Trip to Wli Falls with photos

February 11, 2014

I'm still figuring out how to work this blog and some old blogs are only now getting "published".  On the weekend of Feb 8th, a group of 12 volunteers went to Wli Falls, which turned out to be a 6 hour drive in a tro-tro over some decent roads and some terrible roads.  We ended up Friday night in a small village in the Upper Volta region right along the Togo border.  On Saturday we set out to see the falls, which is first picture.  In the background you can see two mountains with a ridge running between them.  That ridge is a rock face and the falls comes down from the very top.  We walked/hiked all the way in.  This is suppose to be a newly discovered place for people to come and there are very few tourists heading to the falls on a Saturday.

The 2nd and third photos are a view of the falls from the trail.  I think the pictures can be enlarged.  You can see that there are actually 2 falls.  The first (upper falls) comes down halfway and then runs a short distance as a river and then falls the remaining distance (lower falls).

After we hike in a ways with our guide on what is a relatively easy trail, we made a turn and start to head up and very soon the trail goes straight up.  Rather than creating switchbacks, the trail goes directly up so that we are grabbing roots and trees to boost ourselves forward.  This part of the trail takes 2 hours and we are dripping sweat all the way up.  I fortunately had bought a liter of water that morning.

The next photo shows what greets us at the top.  It was breathtaking at first because we were so hot and sweaty in very confining jungle growth and then it's just there.  It's not a huge amount of water, but it's loud because it falls so far.  The photo shows about two thirds the height and the next photo has people to give you some perspective.  It was a hot windless day, but in the pool it feels cold from the mist and the wind created from the rushing water.  When we arrived, two men were just leaving with their guide so that we were there alone.  The people you see are from my group.  All volunteers with Projects Abroad but some do other projects.

Next photo is some of my group resting at one the few level spots on the way down.

Bottom photo is the lower falls.  No real climbing involved so there were a few more groups of people there.  Again, we swam in the pool and you can let the water hit you.  It feels like a rough massage or it just plain hurts, depending how much water hits you.

The group ranged (besides me) from one person in 30's to maybe 18 years old with most being between college and the next level of schooling.  They are a lot of fun, very daring in taking on challenges and wanting to experience it all.   That night there was african drumming with children dancers at out hotel and we all jumped in and was a lot of fun.  The next day we went to a nearby village to visit some caves, but I and two others stayed in the village because our feet were so sore from wearing the wrong type of shoes.  I hear the caves were an hour walk up the mountain on a road exposed to the sun and then the climb through was as hard of the trail to the falls.  I think I made the right choice.  I have photo to show but can't make it work.  I will try on next blog.