Tropical plants in situ!

I finally have something to contribute in this area!
Im in Accra, Ghana for a week and its phenomenally hot; the sun is something fierce and the humidity has been up at 80% some days. The people have been universally incredible, and have absolutely made this trip for me. China will have to go some to beat this!

I haven't really stopped long enough to take too many photos, but I have got some nice shots of what I recognise as conservatory plants back home, except here they are much larger; broader leaves, thicker stems. And there are HUGE trees. I'll post pics them when I get back because Im using a vodafone wi-fi dongle and it would take forever to upload big photos. There is an excursion to Kakum National Park later today, it has a rainforest tree canopy walkway, so I'll take some photos there.

In the city we' been taken to some genuinely lush private gardens, with resplendent, shiny, jewel like greens- the brightest emerald greens, and dark glossy foliage, occasionally punctuated by the brightest red and purple foliage Ive ever seen. The earth is deep red or orange and seems to be clay. But that's jut a guess!

Birds of paradise grow in enormous clumps, mostly yellow or orange, and bougainvillaea hangs over every fence! Its city of fruit trees; citrus, mango, pawpaws, date and coconut palms. I love those golden dates (the fresh ones with the white flesh inside). There are lots of roadside stalls selling cut down fruit, so Ive been buying small bags of mango and pineapple slices and sugar cane rings. Totally refreshing in the sticky heat and humidity.

No real wildlife as yet, but I wasn't expecting much in the city. Our group divided in two, some went north yesterday- they're going to a crocodile sanctuary, I'll be heading along the coast in an hour or so.

Oh and the food is really good everyone thinks Im mad but Ive been taking photos of my meals! - I was in Istanbul the weekend before I came here and while admittedly I never really left the tourist centre, the food here knocks the kebabs and BBQ food I had there into a cocked hat. Spicy rice, beef / chicken kebabs, lots of red snapper, golden snapper, flat fish and reef fish. Fried sweet potatoes, yam chips; every meal is accompanied by a variety of cole slaws, seriously hot chilli salsas, and fresh lime and onion salads which take some of the heat away.
Spinach stews, ground nut stews (what are ground nuts btw? I tried googling this morning but they look like peanuts?!), there is also spicy peanut soup which tastes very definitely and not surprisingly of peanuts.
I don't like okra, but even that looked and smelled good.

I already loved plantain from London, but they also do it as a street food called kelewele. Small cubes of plantain fried with minced ginger and fresh and dried chilli and served with the teeny little nuts and I can't get enough of it.

Oh and what is a gizzard?! We were offered gizzard kebabs, can't say it was my favourite!
I'll try and get some shots of the veg markets which we see as we pass by but never get to stop and explore.

 

Sounds like you are having a great time, not sure I would fancy Intestine (Gizzard) Kebabs.:D

 

Blimey Melinda,

Thats fantastic, look forward to seeing the pics.
I beleive ground nuts are peanuts.

You take care of yourself out there

 

Don't gizzards come from somewhere deep inside a chicken??

Sounds absolutely fab, I'm very envious, are you there for business or leisure? Keep on photographing the dinners, BTW, I sometimes do that.

 

Im back! Cheers for the PMs! :D

Accra is bang on the Greenwich Meridian and is actually an hour behind the UK (BST), but
Ive had a heck of a time shaking off the tiredness.

Flying back over the Sahara was immense! By the time we crossed into Algerian airspace, there were black mountains standing proud of the dunes. Incredible rock cliff faces rising out of the oceans of golden sand. Genuinely loved it.
Anyone know of any jeep/ camping tours you can do into the Sahara that dont involve getting taken hostage? Where would be the best place to do it?

I'll upload some photos over the weekend; pics of my comical tan lines are available on request.

 

Good to have you back, some pics would be nice.
Had our tour of Morocco not been cancelled last July we would have gone into the Sahara.

 

I want to see the tan lines

Welcome back Melinda You must have some tales to tell now

 

Suuuuuup Pumpkin Man! :D


Mate, I'll be needing the Cantonese for badger in less than a month- so get cracking!

 

Oh and Im sitting in a Guernsey sweater, in front of a fan heater.

This time last week I was a right sweaty betty, carousing my way through Osu night life.

:(

 

Hey Trouble:D

I was like that when I got back from working in Turkey, it was a heatwave over here but I was still freezing.

Canton, blimey, they have Hog Badgers over there, look like our Badgers but with little sweet Pig snouts.

 

Hog-nosed Badger - Definition of Hog-nosed Badger

 

Welcome back Melinda, nice to have you back...

 

Hello there Bilbo! :D

Catch up this weekend, I promise!

--
Catz- Just for you, wrestling pandas!

 

Im just back from a reception for this trip and my memory card was returned to me.
There are fewer photos of plants than I remembered :D Mostly sightseeing shots of Cape Coast and Accra, bars, food and athletes sweating in 40 degree heat.
[They are mostly personal and feature people who haven't given permission for me to plaster them over the internet.]

Tonight there was a slideshow montage of our visit accompanied by the tunes that were the soundtrack to our trip.

This big oooh went up when the shots of crocodiles were screened, and the pics of us on the Canopy Walkway at Kakum National Park were shown.



My own photos feature friends, and anyway dont do justice to the height of the walkway and so Ive tried to find photos that do. Plus, its hard to take decent photos while you are walking along holding onto the rope bridge with both hands. The canopy you can see below the bridge are actually MASSIVE rain forest trees that blocked out the light when we were on the ground. The canopy is high, HIGH above it all.



The walkway itself is like a longer version of the bridge in The Temple of Doom.
Its a rope bridge fixed to ladders and planks for a path. Its strung between colossal kapok and other massively tall trees with bright white trunks.
Again, Id post a vid, but its mostly people trying to be cool while properly scared, and vertiginous panning shots off the walkway and close ups of bottoms.

The walkway starts off low and climbs steadily; soon you are amongst the second and tertiary levels of the canopy; you are immersed in layers of green-, trees, leaves and vines. You're actually surrounded by trees and leaves and cant see much of the sky. You can hear birds and animals but cant see them. Apparently there are forest elephats, but we saw hide nor hair of anything.



Eventually though, the walkway rises and rises up through the trees until you are 50 metres+ above the main canopy, essentially walking in mid air on narrow planks between trees. There is no way back, single file and one way only, plus there are lots of people behind you.

Its a relief to get to the narrow platforms built around tree trunks. I can only compare it to being in the crows nest of a 18th century sailing ship.

Oh and the more people on the walkway, the more it swings and sways in the wind.