Tuesday, April 29, 2014
My Trip to Africa
I had a wonderful time in Africa and I hope you enjoyed my project, thank you for listening!
Day 8: Libya
I woke up a little sad because I was going to leave that day. First I went for breakfast, and after breakfast I went swimming in the hotels pool. I was swimming for about 1h 30min, but then I had to take a shower and pack all my stuff. My flight was going to leave for London at 15:35. I was taking British Airways to London, and Finnair to Helsinki. My flights back to Finland costed close to 2000€. I would drive home with my car that I left in long term parking. On my way to the airport I saw a huge Did You Know bilboard. It said:
Did you know that Libya´s population is about 6.3 million?
Did you know that most of Libya´s population is concentrated in the narrow northern strip, and that there aren´t as many people living in the desert areas of the country?
Did you know that Libya´s life expectancy is 80 years?
I don´t think I knew any of those answers before that bilboard...
If you ever do go to Libya you should visit The Temple of Zeus, Tripoli Zoo, Museum of Libya, Tripoli and Al Bayda.
Even though Libya is a dangerous place, it was still nice to visit and see what it was like.
Did you know that Libya´s population is about 6.3 million?
Did you know that most of Libya´s population is concentrated in the narrow northern strip, and that there aren´t as many people living in the desert areas of the country?
Did you know that Libya´s life expectancy is 80 years?
I don´t think I knew any of those answers before that bilboard...
If you ever do go to Libya you should visit The Temple of Zeus, Tripoli Zoo, Museum of Libya, Tripoli and Al Bayda.
Even though Libya is a dangerous place, it was still nice to visit and see what it was like.
 |
| Libya is in Northern Africa |
 |
| Libya´s Flag |
 |
| Libya´s Coat of Arms |
Day 7: Libya
I woke up at 9:00 feeling very happy. I went downstairs and had breakfast. During the time when I was eating , I was thinking what my agenda would be for the day. This is what I came up with:
11:00 Tripoli Zoo
14:00 Temple of Zeus, Olympia
16:00 Museum of Libya
After I ate breakfast I got ready to go to the zoo. I was very excited to see all the animals! When I got there, there were alot of people. But waiting in line didn´t even take that long. The service there was fast. They had all the animals you coulg think of there! It was amazing. They were all so cute!
I also learned something about animals living in Libya there. Libya´s national animal is the Arabian eagle. Other typical animals of Libya include: camels, barbary sheep, fennec desert foxes, exotic tortoises, and many lizards and snakes.
After the visit at the zoo I went for a visit at the Temple of Zeus. The temple is in Cyrene, present-day Libya. It is very old and important. It was spectacular! It was very interesting to see how the temple was built and to see the architecture of the building.
Next it was time to go to The Museum of Libya. It opened in 2010 which means it is quite modern. Actually it is very modern because they have incredible technology! They have a screen where you can watch videos about the exhibition. But the cool thing about the screen is that it floats in the air. It´s a fog screen. People can walk through it without getting wet! The museum was interesting but probably not the highlight of the day. At the museum they had very nice sculptures and statues.
After the interesting visit at the museum I went to a restaurant near my hotel, but I only got a salad because I wasn´t that hungry. When I got to the hotel I went for a swim in the hotels swimming pool. It was refreshing and fun. After that I took a shower and went to bed.
11:00 Tripoli Zoo
14:00 Temple of Zeus, Olympia
16:00 Museum of Libya
After I ate breakfast I got ready to go to the zoo. I was very excited to see all the animals! When I got there, there were alot of people. But waiting in line didn´t even take that long. The service there was fast. They had all the animals you coulg think of there! It was amazing. They were all so cute!
+(3).jpg) |
| Arabian Eagle |
 |
| Camel |
 | |
| Barbary Sheep |
 |
| Fennec Desert Fox |
 |
| Exotic Tortoise |
 |
| Green Lizard |
 | |||||
| Snake |
After the visit at the zoo I went for a visit at the Temple of Zeus. The temple is in Cyrene, present-day Libya. It is very old and important. It was spectacular! It was very interesting to see how the temple was built and to see the architecture of the building.
Next it was time to go to The Museum of Libya. It opened in 2010 which means it is quite modern. Actually it is very modern because they have incredible technology! They have a screen where you can watch videos about the exhibition. But the cool thing about the screen is that it floats in the air. It´s a fog screen. People can walk through it without getting wet! The museum was interesting but probably not the highlight of the day. At the museum they had very nice sculptures and statues.
After the interesting visit at the museum I went to a restaurant near my hotel, but I only got a salad because I wasn´t that hungry. When I got to the hotel I went for a swim in the hotels swimming pool. It was refreshing and fun. After that I took a shower and went to bed.
