Day 14: Boti Falls

8/21/2021

Our day started with one final breakfast with Dr. Acharya before his trip to India (he will be meeting with the CBID Endoscopic Spine Team so go check out their blog, and all the other CBID blogs!) It has been a pleasure to travel with Dr. Acharya and learn from his ability to lead professional and governmental meetings with ease. We will deeply miss Dr. Acharya and his seemingly endless stream of energy. For the remainder of the trip the team will be Christina, Rebecca, Summer, Spencer, Joshua, and me (Janis). After Spencer and Dr. Acharya, the best of travel buds, exchanged warm hugs the rest of the team settled into the van for the long drive ahead.

The plan was to drive ~3 hours North of Accra to Boti Falls in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Boti Falls is a park with a famous hike to Umbrella Rock and a twin waterfall made up of a female and male part. The drive itself would have been worth the trip. Our faces were glued to the windows as we made our way out of the bustling city of Accra, up into the mountains, and further into the jungle. As we drove further away from Accra, the communities changed from a dense urban area to smaller villages gaining distance between each other. I was fascinated by the changing foliage and crops. We drove past vineyards, fields of palm trees for palm wine and palm oil, maize, yams, and fruits I could not recognize - all of these farms were quite small, no larger than 4 acres. Most of the drive was actually through forests, past one room cinder block shops, street food vendors, and churches. The red soil provided a stark contrast to the lushes green vegetation and towering trees making the world around us seem as if someone had turned the color saturation up 150%.

Most of the road was well paved but sections had horrendous pot holes made worse by the recent rains and could best be described as the Indiana Jones Ride at Disneyland, but without the animatronics. Kids were filling the pot holes in with red dirt but their efforts would prove no match for the rains that would come later that day. By the time we reached the entrance to Boti Falls it was lunch time so we scuffed down energy bars, suffocated ourselves in mosquito repellent, and hit the trail towards Mushroom Rock. Our driver, Ishamael, accompanied us along the trail and he was the real MVP of the trip as he navigated the long drive. A young boy, Ciri, acted as our guide and his nickname quickly became Mr. President to reflect his future aspirations.

The hike was beautiful. The first part of the trail was relatively flat through a lushes green grassland and then we dove down into the forest descending towards a flowing creek. Along the creek we passed trees with some of the largest leaves I have ever seen (we later saw a man using one of these leaves as an umbrella from the rain). We passed under a large rock overhang with pores holes that Ishmael, Ciri, and Joshua used to play a beat by hitting the holes with an open palm. Next came the final ascent up out of the creek bed and towards the ridge line. The switchbacks with steps combined with the heat made this a difficult hike. But we were rewarded with incredible views of the mountain range and the sight of Umbrella Rock (it really does look like an umbrella). We all found a spot to sit around the base of the rock and took in the surreal views. This was truly a memorable moment for our team. I gazed out at the horizon for a long time before the realization hit me again… I am in Ghana. Duh. I am not entirely sure how to explain the simultaneous feeling of both disbelief and gratitude. As a team every once in a while we all look at each other and have a similar feeling of re remembering we are no longer in Baltimore.

After a munch needed break, observing, and reflecting, we headed to the waterfall. Boti Falls is called a twin falls because there is a stream falling both on the left (male) and on the right (female) into a pool below. There is something magical about waterfalls and Boti falls was no different. Spencer, Christina, Ciri, and I waded in the water. Right as we dried off we watched as the sky turned dark and guessed we had 5 minutes before it would rain. Our guess was not too far off. A fourth of the way up the 250 steps torrential rain fall started, afternoon rains are to be expected during the rainy season. A couple minutes later we reached the vans soaked as if we had just stood under the waterfalls fully clothed. The rains made for an interesting drive and the potholes became almost invisible under the puddles. I again thoroughly enjoyed the drive, or latest the parts I was awake for. My ability to nap was put to the test on this drive. I still managed to fall asleep during the bumpiest parts where I was thrown from side to side only kept up right from my seat belt.

We made it back to the hotel safely and thanked our incredible driver, Ishmael, who ensured we had a memorable experience in Ghana. For dinner we figured out how to order pizza and immediately devoured the Peri Chicken Pizza before calling it a night.