High-Flying Tales and Roadside Mysteries - Ghana's Uncharted Adventures

     

Hello Beautiful People,

Ellie Mortensen here, a junior studying Finance, Real Estate, and Spanish, with an insatiable love for travel and exploring. I am overjoyed to be writing today’s post after a day full of exploration. Today's journey was an eye-opener, figuratively and quite literally, beginning at 7:30 in the morning.

While on the road, we had a unique breakfast experience trying Hausa koko, a spicy millet porridge street food, paired with Koose and Pinkaso. If we weren’t wide awake yet, this porridge sure woke up our taste buds with its strong notes of peppercorn, cloves, ginger, and other aromatic spices. Energized by this flavorful start, we ventured further into our journey.


As we traveled amidst sparser buildings and thicker trees, our eyes caught sight of wild baboons along the road. They appeared to be enjoying watching the unpredictable traffic jams much more than we do! This added to my amazement of the diverse wildlife and landscapes we continue to experience here in Ghana.

Three hours later, we hopped off the bus and dove into learning about cutting-edge technology at Zipline delivery services. The Zipline drones specialize in blood logistics, emergency medicine transport, and delivery of vaccines to remote areas. Impressively, these fully autonomous drones have excellent safety features, carry a payload of 3.9-4.4 lbs, fly at a max speed of 80 mph, and last for 2.5 hours in the air fueled by a lithium-ion battery. Able to cover a range of 100 miles from a hub, these drones communicate and operate independently without human intervention. In the future, they are hoping to incorporate food deliveries. Equipped with a parachute for safe landings, they’re like the superheroes of delivery services, ready to drop emergency supplies as they live out their mission "to create the first logistics system that serves all humans equally".  

Our visit to Zipline included a tour of the facility, seeing the storage warehouse, and observing the packaging of an emergency order that came in mid-tour. We witnessed the use of water ballasts of varying weights to ensure the safe transportation of these packages via the drones. Finally, we had a front row seat into the drone dispatch facility, watching drone deliveries take off and return home. 

 

After a lunch of traditional Ghanaian cuisine including my personal favorite, Red Red, we embarked on a captivating tour of Lake Volta, the world's second largest man-made lake.  Here we learned about the dam and visited different viewpoints. One highlight was visiting a church perched atop a hill, which provided breathtaking views of the surroundings. The serene setting reminded me of the beauty, peace, and rest that God gives us when we seek Him in all aspects of our lives.


As our eventful day wound down, an unexpected situation emerged—a nail-punctured tire. Nevertheless, it couldn't deflate the spirit of adventure that defined our remarkable day in Ghana!

                                        


I pray continuously for health and safety during our travels and that God will help us continue to seek wisdom and deepen our perspectives of Him and of His creation in every circumstance. Stay tuned for more updates on our explorations in Ghana!

 

Wishing you adventures aplenty,

 

Ellie

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