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Travel notes from Accra
Hi Everyone
Leaving Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and heading to Ghana wasn't quite as
straightforward as you might expect. The over Landers didn't get their
vehicle fixed for Monday morning so I headed to Ghana on local transport
rather than hitching a ride.
For a start there doesn't seem to be any Burkina buses doing the route
across the border to Ghana. All the major bus companies had their own
depots dotted around the city rather than sharing a central station, which
made finding a bus that much harder. On Sunday night I rode around the city
in a taxi between bus stations and finally ended up at the Ghana State
Transport Company office in down town. (The STC motto is, 'We will get you
there alive'). The office was closed but I found the information I needed
on fares and departure times.
Monday morning my taxi driver from the previous night met me outside the
hotel at 06.00 at drove me to the gare routiere and dropped off at the STC
bus stand. I still did not have a ticket and there was no ticket office in
sight. Eventually the bus turned up and I managed to buy a ticket from the
driver. I bought a ticket through to Kumasi towards the south of Ghana but
intended to get off either at Bolgatanga or Tamale.
The border crossing took a while with a busload of passengers to get
through immigration but after a couple of hours we were on our way again.
As we drove south through the savannah landscape I finally decided that I
would go to Tamale. I arrived just as the sun was setting, that was enough
travelling for one day.
Tamale is a northern crossroads town, not a lot of interest. Over dinner I
sat down to plan out what I would do for my two weeks in Ghana. The idea of
spending some time relaxing on a beach at the end of this journey appealed
to me and I heard of a nice beach resort about 100km east of Accra, which is
only accessible by canoe. Rather than spending time in the north of the
country I headed the next day by STC bus to Kumasi, the heart of the Ashanti
region.
On the bus I met a veteran traveller from Norway, Kjell and we travelled for
the next few days together. As we travelled south from Tamale the
vegetation changed dramatically from savannah grasslands to tropical forest.
This change happened in the space of about 20km. The weather changed just
as dramatically, we went from blue skies to cloudy and overcast as we reached
the forest.
There is a lot to do and see in and around Kumasi. We spent a day in the
city doing the sights and looking at a couple of museums. We went along to
Manhyia Palace Museum, which was interesting enough. While we were there
the Ashanti King, who now lives in a new palace next door, was having an
audience with the British High Commissioner. From the upstairs of the palace
we had an excellent view of the King walking across the lawns to meet his
guests.
Around Kumasi we went to the Bobiri forest reserve for a days hiking in the
small protected patch of virgin rainforest. The trails were not well mapped
so we spent about three hours following a trail into the forest and back
again. We also went out to Lake Bosumtwi, a crater lake surrounded by 400m
hills and rainforest where it is safe to swim. Both these places we visited
as day trips from Kumasi.
Ghana is a very cheap country to travel around, far cheaper than the
previous countries I have visited on this trip. The exchange rate is approx
10,000 cedis to £1. Example of some prices; hotel room 20,000, pint of beer
4,000, meal in a decent restaurant 18,000, taxi ride across town 2,000,
haircut 3,000.
To make a change we took the overnight train from Kumasi down to the coast
at Takoradi. The first class sleeper cost 15,000. The journey took about
14 hours (the bus does it in about 4 hours!) The train lurched and rattled
its way through the night winding its way through the forest. It was a very
relaxing way to travel with the warm tropical night air blowing in through
the window.
When we arrived in Takoradi we hired a private taxi to take us to Cape Coast
about 75km east along the coast. The taxi cost 55,000. Cape Coast is
famous for its castle by the sea in the centre of town. It was from here
that the slave trade to the Americas and Europe was organised. Visiting the
dungeons in the castle, which held 500 slaves at a time, was a sobering
experience. The dungeons still feel dank, dark and damp. Not the kind of
place you would want to spend any time.
To the north of Cape Coast is the Kakum National Park. Its main attraction
(apart from trees) is a canopy rope walkway suspended in the trees. It
certainly gave a different perspective to the forest. The walkway is about
350m long and rather wobbly. We also took a guide for a walk into the
forest who pointed out all the various trees and what they are used for,
either timber or medicine or both.
The humidity on the coast and in the forest was very high and I have never
sweated so much as I did while walking around the forest. The temperatures
are still around 32'c in the shade. One day the temp dropped to 28'c and it
actually felt rather cool. I think I will be suffering when I return to
London next weekend.
Today I took an early morning minibus from Cape Coast to Accra, the capital
of Ghana. Kjell was dropped just before Accra to head to a beach resort to
the west of the city. Tomorrow I shall head east to find my deserted beach
to relax on for a few days before returning to Accra next weekend to do some
shopping and catch my flight home.
This is an exciting week in Ghana, its election time. Generally it's not a
good idea to be in a West African country while elections are being held as
things can become unstable. At the moment everything seems okay. There are
a lot of political rallies and marches around the towns and cities. The
only trouble I have seen so far was in Cape Coast. We were walking up a
road and a political march came the other way. Someone in the crowd began
fighting and it wasn't long until rocks were being hurled in the street. We
discreetly disappeared down a back street to avoid the fighting.
Both presidential and parliamentary elections are being held on Thursday 7th
December. I'll probably be either on a beach lazing under a shady palm tree
or I'll be sailing up the River Volta to Akosombo. Whatever I'll listen in
to the radio and hear what's going on.
Anyway, that's all for now,
Regards
Geoff.
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