Kakum and Public Transportation

We went to Kakum National Park yesterday. It is a rain forest that has the only canopy walk in all of Africa. This is a picture of me on the walk. This is the second time I have been to Kakum (I was there in December 2002). It was fun to do it again, and it doesn't take to long, so there is not that feeling of being worn out. We took a mini-bus up there, and were lucky enough to get a ride part way back, from a tour group who were on the walk with us.

I find using public transportation in Ghana frustrating, and it makes me anxious, and puts me in a bad mood. Of all the interactions I've had with people, and the situations we've been in, dealing with public transportation has been the most trying for me.

I think this is due to my lack of experience with public transportation. While we were in Koforidua, my mother mentioned that I only rode in a taxi once, and never rode on any kind of public transportation, in the 12 years I lived in Nigeria as a kid. I had forgotten about this, but I realize that is probably why I have issues with public transportation now. I have no experience. I have dealt with Ghanians my whole life, I can handle most issues that non-Ghanians might have with food, culture, or climate. I know how to bargain, I know how to argue, I even can make fried plantain better than most I've had on this trip. But I can't deal with public transportation.

It's so vague how to get places sometimes. Where do you go to get a bus to take you to a certain place? Yesterday, we were told to go to Kakum station to get a mini-bus to Kakum National Park. I remember thinking, "why would there be a whole station for Kakum?"; there isn't. It's just that any mini-bus heading in the direction of Kakum leaves from this station (I think the actual name of the station was Kotoka station). It's like saying you are going to Paris Airport, when you are actually going to an airport that has flights to Paris. I should note that stations are usually just a piece of land about half the size of a football field (if that) with about 30 mini-buses on them. We asked around, until we found a bus that would take us to Kakum (buses leave for a variety of places from this station).

Also, there is the issue of when to pay. Sometimes you pay as you get on the bus, sometimes as you get off, and sometimes at some point along the journey. I never know when.

Taxis are another issue. I find it hard to deal with taxi drivers. I constantly feel like I'm getting ripped off (not just with taxis, but with everything); at times, I start bargaining/arguing with the driver over the price, not having any idea of how much we really should be paying. I don't enjoy this, because I don't know what a reasonable payment is.

The question I find asking myself is why? Why was I not exposed to this one (very important) part of life in West Africa. Everyone took taxis in Nigeria, but I cried like crazy the one time I was in one. Why? Today, on the way to Kakum (on the mini-bus that left from Kakum station), it hit me.

When I was 3 or 4, I was going to a friend's birthday party. My friend's mother was driving, and we got into a car accident. We hit a guy (I think he was on a motorcycle). I can still see him now, his face bloody from a bad cut over his eyes (I thought his eye had come out at the time). From then on, while in Nigeria, I would never want to be in a car with anyone except my father (and the occasional relative). I think this is why I have no experience watching people deal with public transportation, and why I find public transportation frustrating today.