Given that in the next 12 days our access to internet may not be reliable (or exist for that matter), I’m posting our schedule so that you at home have a general idea where we’re supposed to be.

Friday. We take a trotro north about three hours to Kumasi, another large city (capital of the Ashanti Region) and stay the night in Techiman so we can visit the monkey sanctuary there. I still harbor some resentment towards the species since the spic lunch-stealing-tree-monkey incident, we’ll see how it goes.

Saturday. Another 5-6 hour drive to Tamale, capital of the northern region. We stay two nights here, and go on Safari for a day (Sunday) in Mole National Park. The ride to the park by over-crammed bus (think seats 40, but 70 get on) is described by the guidebook as “tough going, by Ghanian standards.” We’ve seen what apparently isn’t even considered tough-going, and don’t feel like being crammed onto a bus that takes seven hours, usually arrives 3 hours late and often breaks down. So, we’re splurging on a private car to take us to the park, give us a driving safari-which isn’t possible without your own car, and take us back to the hotel. the ride takes about 3.5 hours in a private vehicle. The cost for this absurd luxury may be a lot ($60-70/person for everything) versus $10, but this time, we think very worthwhile.

Monday. From Tamale we head to Kumasi to stay the night, or continue on, depending on how we’re feeling.

Tuesday-Saturday. We’ll be jumping between beach towns on the coast, from turtle reserves, to lodges miles from anything else to go hiking and canoeing. The exact plan is yet to be determined.

Sunday. From wherever we are on the coast, we’ll head back to Accra, going back a full day early to account for any traffic we might encounter that could in reality, push us back several hours.

Monday. Midnight (so technically, Tuesday) we fly home!

So, if you don’t hear from us in a week or so, you know where we ought to be so that search/rescue can be more efficient. Ha! Kidding! Sort of.