Animals around my place


Since coming to Ghana I’ve not seen an elephant, lion, zebra, or antelope.  I’ve have seen one monkey (possibly a pet living in a family compound) in the south and an alligator or crocodile in a large pond in Nandom (I’m not sure how to tell the difference).  Some people have been to the Mole national park, which is in the northern region, and have seen elephants although others have gone and not seen them.  There is also a hippo reserve close to Wa, but I’ve not been to that either. 

I am surrounded by animals, the farm variety.  As mentioned before my neighbor has chickens, including roosters, so I wake up early – “when the cock crows” can be hours before dawn.  The other common fowl is guinea fowl.  There are a few ducks around and some people in town have turkeys.  Grazing animals include sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys.  We also have pigs.  During this dry season most of the animals are free roaming.  The animals also tend to freely breed so most end up being a mixed breed.
These are the younger chickens currently under foot all the time.  Picture from my porch.

Turkeys in town (we don't have that much trash in my village).

Sheep grazing near my place.  No wool harvested from tropical sheep.

Pigs are just resting in the shade.  These are smaller pigs.  But Christmas is coming.

Some cattle.  We also have braham (the ones with the hump on the back) and cross-breeds in the area.

Mother and kid (son) goats.  Goats are not raised for milk.
One of Roger's dogs.  I think they are innocent of the rabbit attack.
Of course there are also rabbits - but the only ones I've seen are in cages.  I noticed a couple of new dogs by my cages yesterday and I guess they were hungry.  The one cage was scratched up and the rabbit had three bloody feet.  Not sure what to do about this yet – I’ll keep watching it and possibly move the one rabbit to the larger top cage for a bit.
One of the rabbits.  The one attacked, but its paws are hidden behind the feeding bowl.

You can see some of the damage to the wood and maybe just make out some red in the feet and fut.

Health


My shoulder is getting slightly worse, but the pain remains manageable.  As the pain has increased I’ve stopped doing the stretches and such which leads to more pain.  OK – call me a wimp.

My new health issue is a cracked tooth.  I cannot tell how serious it is, but I’m hoping it is not very deep because I’m going to try to avoid going to Accra for medical treatment until after the holidays.

I have two reasons for my delay.  First, I would like to be around my site and community for the holidays.  Second, we are not allowed to travel overnight during the season – the reason being a fear of increased chance of robbery. 

My alternative to overnight travel involves two full days of travel with an overnight stay in Kumasi, 4 or 5 tros, early morning departures and late evening arrivals with slow traffic during the day.  One of the places I need to switch tros is a busy area with a lot of pickpockets and other opportunistic crimes reported by Peace Corps Volunteers.  So, I don’t actually feel safer with that option and it would certainly be a longer more miserable trip. 

Obviously the rule for no overnight travel would not be a problem if I was located in the south with better roads and a shorter trip (a few hours) to the Peace Corps offices.  However, the northern regions are poorer and need more assistance so Peace Corps is sending most volunteers to the remote areas.  This is what I signed up for, and I’m not complaining, but merely trying to explain or rationalize my delay in seeking medical treatment for my tooth and shoulder.

Overall I’m doing well enough and I’m happy.  It is not beginning to look like Christmas – But:

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to my family and friends.

Love always,

John

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