Day 6: Libya
When I arrived in Tripoli (capital city of Libya), Libya it was early in the morning. I was very tired after the very long car ride. I checked-into my fancy hotel and went straight to sleep. I slept in to about 11:00. After that I went and ate breakfast near to the hotels lobby. It was called the ball room. It was very big and fancy. It´s paint job was amazing. I ate until I was full and then I went back to the hotel room and brushed my teeth. There was one thing that I kept noticing. The hotel workers said hello in a different language. So I asked them what Libya´s official language was. They said it was arabic, but of course they have different dialects all over the country. I thought the language was really cool. After I was done with setteling in and cleaning myself up, it was 12:30. I decided that I would go help poor comunities and children.
I drove over to one of the poor comunities in Libya. When I arrived there were other people helping them too. There were people putting together houses and buildings and lots of things to make their comunity better. I helped with building the school for the children who lived there. I also went to a bookstore and bought some school books for the children. I bought history, geography and math books. They actually didn´t cost that much, they costed 2-3 libyan dinars per book. The total cost of all the books were 38 libyan dollars. I took a peek at at the books and actually learned something. I learned a little of Libya´s history and government: In 2011 after ruling far over 42 years Colonel Gaddafi was killed by rebels looking to over throw the government. Libya was then officially declared liberated and in July 2012, Libya elected worked towards democracy. The general national congress as the governing party. This was the first free election in Libya in over 60 years!
I also learned some of the Libyan religions: Most of the Libyans are sunni muslims, but there are minority groups of christians and buddhists. Even though only 0.3% of the population are buddhists, Libya has the largest concentration of buddhism in Northern Africa. This is primarily due to the Asians working in the country.
I also learned some geography: Libya´s natural resources are oil, gass and petrolian products. Libya´s climate is semi-arid (very dry) and arid (very dry). The vegetation is desert (sand and stones, very little vegetation), semi-desert (sort grasses and and drought-resistant scrub) and evergreen trees and shrubs (plants and small trees with leathery leaves). Libya is not known for their plant species, they only have 14 species! The Mediterranean coast and the Sahara Desert are Libya´s most well known areas. The Sahara Desert is a barren wasteland. Wasteland dessert areas are over 500 kilometres. They also have beutiful beaches on the coast, but if I want to wear a swimsuit I have to go somewhere private. Women do not swim without being fully dressed here in Libya. Libya also has productive agricultural zones when they grow crops like wheat and barley.
It felt like I was only reading for 10 minutes, but actually I was reading for about 35 minutes. Woops... I needed to get back fast before people would start asking where I was. When I got back a couple people asked me where I was and I answered:´´Traffic´´. I walked over to the lady that was going to be a teacher and handed the books to her. She thanked me and strolled off. We kept working on the school, it was almost finished . All that needed to be done was to paint it and get the equipment inside. I was helping the poor people all day. Once the school was painted we started bringing desks and chairs in. By the time the whole school was done it was already 21:00. We got it done pretty fast because there were alot of people helping.
I was starving! I hadn´t eaten anything all day! I went to a restaurant downtown. There they served traditional African food. I had stuffed zuchini and bazeen. Bazeen is barkey dough served with tomato sauce, eggs, potatos and mutton. It was pretty good, but the stuffed zuchinis were better.
My dinner costed in total 20 Lybian dinars. After dinner I went home took a shower, brushed my teeth and went to bed.
I drove over to one of the poor comunities in Libya. When I arrived there were other people helping them too. There were people putting together houses and buildings and lots of things to make their comunity better. I helped with building the school for the children who lived there. I also went to a bookstore and bought some school books for the children. I bought history, geography and math books. They actually didn´t cost that much, they costed 2-3 libyan dinars per book. The total cost of all the books were 38 libyan dollars. I took a peek at at the books and actually learned something. I learned a little of Libya´s history and government: In 2011 after ruling far over 42 years Colonel Gaddafi was killed by rebels looking to over throw the government. Libya was then officially declared liberated and in July 2012, Libya elected worked towards democracy. The general national congress as the governing party. This was the first free election in Libya in over 60 years!
I also learned some of the Libyan religions: Most of the Libyans are sunni muslims, but there are minority groups of christians and buddhists. Even though only 0.3% of the population are buddhists, Libya has the largest concentration of buddhism in Northern Africa. This is primarily due to the Asians working in the country.
I also learned some geography: Libya´s natural resources are oil, gass and petrolian products. Libya´s climate is semi-arid (very dry) and arid (very dry). The vegetation is desert (sand and stones, very little vegetation), semi-desert (sort grasses and and drought-resistant scrub) and evergreen trees and shrubs (plants and small trees with leathery leaves). Libya is not known for their plant species, they only have 14 species! The Mediterranean coast and the Sahara Desert are Libya´s most well known areas. The Sahara Desert is a barren wasteland. Wasteland dessert areas are over 500 kilometres. They also have beutiful beaches on the coast, but if I want to wear a swimsuit I have to go somewhere private. Women do not swim without being fully dressed here in Libya. Libya also has productive agricultural zones when they grow crops like wheat and barley.
