Mole Mole Mole Mole

After a bone-rattling ride up to Northern Region, I spent a fun weekend in Mole (pronounced Mo-Lay) National Park, during which time I learned one very important life lesson – beware of the baboons.

It was a Monday afternoon. I was preparing to go on a canoe safari, when just as I stepped out of the door Adam asked me a question. I chatted for a moment with the open door in my hand, then turned around to see a GIANT BABOON SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Panicking ever-so-slightly (which you should never do in Ghana), I ran back into the hotel room screaming “baboon! BABOOOON!” and hoped to God that the door behind me would slam shut quickly. It did not. A furry, human-like hand grabbed the edge of the door and in came the big boy. Being the brave people we are, Adam and I jumped on the bed, realised the monkey wasn’t going to leave, and ran into the toilet slamming the door behind us. As I said, we are both extremely courageous souls. We took a few seconds to catch our breath (not easy as we were laughing so much at the ridiculousness of the situation), then plucked up the courage to open the bathroom door to find that the baboon had gone. Our ordeal was over!

Or not.

Mere minutes later, Adam and I were wandering around outside looking for the rest of our safari party. I had a packet of recently acquired Haribo in my hand (we had deemed Baboon Attack a legitimate enough occasion to break out the imported sweeties) and was just standing minding my own business when I heard Adam shout “THERE’S SOMETHING RUNNING AT YOU!”. I looked up to see another big baboon sprinting full pelt at me. After peeing my pants a little, I ran for my life. Realising what the monkey was after, I dropped the Haribo on the ground at kept running. As huge a loss as it was, I felt quite okay with trading half a packet of gummy sweets for my survival.

Only after the second close baboon encounter did any of our friends show up to find the pair of us in a heap of adrenaline and uncontrollable laughter. I feel like this may be one for the dinner parties.

Also, elephants.