers. He soon became somewhat authoritative and his domestic policies became very unpopular. He was overthrown by a military coup in 1966 and exiled to Guinea. Nevertheless, the date in 1960, when Ghana formally became a republic with a President, is celebrated on July 1st.

A couple of weeks ago I had asked Savanna and Pamela if they had ever been to Boti Falls. One said yes, one said no – and Savanna said, “We should go on 1st July because it is a holiday”. There was to be no school so we planned the trip. When the day arrived, we piled in the truck – Max, Savanna, Pamela, Precious and me. Precious was excited but looked pretty worried. Apparently Pamela hadn’t told her where we were going.

We arrived about 10AM and the place was already hopping. In the U.S., when we go to a State Park or National Park for a holiday, we usually do it to get away from the city and commune with nature, or go for a hike or something quiet. Not so in Ghana, we learned. There were no less than 10 generators in the park, all powering monstrous sound systems at full blast with horrible speakers unable to accommodate the volume. You can imagine the rest. Savanna and Pamela were in heaven. Precious’ eyes were really big.

We first climbed down the 250 stairs to the falls. It was totally different from my visit in December (about 6 weeks into the dryer season), and not just because there were hundreds of people down there with us. The biggest difference was that the falls were huge and powerful. The pond they created at the bottom of the falls extended 30-40 feet beyond where its edge had been in December, and the water was brown and roiling like the sea during a storm. It created so much mist that Precious kept burying her head in my shoulder and chanting “Rain, rain, go away”. She really wanted me to put up the umbrella! Max did take a couple pictures but his lens misted up almost before he could even focus. It was really amazing, but got a bit chilly, so we climbed back up. It was easier than I remembered.

Then, we had our picnic lunch. The girls had never had either PB&J or tunafish sandwiches before and they eagerly devoured both. Surprisingly, the tuna was the bigger hit. We also had bananas, cookies, and cucumbers. After our lunch, we decided to hike out to the Umbrella Stone, which Max and I had both read about in the tour book. Neither of us could remember what it said, but a Ghanaian came over to us when we had finished lunch and asked if we had been out to the rock, and so of course the girls wanted to go.

Upon returning, I did read what the book had to say: “The round trip takes around 2-3 hours, and is tough going in parts (take decent walking shoes), but worth it for the great views and atmospheric jungle setting.” Max and Savanna had decent walking shoes – the rest of us were in sandals. And tough going is a mild term. There were long rocky ascents and descents that were scrambles, not hikes, or walks. We lifted Precious up or down 3 foot rock “stair steps” in many places and in both directions were in the midst of a long line of people going both ways and covering the entire trail. And if we were poorly dressed for the occasion there were women, who had to have come from Accra, in heels, scrambling right along with us. Despite school being closed, there were also a lot of students, in their school uniforms, on a school field trip for the holiday. Many of them actually ran by us as they raced their friends to the end of the trail. With all the day-trippers, there was little “atmospheric jungle setting” to be had.

Nevertheless, we did come to a large rock overhang just before a small stream crossing leading to another nearly straight-up set of rocky switchbacks. I was a bit concerned that Precious wouldn’t make it back if she climbed that next section of trail, so she and Max and I waited under the rock overhang (which seemed enough like an Umbrella Stone for me). Savanna and Pamela were way ahead of us by this time so we waited quite a while, then Max followed to tell them we had stopped. They all came down and we had a nice face-splash in the stream before turning back toward the park. It was a long line of people in both directions once again – I felt like an ant instinctually following some pheramone trail left by my mates.

Back in the park, we finished the sandwiches, drank our water, and sat watching the controlled chaos that was Republic Day at Boti Falls. Savanna and Pamela decided they needed another look at the falls so headed off to climb those 250 steps again. Oh, to be young again!

A great time was had by all and we trooped back to the truck tired but happy. As we were leaving at 2:00 or so, cars and busses were still arriving. I suspect the party really got going about dark. I’m sure the girls were sorry to miss that part, but the crowd was getting older and wilder, and they’re only 13.
XO