It felt like I was only reading for 10 minutes, but actually I was reading for about 35 minutes. Woops... I needed to get back fast before people would start asking where I was. When I got back a couple people asked me where I was and I answered:´´Traffic´´. I walked over to the lady that was going to be a teacher and handed the books to her. She thanked me and strolled off. We kept working on the school, it was almost finished . All that needed to be done was to paint it and get the equipment inside. I was helping the poor people all day. Once the school was painted we started bringing desks and chairs in. By the time the whole school was done it was already 21:00. We got it done pretty fast because there were alot of people helping.
I was starving! I hadn´t eaten anything all day! I went to a restaurant downtown. There they served traditional African food. I had stuffed zuchini and bazeen. Bazeen is barkey dough served with tomato sauce, eggs, potatos and mutton. It was pretty good, but the stuffed zuchinis were better.
My dinner costed in total 20 Lybian dinars. After dinner I went home took a shower, brushed my teeth and went to bed.
Trip to Libya
I drove to Libya at about 21:15. I arrived to Libya early in the morning. When I got there I went to check-into my hotel. I was staying at Rixos Al Nasr Tripoli, it is a 5 star hotel.
Day 5: Ghana
I woke up at 9:00. I didn´t have breakfast because I wasn´t hungry from dinner. Here was my agenda for the day:
12:00 National Museum of Ghana
14:30 Busua
17:00 Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum
21:15 Bye bye Ghana
I sat in my hotel watching tv until it was time to leave for the museum. I didn´t have to drive far to get to the National Museum of Ghana which is in Accra, so where I was staying. It is the largest and oldest museum out of the 6 that are in Ghana. It was built in 1957 as a part of the independence celebration. In the museum you learn about Ghanian culture and history.
The museum was very interesting! It was worth going to see. I learned alot about Ghanian history: Kwame Nkrumah helped lead Ghana to independence. In 2006 China invested 66 million to fund developement projects to help gain energy and mineral supplies. In March 2007, Ghana celebrated 50 years of independence from Britain. In 2007 Ghana expirienced the worst flooding they have seen in over 30 years. 2007 oil was discovered attracting international investors such as, UK oil company which has invested 4 billion pounds into this area. Ghana is rich in minerals.
Kwame Nkrumah
Flood in 2007
Next I drove to Busua. When I got there It was quite crowded. But luckily I found a chair to sit in. At the beach I relaxed in the sun, swam and tried to surf. Surfing was so much fun! But it was also quite hard. I fell of 100 times in the beginning but in the end It got more and more rare. Surfing was so far the highlight of the day. The water was warm which made it nice to swim. Busua was awesome! I loved it!
Next in my agenda was to go to Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. It is a museum and park in downtown Accra. The museum and park was built and dedicated to Kwame Nkurumah, the former, well-known Ghanian leader. He was the first President of Ghana. It was very beutiful and big. The museum has the remains of Kwane.
Inside is the ramains of Kwame Nkurumah
That was all the sight seeing for Ghana. Nice plces to visit are Kakum National Park, Busua, River Volta, Elmina Castle and Nzulezo. I enjoyed my stay in Ghana alot! Here are some pictures of Ghana on the map, the flag and the coat of arms.
Ghana´s Flag
Ghana´s Coat of Arms
12:00 National Museum of Ghana
14:30 Busua
17:00 Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum
21:15 Bye bye Ghana
I sat in my hotel watching tv until it was time to leave for the museum. I didn´t have to drive far to get to the National Museum of Ghana which is in Accra, so where I was staying. It is the largest and oldest museum out of the 6 that are in Ghana. It was built in 1957 as a part of the independence celebration. In the museum you learn about Ghanian culture and history.
Next I drove to Busua. When I got there It was quite crowded. But luckily I found a chair to sit in. At the beach I relaxed in the sun, swam and tried to surf. Surfing was so much fun! But it was also quite hard. I fell of 100 times in the beginning but in the end It got more and more rare. Surfing was so far the highlight of the day. The water was warm which made it nice to swim. Busua was awesome! I loved it!
Next in my agenda was to go to Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. It is a museum and park in downtown Accra. The museum and park was built and dedicated to Kwame Nkurumah, the former, well-known Ghanian leader. He was the first President of Ghana. It was very beutiful and big. The museum has the remains of Kwane.
That was all the sight seeing for Ghana. Nice plces to visit are Kakum National Park, Busua, River Volta, Elmina Castle and Nzulezo. I enjoyed my stay in Ghana alot! Here are some pictures of Ghana on the map, the flag and the coat of arms.
