Our destination for Friday afternoon was Bongo village. It is located in the North of Ghana, only 15km away from Bolgatanga. The village itself is like a capital of the very north part of the country and is a place where the chief lives. We were told that there are 32 villages in the area (all of them have their own sub-chiefs) and the population of it is about 100,000. However, this only includes people who are 18 or older, so the chief estimated that there might be 150,000 people in total. He is responsible for all the other chiefs and sub-chiefs who live in the area and in the Ghanaian hierarchy is only bellow the king. Apart from that, we heard that this place had nice landscapes so we decided to give it a try.
The transport was easier this time compared to our trip to Paga, because there was a trotro going directly to Bongo and was quite cheap (1GC = 30p). The road to Bongo was not fully paved so we had a quite a bumpy ride. Once we arrived it was already afternoon, so we decided to get some lunch. Just next to the trotro/taxi station we found a nice place to eat, so we sat there for a while. When we finished we started talking with some people outside and found out that one of the men was an uncle of the chief. We were told that if we waited for a bit, we could meet the chief, because he was out doing sacrifices for the gods. After a while we were invited to come inside.
The chief greeted us and told us some things about the area and the Bongo rocks that we wanted to visit. We were told that there is a male rock and a female rock in the area. Although, male rock is bigger, female rock is the one where they sacrifice for the gods. They sacrifice in order to please the gods and have a good year. Depending on the situation they might sacrifice a cow, a goat or just some flour or something else. We were also asked to sign in to a guest book and were surprised to find the names of two people from the University of Edinburgh, School of Engineering, who visited the place last year.
Once we left with the son of the chief to see the rocks we were told that when climbing the female rock, there is a place where there is a gap between two rocks. Before passing the place, the person has to say ‘I am sorry, I want to pass’ and step on to another rock. If you forgot to say these words, by the time you want to step on another rock, it would move further so you could not reach it and you would fall down. Unfortunately, some of us were wearing slippers so we were not allowed to climb neither male nor female mountains. However, we had a nice walk around the area and enjoyed the landscape very much. Some places looked as if they were taken out from the painting. There was a place where water comes out from the rocks even though there is no lake anywhere around. The place where we stayed for longest was the huge rock, which was sitting on just two small rocks. Although it did not look very stable, we took some nice pictures there. By that time it was already quite late, so we had to come back to Bongo. After saying bye to the chief and for the boys who showed us the way we left the village.
We enjoyed the place so much that once we got back to the office we decided to come back the next day. We really wanted to climb the male or the female mountains. Next morning, instead of taking a trotro we took our bikes and took off to Bongo again. Once we were at about half way, Patrick noticed that he had a flat tyre. The curse of the breaking bikes kept following us everywhere we went. Luckily, on our way we found a man who repaired bikes so Patrick’s bike was repaired in no time and we continued our journey. Once we reached Bongo we met the son of the chief again and with a few of his friends left to the rocks again.
At first we were told that we can climb both male and female rocks, but we had to start with the male one. The climbing appeared to be more challenging than we expected and we also realised why they did not let us climb with the slippers last day. There were some big gaps between the rocks so we had to be careful not to fall down. On our way we noticed some crosses. The guys told us that some people come here and pray for the gods, so this is why these crosses are left there. After some time we reached the top of the male rock. The views were amazing and we could see very far from the top. We relaxed on the top for a while before going down. We were also told that it is not possible to climb the female rock, because no one goes there on the weekend, because at this time gods are there. We were a bit disappointed, because no one told us that before.
On our way down, we came across some huge baobab trees and interesting plants. Once we reached the bottom we decided to try some sibisibi. These are tiny fruits that grow on the trees in the area. We had some nice rest in the shade, because it was already noon and was quite hot and sunny. It was time to go back to the village and have something to eat, because we were all quite hungry.
Once we got back, we noticed the chief sitting in the shade on his nice red carpet with all the pillows around. We were invited to sit down for a while and rest. We were a bit confused, when the chief said that he never heard the story about the moving rocks, but he told us another one. He said that on the female rock there is a cave where some items were kept. These were musical instruments that no one is allowed to take away from the cave. If someone tried to take one, he could not see the way out of the cave and would be trapped there. We were a bit disappointed by the fact that we could not go to the female rock because it sounded quite interesting.
Once we got up to get some lunch, the mother of the chief started complaining that we did not give any money for the boys who went with us. For a few times we were told that these are not compulsory and we already left something last day. However, our intention was to give them as they call a ‘token’ after lunch and we did not need to be insisted for that. As a result I felt that the token is not as optional as we were told and if you do not leave anything people would complain.
Another thing that we understood is that it is always better to visit the place of the chief before going to see the rocks. Without chiefs or someone else’s permission it might be considered rude to enter the land. Also, if people noticed tourists walking around without a local person, they might simply ask you to leave the place, because it is strictly forbidden to take pictures of the female mountain.
By the time we finished our lunch it was already quite late, so we decided to get on our bikes and start heading back. On our way to Bongo and when we were leaving we could hear kids shouting ‘Solmia welcome’ (Solmia – white person). It looked as if they were told to do so when they see a white person, because everyone was shouting the same thing. Also, when the white people were going it looked like the time stopped. Once locals (especially kids) notice a white man they stop doing whatever they are supposed to and just watch you passing or wave. It was quite an experience to visit Bongo. At the end of the day we all felt that we had a very good time and were very tired as well. I think so far this was one of the best daytrips we had in Ghana.
PS. Sorry for the extra super poor quality pictures, but as I have already mentioned the internet speed is very limited here. I will upload the good quality ones to facebook soon.
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