Dawadawa

while we were in our fancy suite in Accra we enjoyed watching the Ghanaian channels, and I really enjoyed a cookery program, proudly sponsored by Onga (stock cubes and sauce mixes).  The guest chef was from the Northern region and cooked some specialties.  She talked about a seasoning/spice used regularly called dawadawa - which she added in powdered form to a dish.

On my birthday in Bolgatanga I saw dawadawa rice on the menu - and thought - why not?

If only I'd known the French, or English name for dawadawa since I would have stuck to vegetable rice! Fermented dried seeds of the African locust bean, known here in BF as Soumbala and sold in balls at the market- the ladies call it Maggi africaine (african oxo cubes?) - protein rich, and with reputed health benefits from diabetes to heart disease, it is very much in the same kind of seasoning as Thai/Vietnamese fish sauce - savoury / salty / smelly to be used with discretion.

yes they do resemble turds

Discretion was not used on my rice. Just lots of dawadawa and some extra added hot sauce to render it utterly inedible.  We didn't take a photo. It was a plate of greasy grey rice.

Luckily we had provisions in the hotel room, since it was by this time too late to try and order something else. Cup a soup to the rescue!

Post-Ghana post, with post news

The north of Ghana, especially our incredibly long drive from Hoehoe to Tamale, and the escarpment really brought memories of our truck journey back in 95 flooding back.  There has not been much development there, especially relative to the rest of the country, so some villages still have no electricity, roads are not tarmacked, rooves are thatched and water is pumped at the well.



there were times driving along, which for me - felt right - the sounds and smells were so familiar. Africa definitely got in my blood all those years ago.

In case any of you are wondering about the choices available to us on the list for the next posting, so are we. Due to reasons (ministry speak) the posting list has been delayed by a month.  Good thing we didn't come back early from our holiday in order to download it. Oh wait. We did.

Anyway, the rollercoaster starts again on the 25th. Possibly.

Roadside

Lots of our time in Ghana was in the car, so a lot of our experiences were viewed through the windscreen. We of course took photos..

each red traffic light was a shopping possibility

lots of stools, racks, tables etc

the road / market to our hotel in Kumasi

a truck full of bikes - the load was coming off and all traffic detoured via the Shell station

the blue bagged food was popular at the coast - still unsure what it is

palm oil for sale - used everywhere!

petrol station

donkeys have largely been replaced by these 3 wheelers in Ghana

good to see boys doing their own laundry

schoolkids mucking round

cuties

cushions and wreaths - the village roadside was full of them

school trip to collect wood?

winnowing in the wind

public conveniences

Add caption

footy match

What a fate I need Medical back!

I looked through some more of the Ghana pics, and here are some signs.  As always for each one we managed to capture there were 50 more we did not...

??? - what a fate

oddly sinister schoolyard sign

Food joints and Chop bars everywhere selling chicken and rice

...what could it be?

note the placement next to the open (but covered) drains

Church signs next to the mosque - it seems very tolerant

MTN's ad campaign

I don't think it would work in Europe..

Going home

Yet again a small detour. Now to see a women cooperative. This one was visited by Kofi Anan, the former UN secretary general. I have to say that some of the pots they sold looked like they were painted by me, and that is not a compliment. I do support the fact that these women try to make a living for themselves by selling homemade pots, but if you do not have the skills, please try something else.That said, Hazel managed to find a couple of baskets.

Just to make sure that if the police want to check our car we really have a problem. On our whole trip we were actually only stopped once, he asked us what we had, and we couldn't really answer, as it was a weird combination of everything from cookies and wine to tourist crap to our clothes. He decided not to check. Other police men who initially wanted to stop us let us drive on when they saw the license plate. I don't like to missuse our status with CD plates but.... Who am I kidding, I like the fact that we do not get stopped and I am not demanding to get stopped like other people.

The border was once again as clear as mud. We first stopped at the wrong police man at the Ghana side. The Burkinabé man was surprised that we didn't understand the system, clearly him sitting at the side of the road and a building 20 meters further with no signs on it were the border. It really wanted to tell him what I thought of his system, but I really wanted to get across the border without problems more. Several people seemed to drive up to the man, say something and were allowed to cross without showing anything or stamping anything, I do wonder what they said.

Being on the road we know we didn't expect anything, but were pleasantly surprised to see some monkeys crossing the road.

Finally, had a good holiday, but BED SWEET BED. Or in Dutch: zo als het (de WC) thuis zit, zit het nergens.

Bolgatanga

It is not polite to take the pi$$ out of place names. Specially if you come from a country with names as Best, Enter and Helmond (hellmouth), but it has to be said we came across some funny ones. For example I was making some santa noises in Hohoe.

The loyal reader of previous blogs might spot a pattern, we took a detour from Tamale to Bolgatanga (Bolga). As mentioned earlier the maps in the Bradt are not always to the right scale. So we could have known, and maybe I you can guess what comes next. Indeed, it took longer than expected. But it was a lovely trip through mountainous areas and some flat plains. As we were in the border area we wondered if we could see Togo and maybe even Burkina.













We had a cup of tea with cake for Hazels birthday at the best spot with a great view.

A sign - so we had to take a picture!

corrogated road - how does that happen??

Road?

We were warned! The road from Hoehoe to Tamale is bad.
It started with tarmac with holes, which is bad, because the tend to have sharp edges. Then we had dirt with muddy puddles, this made the car move in the wrong direction on a couple of occasions, but if you go slow, no problem.

The worst was the hard, stony roads as they give very uneven holes and make you bounce every ways conceivable and going faster than 20 km/h is impossible unless you want to end up in the backseat.














At first glance no problem, but look closely and imagine miles/hours of this.
















At least the locals agreed with us that the government should do something about this road. This is the main road for the whole east of the country!

The guide gave us not many options to stay overnight. So we had decided to stay in Nkwanta a third of the way to Tamale.

We played cloud games - is it a snail or a whale?

We arrived at the hotel in Nkwanta at 10.30 and looked at each other: spending a whole day in the middle of nowhere? Or??? Do we risk it? So, we decided to probably take the wrong decision and push on for Tamale. We were very fortunate that it didn't rain. I can imagine with limited visibility that we had to add a day easily as it is essential to see the potholes. Every bone in our bodies had been shaken and abused, but we were oddly exhilarated.

We made it just after dark to Tamale, where we had a lovely indian dinner. This was a bit spicy, but we found the local Ghanese food mostly overspiced, it would have been nice if they made it without the pili pili. One time we even had to leave the food it was so bad.

In Tamale itself the next day we spent the morning sweating and visiting the market, supermarkets and tourist market.

I almost forgot to say. It is a shame the roads are so bad, because the east of Ghana is definitely the most beautiful part of the country. Green, lush, hilly. I really enjoyed it.