Moving on to the Pinnacle Purpose of the Trip!!

Early Friday morning (like 4 am) Sister Derr took all of us to the airport so we could fly to Tamale and go to Mole National Park an hour flying time north of Accra. 

Arrows of flight and trip would not "save" but if you look at the small print you can find the Mole river on the left side of Tamale about two and a half inches over. We were near the Mole river at the Zaina Lodge in the Mole National Park.

We flew from Accra to Tamale in less than an hour, and then took a ride in a car for two and a half hours with a really fun guide. Still, we were happy to get to the lodge. They gave us some limeade that was terrific and put us in our rooms early. We found out the Safari's were all full so we weren't going to get to go out to see animals that day.  

While we were putting our clothes away in the 'tent', the housekeepers came in and told us about the elephant nearby. We ran outside to look!

He was about 50 yards away, ripping down branches and putting leaves in his mouth as he slowly ambled along in front of our 'tents'. We noted he didn't have any tusks. We later learned that sometimes they break off in a fight and sometimes they break off when they use them to dig. They never grow in again, though they do get longer with age. This was a solitary male as they don't hang out with friends if they don't have tusks.  What a great beginning to our quest to see elephants!

Lone elephant

I have to show you our "tents", they were the most luxurious tent I have ever stayed in. The toilet and shower, and sinks in the common area were under a roof with stone walls and the tent was hooked on to those walls with a roof over the whole. There was air-conditioning on the wall over the bed, with the 'tent' roof over the bed. Nice. It could have fit three king size beds across, though there was only one. Comfy accommodations!

The adobe is the shower and such, the green is the tent walls (with windows and sliding doors). 

I felt entirely safe in my 'tent' even with wildlife running around I wasn't concerned like I was in Yellowstone in a staked out tent.

Going to the lodge later we found it looked over two watering holes where we watched cavorting elephants in the water and all kinds of crocodiles, baboons, antelope and animals coming for water.

Now this is the life!!