Day 23: Tro Tro's Are Worse Than Taxis

Tamale: Travel day to Mole National Park by tro tro bus.  These are Volkswagen size vans that hold 20 people inside and their things strapped to the top and stuffed in the back behind the last seat.  The first leg from Bolgatanga to Tamale was just over three hours.  The driver never hit not one of the many potholes or goats.  Amazing.  Second leg to Larabanga outside of Mole park was extremely uncomfortable as I was pinned against a door that had a metal hinge poking my leg.  Additionally, I was only halfway on my seat as the two men and one woman on the front row with me were taking up all the space.  Plus the girl behind me occasionally decided to use my small seat back as a headrest.  This went on for another three plus hours. To top it off we were basically offroad with this van as the highway was under construction and only just graded, not paved.  We hurtled down the highway at breakneck speed.  Once we reached Larabanga we were immediately approached by a waiting "transportation agent" who got us a cab unto the also unpaved road to the park.  We arrived frazzled, hot, dusty, and cranky.  :(   This was a total of 8.5 hours of travel by tro tro from Bolgatanga.  I took a walk to help me get my bearings, but did not get very far as the baboons and warthogs kind of caused me some concern.