Hannah’s Article: Climbing Mount Afadjato, the Tallest Mountain in Ghana

Article #12 in the YCC Kids Club Ghana Student Life Stories Project
Climbing Mount Afadjato, My First Mountain Ever!
By Edor Hannah, Age 12

As we trudged up, up, up, the tallest mountain in Ghana, I became so tired and sweaty that I nearly wanted to turn back. But I needed to see what the top of the mountain looked like! It was my first mountain ever.

The original name for the Ghana’s famous Mount Afadjato was “Avedzeto.” This word means in Ewe: “At War With the Bush,” because all along the slopes of the mountain there is a plant which causes the skin to itch. Hunters and farmers who used to climb the mountain were forever at war with the plants, beating them back to keep them from stinging.

The original name of the mountain was later corrupted and ignorantly changed so now it is called Mount Afadjato.

On the first of July, 2007, at the age of ten, my friends and I decided to climb Mount Afadjato. We were on holiday, and we had never before climbed a mountain or even seen one! Our hometown of Sogakope is very flat, as is the surrounding land. Mount Afadjato, however, is two thousand and nine hundred feet high. High!

My friends and I started our journey from Sogakope to Mount Afadjato at six in the morning. We took a bus at the lorry station, and reached the mountain at two in the afternoon. Mount Afadjato is in the Volta Region, just like our Sogakope, but it is still so far away!

The mountain is located near two villages called Laiti and Gbledi, right at the border with the country of Togo. The mountain is shaped like a yam (yum, yum!) and is covered with thick tropical forest. I have read that there are about 3,000 different species of butterflies on the mountain and many dozens of species of animals — including monkeys and beautiful birds. (“Species” means a group of animals or plants which are able to breed with each other to produce young ones.)

At last, we reached to top of Mount Afadjato! We had succeeded in scaling our first mountain ever. Far down below, we saw beautiful scenery: nearby villages, valleys, waterfalls, the Akwapem and Togo range, and in the distance, the Volta Lake! My friends and I snapped so many pictures, and then at last we started back down the mountain, so happy.

But suddenly, it began to rain. The path became slipperier and slipperier, and the water poured down.

“Hannah!” my friend shouted. When I turned back to answer her — oh no! — my leg hit a rock and I fell down and broke my leg!

But was it worth this pain to be able to climb my first ever mountain and see the view from the top of Mount Afadjato?

YES, IT WAS!!!

Lillie’s Note: Please leave Happy Hannah a comment, making sure to state your geographical location! If you like learning about mountains, check out the article on Mount Greylock: the tallest mountain in Massachusetts, USA.

Lillie Marshall

The author, Lillie Marshall, is a 6-foot-tall National Board Certified Teacher of English, fitness fan, and mother of two who has been a public school educator since 2003. She launched Around the World “L” Travel and Life Blog in 2009, and over 4.2 million readers have now visited this site. Lillie also runs TeachingTraveling.com and DrawingsOf.com. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media!