{"id":1857,"date":"2020-02-22T13:05:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T13:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana\/?p=1857"},"modified":"2024-09-24T00:22:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T00:22:41","slug":"the-market-tuberculosis-heat-stroke-and-singing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/2020\/02\/22\/the-market-tuberculosis-heat-stroke-and-singing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Market, Tuberculosis, Heat Stroke, and Singing!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The River<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to know where to begin.  It is 2:00am here in Ghana, and my head is swimming and every part of me is a mix of salty and sticky.  The guest house room would be dark except for my laptop screen and the eerie pulsating glow of blue, amber, and green LEDs all shouting that they are happy to be charging the lithium batteries in the GoPro, drone, camera, gimble, and battery banks.  The last two days have been exhausting and exhilarating.  I\u2019ll wind the clock back a bit and catch everyone up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday evening, right before golden hour, Joshua G, Joshua B, Beth, and I drove 40 minutes away to a small river town to gather some photos and enjoy the scenery.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We weaved through two police barricades and politely waved to the soldiers with guns.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not a good idea to be driving alone in this more remote area of Ghana late in the evening.\u00a0\u00a0A driver might encounter an unofficial roadblock — which can be less pleasant than a grin and a wave.\u00a0\u00a0Our plan was to return by 6:30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first stop was a large toll bridge spanning the White Volta river.   For 20 cents we passed across the bridge and did some safari driving down the terrain to reach a broad, flat rocky shoreline.  It provided a great place to launch the drone and get some video of local fisherman.  The river provides food, water, and transportation.  Unfortunately, it is often a sewer as well.  Chicago and its river, thousands of miles northwest are not so dissimilar in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Harmattan was still filling the entire sky with a faint orange haze.\u00a0\u00a0The effect was that of an overcast day without crisp shadows.\u00a0\u00a0Adding to the natural dust hanging in the air is the smoke from fires.\u00a0\u00a0The underbrush is often burned in the dry season.\u00a0\u00a0Several reasons are given.\u00a0\u00a0First, it drives natural game animals from hiding.\u00a0\u00a0Hunters using traditional weapons wait for their prey to emerge.\u00a0\u00a0Another reason given is the fear of snakes.\u00a0\u00a0Walking routes that have tall grasses can be of serious concern.\u00a0\u00a0Finally, the tan and brown grasses are burned to clear the ground for planting.\u00a0\u00a0We have come across four or five grass fires on this trip.\u00a0\u00a0It can be a bit of a shock to round a corner and see flames blowing your way.\u00a0\u00a0Quickly scanning the area, however, I realize that none of the Ghanaians seem concerned, and so we just keep walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The river is broad and muddy.  Staring in the still water I can see 2 or 3 inches through the brown water and a minnow or two darting around.  Looking back up the banks, I can only imagine how the river rages during the rainy season.  The banks in the photo below are probably completely underwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A local fisherman, with a broad smile and kind face walks over to us to greet us.\u00a0\u00a0I extend my hand and we welcome each other.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou don\u2019t see any fishing now, because they go out in the very early morning and in the evening.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He describes a sandbar where the water is only 6\u201d deep.\u00a0\u00a0As the dry season wears on, the shrinking river provides shallow areas where the fish are driven into nets.\u00a0\u00a0Our fisherman is proud of his new boat, and indeed looking at the flotilla of sunken craft he does seem to have a particularly good ride.\u00a0\u00a0After setting up the drone for a short test flight, our new friend offers to go out into the river and paddle, so we can film him.\u00a0\u00a0We are both grinning at each other.\u00a0\u00a0He is happy to demonstrate his boat and skills, and we are excited to get some video.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWould you like to ride?\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Hmmm\u2026 now that is a great question.\u00a0\u00a0I wonder if he has a Coast Guard approved PFD for one of us to wear?\u00a0\u00a0Since we are shooting some video, we decide that it would be much better to let him paddle solo, which he does with skill and strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie below includes some of the drone clips I edited together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n