After yesterday's high of finally seeing an elephant, we were ready for the long drive back to Kumasi. The nearest town to Mole National Park is Larabanga where the famous Larabanga mosque is located. It is a Sudanic style building that is over 500 years old. It is built entirely with sticks and mud. It is believed to be one of the oldest mosques in all of West Africa and purportedly houses one of the oldest Quarans in the world. A local guide gave us a brief history and tour of the outside of the mosque. The entrance into the mosque was only reserved for non-Muslims. The cultural and physical environment in the North is so very different than central and southern Ghana. Here, in the north, the majority of people are muslim. They also speak different languages than the in the south. The way they dress is even different. Geographically, the environment is dry and you find mostly shrub-land rather than the large tropical trees you see south of here.
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| Larabanga Mosque in northern Ghana |
After visiting the Larabanga mosque, we headed back to Kumasi to start the second half of our trip.
Over the past two days, we've had some down time and my students have had plenty of vibrant discussions about American politics, slavery, poverty and the state of current affairs in Ghana. It is great to see my students interact not just on a social level, but also from an intellectual level.
After arriving in our hotel in Kumasi, I enjoyed a much needed Ghanaian beer, spicy talapia and banku (traditional dish) and some mangoes (12 for 50 cents) that helped me catch up on our blog posts. Time for some sleep in a cool, air-conditioned room :-)
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