safe arrival

[Danawgreen at aol dot com]

Rather than write everyone who was worried about me going to Cote d'Ivoire I thought I's just write a message to everyone on the birdnet since I have limited computer time.  I am in Ghana with Arnie and am fine.  My trip here was very nerve-wracking since Air France refused to change my ticket to Burkina Faso.  My choices were spend a month by myself in Framce, or pay 1400 dollars and to get to Burkina, or fly on to Abdijon. One ticket agent assured me it was perfectly safe and another said no it was not safe.  After talking to the American Embassy in Paris it was agreed that the airport was safe and I could just fly in, stay in the airport and then fly out to Ghana.  There was only a small hitch.  The airlines would not sell me a ticket without a Ghana visa. I again called the American Embassy.  The woman there knew Arnie and set me up with the Peace Corp who sent a driver for me and let me stay in the empty peace corp hoste.  They also loaned me money to get a visa and took me to an ATM.  The Peace Core people were all leaving by car since the planes to Ghana just kept candceling there flights.  I decided to do the same and left at 3PM, took a 2 hour drive to the border in a nice car wwith nice driver.  Then I took a taxi across the border and got a Badjan which is filthy,wreced jalopy with eitht adults and three small children for 9 hours and then a taxi to the 5 star hotel where Arnie was. The only trouble I had was a thief frisked me and stole my book(just a paperback novel, not my bird book) and travel pillow out of the seat of the taxi at 2:30am in the pouring rain. I yelled at him to bring back my book I hadn't finished it.  In the pouring rain when he discovered he had nothing of value he brought it back and said sorry as he handed it thru a slit inthe window.
     I haven't really birded, but I have added about 10-15 lifers including 2 sunbirds, a horenbill, and a parrot. 
                        Dana

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