Day 4: Ghana
When I arrived in Ghana I felt a sleepy. I was also a little hungry. It was so late in the evening, so I decided to just stop by a grocery store and pick up a little something to eat. By the time I had checked into my hotel I was already half asleep. I had a dream where I was revising what I had learned on the plane. I learned lots about Ghana because there were several articles about Ghana in the magazine I was reading about Africa. This is what I learned; Ghana is in Central Africa and it´s capital city is Accra. Ghana´s neighbouring countries are Togo, Burkina and Cote D´Ivoire. Ghana´s main language is English . The population in Ghana is about 26 million. The life expectancy is 64 years, which is still quite low when compared to Finland which is over 80 years. Ghana is a constitutional republic and their President is John Dramani Mahama.
I woke up the next morning fealing great! It was 9:00. I went to the grocery and got juice, fruit and a bread for breakfast. The climate seemed to be hot and humid (tropical) and the vegetation where I was staying was clearly savannah (tall grass parkland with scattered trees), but I read that in South-West Ghana it is more tropical rain forest (many species of lush, tall trees). I wanted to visit River Volta that day so I left and I was hoping I could swim there too. On my way there I was listening to a documentary on the radio about Ghana´s geographical features. It was good documentary and I learned something from it. Ghana has a few mountains and several hills that rise up to 900 metres above sea level. The highest mountain is Afadzato, whih rises 1,500 metres above sea level. Also, several rivers pass through Ghana. The most important river that passes through is River Volta, It also streams into a lake called Lake Volta, and then into The Atlantic Ocean. Other large ones are Pra, Ankobra and Tango.
Soon enough I had arrived. I was beutiful! The water was refreshing and the landscape was amazing. I took lots of great pictures there too!
Next I decided to go to Kakum National Park. So I got in the car and headed over. The car ride felt very long without any documentary on. Finally I was there and I was very excited for the tour and seeing all the animals. Before the tour started the tour gide told us a little about Ghana´s wildlife. Ghana´s native animal list is very large. It includes: mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, aquatic and marine animals, spiders and birds. There are 504 species of fish, 728 species of birds, 225 species of mammals and 221 species of amphibians and reptiles have been recorded in Ghana. Sadly a large amount of species are in danger. Natural resources in Ghana are gold, oil, timber, diamonds, bauxite and manganese. Crops that are grown in Ghana are tabacco. Minerals found in Ghana are diamonds and gold. Energy found in Ghana is oil and hydro. It was very interesting to hear him speak.
It was quite similar to the tour I took In Hwange but I cant decide which one was nicer. My favorite animal in Kakum was the monkeys in the trees. They were funny and there were banana peels everywhere!
It was about 15:45 and I wanted to go see a castle. Idecided I would go to Elmina Castle. On the car ride there I saw lots of beutiful landscapes. When I got there I headed for the doors of the castle. There was no tour there, you could just go around freely. The castle was very old. It was opened in 1482. The castle is a very important historical building and there has been a couple movie shoots there. The castle was very beutiful! It was big too. It was also interesting to hear tales about the castle and the people who lived there.
It was about 18:30 when I was going to go eat dinner. I ate at a restaurant in the city centre. The food there was yummy! I got so stuffed there that I almost couldn´t get up! After having dinner I went back to the hotel and got ready for bed.
I woke up the next morning fealing great! It was 9:00. I went to the grocery and got juice, fruit and a bread for breakfast. The climate seemed to be hot and humid (tropical) and the vegetation where I was staying was clearly savannah (tall grass parkland with scattered trees), but I read that in South-West Ghana it is more tropical rain forest (many species of lush, tall trees). I wanted to visit River Volta that day so I left and I was hoping I could swim there too. On my way there I was listening to a documentary on the radio about Ghana´s geographical features. It was good documentary and I learned something from it. Ghana has a few mountains and several hills that rise up to 900 metres above sea level. The highest mountain is Afadzato, whih rises 1,500 metres above sea level. Also, several rivers pass through Ghana. The most important river that passes through is River Volta, It also streams into a lake called Lake Volta, and then into The Atlantic Ocean. Other large ones are Pra, Ankobra and Tango.
Soon enough I had arrived. I was beutiful! The water was refreshing and the landscape was amazing. I took lots of great pictures there too!
It was about 15:45 and I wanted to go see a castle. Idecided I would go to Elmina Castle. On the car ride there I saw lots of beutiful landscapes. When I got there I headed for the doors of the castle. There was no tour there, you could just go around freely. The castle was very old. It was opened in 1482. The castle is a very important historical building and there has been a couple movie shoots there. The castle was very beutiful! It was big too. It was also interesting to hear tales about the castle and the people who lived there.
It was about 18:30 when I was going to go eat dinner. I ate at a restaurant in the city centre. The food there was yummy! I got so stuffed there that I almost couldn´t get up! After having dinner I went back to the hotel and got ready for bed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)