Just for a second, through a gentle peppering of opalescent beetles attracted by my vehicle’s headlights, comes a surreal glow. Two ghostly blue disks momentarily appear in the middle distance, as roving high-powered torches scan the darkness. They’re the reflected light from the retinas of a bush baby, a tree-dwelling Furby-like primate about the size of a domestic cat.
I’ve been on traditional early morning and late afternoon safari drives in many parts of Africa. Here, after night falls, they’re very different – like expecting to recognise da Vinci’s Mona Lisa on seeing a random square inch of its canvas every couple of seconds.
Much of my safari becomes about everything except sight: tracing a splash to a four foot (1.2m) long Nile crocodile darting into a waterhole, smelling wild mint on a waft of warm air and hearing the electric-fence buzz of West Africa’s cicadas.
A tangle of trees – mahoganies, kapoks and syringas, often braced by the Burj Khalifas of termite mounds – forms the dominant habitat in Ghana’s Mole (pronounced Mo-lay) National Park, in the country’s Northern Region. The tangle slowly reveals landscapes in a way which doesn’t happen on the open savanna grassland of East Africa.
Here, the green glow of a male bushbuck’s eyes is reflected back at me as it readies to protect its females; there the spotted fur of a genet (a type of cat) in the undergrowth.
Mole National Park is one of Ghana’s seven national parks (Photo: Ian Packham)
Although I’m not lucky enough to encounter one, Ghana also offers as good a chance of spotting nocturnal pangolins as anywhere.
Ghana, like other West African nations, isn’t known for safaris. When it comes to great value wildlife holidays, it’s one to make even your bank manager smile.
The launch of direct British Airways flights four times a week from London Gatwick (adding to its existing daily Heathrow flight) last autumn means that the price of economy seats on the six and-a-half-hour journey are coming down, often available for less than £500 return.
You can safari in Mole for £35 per person per day (based on two sharing), a price that takes care of entrance fees, half board and a wildlife drive.
That’s less than the £53 an average British visitor spends at home, let alone the £75 minimum it will cost you to camp within better-known parks such as Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Mole National Park, Ghana (Photo: Ian Packham)
The largest national park in Ghana at 1,869 square miles (4,840 square kilometres; more than three times the size of Greater London), Mole’s inhabitants include four of the Big Five species (elephant, leopard, lion and Cape buffalo) – only rhino are missing.
Night game drives are standard activities at Mole. In Kenya, they’re usually only possible when staying in wallet-clenching private concessions.
It’s true that Mole’s most basic rooms, at its eponymous motel, are almost identical to my first visit 18 years ago as a backpacker. However, those looking for a little (or a lot more) comfort now have the option of staying at Zaina Lodge, which at £432 per room full board with a daily game drive is still something of a steal compared to similar options elsewhere in Africa, where a night’s all-inclusive can easily top £700 per person.
The Mole Motel and Zaina Lodge sit on the 820ft (250m) high Konkori Escarpment with rooms (and pools) overlooking waterholes fed by tributaries of the White Volta.
These are popular cooling off points with the park’s elephants, which have a habit of wandering through the unfenced compounds at will – I’m warned to check before leaving my room.
Walking with Mole’s wildlife – another activity banned in Kenya’s national parks – is what makes Mole particularly special. As I edge away from an approaching warthog, my guide Omid says: “It’s okay, they’re used to us, they come inside sometimes, they’ve come to welcome you.”
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Unfortunately for Pumbaa and family, Mole’s elephants are just as accommodating, and soon draw my attention away. In contrast to Kenya, where ivory poaching has broken the bond of respect between humans and elephants, Ghana’s pachyderms remain docile enough to approach on foot. “We do a lot of walking safaris,” confirms Emmanuel, head guide at Zaina Lodge. “In Kenya they cannot – the elephants are too violent.”
In just one two-hour walk I see more elephants than I ever have in Botswana’s Chobe National Park (grand total: one), which is considered a bastion of elephant conservation with up to 50,000 animals spread over an area not much more than twice that of Mole. Back in a safari vehicle, this time by day, my passage is halted by a herd of Cape buffalo. “Rarer than elephant,” says Emmanuel, smiling.
That’s the beauty of Mole – a safari turned on its head – where the common become the rare, guide-led walks are the norm, trees replace vast open savanna and you’ll head home having spent less than you might have done at home.
Getting there
British Airways flies from Gatwick and Heathrow to Accra. Connecting flights are available on airlines such as TAP Portugal and ITA Airways via their European hubs.
While independent travel is possible, local operator M&J Travel & Tours offers four-day trips to Mole from £941pp, excluding flights.
Staying there
Mole Motel has doubles from GC650 (£40).
Zaina Lodge has two-night stays from £863 per room, full board.
More information
British passport-holders require a visa (£60) to visit Ghana, as well as proof of yellow fever vaccination, ghanahighcommissionuk.com
molenationalpark.org
visitghana.com
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Publish date : 2024-04-29 07:00:00
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