Easter Road Trip

4 days, 5 hours queuing, one ferry, one waterfall, one ‘mountain’, beach, lagoon, hundreds of pot holes (and quite a few pot heads), 12 litres of water downed, countless beers and one police 'fine'.

Stage 1 – Accra to Senchi

One of only two bridges crossing the Volta river in Ghana has been closed for repairs, being replaced by a pontoon to cater for the majority of vehicles trying to reach the eastern most region of Ghana, Volta region.  We thought how bad can it be?  We’ll get up early.  No one will be travelling on Good Friday, surely everyone will be in church.  Oh how wrong we were!

Entertainment provided by an overloaded bus

Two hours in and attempting a nap

 5 hours later, crossing the Volta!

Stage 2 – Senchi to Peki

After the pontoon, the next challenge was the bumpiest road experienced in Ghana.  Yet again another improvement project behind schedule, leaving one of the main roads in the region only one lane wide in places and incredibly pot-holed.

We arrived at Roots Lodge just in time for the heavens to open – so the only solution was to have a beer and wait out the storm, before putting up our tent in the muddy garden.  It was a wonderful place to spend two nights – vegan food, a very friendly kitten, a fantastic morning views across the valley.

 Biblical rainstorm!

Stage 3 – Wli Waterfalls
 

Wli, apparently the highest waterfalls in West Africa, were our destination for day two.  Back on the bumpy road heading north to Hohoe, and then a dirt road towards the border with Togo, led us to a small village with the sound of the falls in the background.  Like true adventurers we decided to aim high and go for the trek to the upper falls.  Our guide was in flip flops, but we needed trainers, walking sticks and 3 litres of water to get us to the top and back down.  Our efforts were totally rewarded with fantastic views of the falls and the valley below, as well as a refreshing dip under the falls at the bottom.

 View of the Upper Falls from the path

 Sweaty hiker!

 Swimming at the Lower Falls

Stage 4 – Hike to the top of Ghana

Volta region is also home to Ghana’s highest point, Mount Afadjato, 885 metres high.  Nothing too high here (although at the top we encountered a young Ghanaian announcing he would be off to conquer Everest next!).  With only a few hours of daylight left we raced up to the top to be welcomed by a glimpse of Lake Volta in the distance, and disappointingly a higher hill next door in Togo. 

Stage 5 – Peki to Keta

Sunday was a long day in the car, but with so much to see!  We took a long dirt road down from the town of Ho to the banks of the Volta river, through lots of small villages and around hills appearing from nowhere.  The national park turned out to be something of a disappointment (the ‘wildest’ animals we spotted were some cows with rather large horns), some kites above us and a few suicidal goats trying to cross the road.

After 5 hours bumping around in Bertha, we finally arrived at our destination, Emancipation Beach, Keta.  Shade, water and some yam chips was all that we needed, and I have to say we didn’t move for the next couple of hours, despite being plagued by two dogs and a drunk (all three were pretty friendly).  

Once the temperature had dropped low enough for us to come out of hibernation, we took an evening stroll along the beach.  Fishing boats, sunset and the waves would have provided a romantic setting, apart from the men squatting for a poo at the water’s edge.  We made a quick retreat back to our shade for a beer, the dogs and some new traveller friends.

Stage 6: Keta to Home

Monday morning arrived, which meant time to wrap up our holiday with a final dip in the sea, a lazy breakfast on the beach and a quick look around the sights of Keta that we had been too hot and sweaty to visit the day before.  The main attractions, apart from the beach, include a light house which looked like it should belong in a Doctor Who episode and the lagoon, where fishermen were busy bringing in their catch of the day.  After a coconut stop and Bertha almost getting stuck in the sand it was time to hit the road and head back to Accra, with our new friends also on-board.

Fish drying at the side of the lagoon

 

Of course, after such a fantastic weekend, there had to be one fly in the suncream – police stop!  After a frantic hunt for our driving licence (finally located in a ‘safe’ place), an inspection of our fire extinguisher, first aid kit and triangle, we were fined for driving in flip flops and asked for a heavy bribe…  So with our wallet lighter and our hearts heavier we trudged back to the city, reflecting that life in Ghana really is a rollercoaster.

 Overloaded bus!

If you go down to the beach today…

With the boy away in Niger for 5 days and an empty weekend, empty house and the offer of a girls trip to the beach, I hopped on a trotro early on Saturday morning to visit one of Ghana’s main tourist attractions, Cape Coast.  While it is big for its Castle (one of the largest slave holding sites in the world, back in the day), I spent most of my weekend people watching on the beach.

The main beach attraction is the resident pig family!  Who knew, pigs seem to like the beach for the opportunities for foraging among the piles of litter, as well as taking a quick dip in the sea.  Well I enjoyed it, so I guess why not!

Second on the amusement list had to be the large number of American kids in town.  There is a cruise ship that does a ‘Semester at Sea’, which seemed to be large groups of young adults getting very drunk on cheap alcohol and playing drinking games that were probably only just acceptable in college bars.  Against the back drop of the cultural dancers at the bar, it was a total assault on eyes and ears.

