chapter 15: "gotta get BACK in time..." (with apologies to huey lewis)

i've been fascinated with time travel ever since 1985, when i saw “back to the future” as a wide-eyed eight year old. the world was full of wonder, and it seemed possible to build a machine that could take me back to the time of the dinosaurs. as i got older, i realized time travel was a fanciful and unrealistic idea.

hello, mcfly!

but as i've progressed into my thirties, i've come to realize that we don't need the flux capacitor. we've had a time machine for decades. catch a flight to africa and you too can travel back in time, just like michael j. fox.

a recent trip to mole national park and a close encounter with a herd of massive african elephants sent me reeling into prehistoric times. we roamed the crusty savannah, sweating through the stultifying heat, and marveling at the humongous beasts. seeing them in person was one of the most surreal and amazing experience of my life.

(see pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6321&l=c2ac8&id=505014963)

but it isn't all sunshine and elephants.

getting to the park was an adventure, the kind universal studios could cash in on, big time. the trip was typical of what you might have experienced in the developed world...long before it was the developed world. the buses are often 50's or 60's-era hand me downs, prehistoric in their own right. the seats are uncomfortable, the shocks worn out. and the roads are rutted, full of holes, and often made of dirt, even on the major routes between large cities.

we started our journey to mole in kumasi, heading to the stc station for a 7am bus. stc is the only bus line in ghana that has regularly scheduled departures. we calculated that with any luck, we'd travel the 380 kilometers to tamale in seven hours or so, just in time to connect with local bus transport for another four hour ride to mole. unfortunately, though the stc has a regular schedule, it doesn't seem capable of actually following that schedule.

and the following is really the most important part of having a schedule.

anyway, we pulled out of the station at 8:15, already behind the proverbial 8 ball. after a stop or three along the way for gas, wee wee breaks, food breaks, we finally arrived in tamale, at about 3:30pm. luckily for us, african time was in our favour this time. the connecting bus, which was to have left an hour earlier, had still not arrived.

the next challenge was securing a ticket. the bus was full. we were out of luck. that is, until the young guy who had shown us where the bus would be leaving from started campaigning on our behalf. he managed to convince the driver to let us, and a number of other people sit on the floor, stand or wedge ourselves into any number of places a human shouldn't sit for a four hour trip over terrible roads.

i'm not sure how old the dirt roads from tamale to mole are, but they can't be much newer than the elephants roaming the park. they definitely predate road graders. the ancient bus rattled and rolled its way over holes and ridges, grinding bones and jostling internal organs. and the seating plan on the bus...well, let's be honest: there was no seating plan. i can't imagine this scene anywhere in canada. no escape routes uncluttered by bags or bodies in the event of an accident or fire. we were breaking about a dozen laws on the books in cities in modern countries. and as the sun set, we were plunged into darkness. terrifying darkness. no lights anywhere, not on the roads or in the occasional village.

but four hours later, we made it. we made it, but considering our sore butts, sweaty backs and pure exhaustion from the odyssey, i'm thinking next time, i might rent a car.

meanwhile, a word for the ghanaian government: the road to prosperity runs through infrastructure investment!