Third on the list has to be the fishing boats battling their way out to sea.  The waves along this coast, and the subsequent under tow, and pretty big and getting one of these boats out there looks like a lot of work.  I am surprised we didn’t see any go over.  By late morning they were coming back with hauls of fish to be sold straight from the beach.

 Lastly part of the charm and beauty of Cape Coast is in the colonial buildings, now mostly run down and shabby, many painted in the bright colours of various mobile phone companies. 

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom, Confucius

Three months after touch down in Accra and it was time to set myself a new challenge – new job!  The first day was like being the new kid at school, dressed smartly, hair brushed (only big days see the hairbrush come out) and nerves if I would be able to find my way to the office and be there on time.  I had gotten horribly lost on my way to the interview and had arrived 30 minutes late, dusty and sweaty – not a mistake to be repeated again.

So what can I say of week one?  Well, it has been a fast introduction, but so far so good.

A couple of days have been spent planning for some research with female sex workers, who we have a project with in James Town.  James Town is the oldest part of Accra, a fishing community filled with crumbling old colonial buildings, in between the many markets, makeshift houses and open sewers.  Just a 20 minute minibus ride away and you can be in the newly built shopping mall in the centre of town, but it feels as if you could be hundreds of miles away. 

The community centre on the beach front in James Town where a lot of activities with the community here take place.  Drop in and you will find women with babies on their back playing ball, teenagers practicing a drama or young guys drumming and singing.

James Town lighthouse - a beacon for lost boats and lost foreigners!

 I also had the opportunity to travel to Suhum, in Eastern region, about 2 hours away on a very bumpy half-built road squished on a trotro.  It is a small town whose economy is mainly centred on quarrying and cocoa, and the small town centre has the feel of nothing much happening apart from the dusty wind.  In the (as always) grand local government building, my new colleague was leading a training sessions for peer educators from community organisations.  The aim is to train up community peer educators who will then go back to their communities armed with knowledge, the ability to refer people to health services in their area and condoms to sell.  Although the HIV rate is low compared to many sub-Saharan African countries (1.5% in Ghana, compared to 4.9% across sub-Saharan Africa), rates of other STIs is high, as is teenage pregnancy.

The road to Suhum

Here is a link if you want to find out more about where I am working now (as I am also just really getting to grips with it!)

Mid-week football at our local - some things never change

 

Loving the coke bottles here - much better than the UK versions!

The 8th Task of Asterix

A week or so ago I was sent a link which perfectly accurately describes dealing with any kind of bureaucracy here in Ghana.  In the ‘Les Douze travaus d’Astérix’ (The Twelve Tasks of Asterix), Asterix and Obelix are set twelve arduous deeds.  While some of them sound more fun, such as running, javelin throwing, crossing a lake and eating, number 8 is by far the worst: ‘Find permit A38 in ‘The place that sends you mad’.  As all good information comes from Wikipedia – which describes this place as ‘a mind-numbing multi-storey building founded on bureaucracy and staffed by clinically unhelpful people who direct all their clients to other similarly unhelpful people elsewhere’.  If you are better than French than me, or like me don’t mind watching cartoons where you don’t understand what is being said, there is a great little clip from the movie here.

Apart from the multi-storey aspect, this is a pretty everyday reality of dealing with the realm of officialdom in Ghana.  After being in the country 60 days you need to either leave or get an extension – for me my time is up on 9 April, so cue a trip to Immigration to bargain with my passport and cash to be able to stay in Ghana.

Step 1 – Get someone to give you an official looking letter, original signed copies only.  Headed paper goes down especially well.  Check thoroughly for the smallest of mistakes as these will be thrown out immediately.  

Step 2 – Make friends with as many people as possible at the Immigration office.  They will probably only be friendly because they think you will give them dash, but it is totally worth it to have someone to tell you exactly what to do.  Learn some names, crack a few jokes and try you Twi out – if you get a smile in return you’re winning.

Step 3 – Since January, Ghana has introduced a mandatory ‘Non-Citizen ID Card’ for all foreign nationals staying for a period of more than 90 days in Ghana.  Without this card, pretty much everything else is impossible.  So every year that’s $120 for a piece of plastic bearing my grinning mug and date of birth.  To make the experience better, the interviewer asked me out on a date and the data entry guy did the classic ‘sex – yes’ joke.

Step 4 – Fill out all of the same information again, on a different form, and hand it over to your new friend, again with another mug shot and more cash.  Your new friend will then ask more lunch/dinner/water etc. money.  Depending on how soon you want your passport back pretty much depends on how much to give.  When I needed in back in 2 days, I think I probably fed him and his family for a week.

Step 5 – Pray you get your passport back, and in the meantime don’t need it for anything.  I am at this stage, so if you have any spare room in your prayers please think of my little passport floating around somewhere in the world of red tape.  Here’s to hoping it will be out in a month!