Hohoe

Ho and Hohoe are not far from each other, so we took the long way round. As it became a habit we again missed a turn somewhere. No worries, we got there. The womens-cooperative-pottery on the way at Kpando (reason for the detour) had some nice things, so we bought some, and left one we paid for behind :( (didn't realise until Ouaga - a bit far to go back)

 Checked in, changed rooms because the airco didn't work and went of to the falls before dark. A 30 minutes drive, 40 minutes walk through the forest. The falls are higher than the one in Banfora (Burkina), they give a big cloud, where I stand in the picture it is like taking a shower, nice and refreshing, but wet. After a quick clothes change and putting my shirt on inside-out we had dinner in a small place where we got some friendly advice from two girl who came from where we going. A slight difference is that they travelled on the back of a pick-up and by local mini bus. It took them two looong days and they looked rather broken. The photos they had showed some pothole, but as they did it by local transport our 4 x 4 should manage.

Do these falls make me look fat?

[additional text by Hazel]

Back at the hotel, after dinner we faffed around, made a point of asking for a second towel, and top sheets, washed our dirty feet in the bidet, and lounged round semi-undressed reading and drinking tea as part of our evening wind down, when out of the corner of my eye I did spy a rat! we went and asked the evening receptionist for help, but we couldn't find it - so ended up dressing and relocating to the original room we'd had, where the airco was now working. I was relieved that the guy understood that we wouldn't want to sleep in the same room as a rat, but was peeved that we were apologising for being trouble, rather than the hotel grovelling

the rat did not help us to maintain sanity

Ho (a town, not an order)

After a wrong turn in Tema we found our way north.

scenic view of Volta

We stopped at Akosombo on lake Volta for a portion of redred  and fish after looking at the dam. After lunch we continued of the nice bridge toward Ho. Redred as a dish with could turn out many different ways in general it is beans with 'stuff'. This one was rather nice. And that it came with aloco made me choose is. Aloco is fried plantain (banana) and could be considered my favourite dish.

the dam - couldn't get much closer

the bridge

Hazel wanted to buy the whole beads-shop that we passed in Kpong as the prices were at least half of those in Accra. She managed to get away with just one bag full, as compensation I had to buy a mask.

It is amazing that two people can fill a whole car; A big metal trunk from Kumasi, wine and cruesli from Accra and of course our fridge, kettle, tea and coffee. Our clothes seem to take the least space of all. And we still had a pottery to go to.

The hotel in the book has over 100 rooms, chances are there will be one free.
How wrong we were. A congress booked all rooms. In reception a couple we met at the Safari lodge was there and a bloke was talking to them. It turned out the bloke was the owner. He gave all of us a tour including the american that was building a statue of him for him. So: a very modest man. It has to be said that he seemed to know what he was doing, and he was doing well. He offered us a room in the annex, where normally his visitors and interns stay. We didn't mind.

Accra, aaa crawl

We left at a reasonable time from Cape Coast to go a few hundred K to Accra. As expected we didn't get into Accra as we thought, somehow we missed the ringroad, I think I know now where we missed the turn. 15.00 at Kwame Nkruma roundabout (we think). So only a few miles to go. We didn't realise walking would be faster. Standing in the traffic jam there is not much to do other then philosophise: thank the lord for airco and why don't they sell bags to wee in? In the traffic jam we were able to buy snacks, water, drinks, steering wheels, carpets... I think somebody was selling his mother. But what do you do when nature calls? Wonder how locals solve this problem and how the Trotros (taxi minibus) smell.

The first hotel was not quite what we were looking for and as we wanted to spend some days in Accra a nice hotel would be no luxury. So after checking a few we ended up in a more upmarket hotel, Roots with a little kitchenette.

Fancy room

Sea view

love the view into the roofless house

Next day we went to the mall - South African supermarket fun! Yeah. unfortunately the mall is at the last roundabout out of town and the exit was not super clear. So we ended up following the road well out of town with no opportunity to turn.

We ate and drank incredibly well - homemade bacon sandwiches in the morning, and occasional forays into fast food because we could - I mean who doesn't love KFC?














Sorry, not many real photo-opportunities in Accra apart from this photo service. It turned out a bit blue, that is my smartphone trying to compensate.



The National Cultural centre was a big tourist market, complete with quasi-rastas telling you they knew you wanted no hassle, but insisting you went to their shop. We followed, we ignored, and we went our own way, our aliases Rachel and John weren't very good at paying attention to them calling us.

Part of the fun in another country we find the TV programmes. We saw "Who wants to be rich?" They can't afford to promise 1 million Cedi (500.ooo Pound, 450.000 Euro), the maximum was only about 50.000 Cedi. At least now we know that the Ghanees president Kwame Nkruma died in April 1972.

Kakum. Me Tarzan, you Jane

After some, too little, relaxation time at the beach we went to do something active and scary.

The biggest attraction of Kakum national park is the treetop walkways. We were not too sure about the concept knowing how maintainance is looked upon here. But at arriving we trusted the ropes enough to risk our lives. It is funny being high above the ground looking from a monkeys perspective.
































We slept in Hans Botel, a hotel with a restaurant built over a pond with crocs in. And a lot of bird, amongst which a flock of weaver birds.

The crocs are fed and therefore not really dangerous, but a nice photo-opportunity.

I see the sea

The road from Kumasi to the coast is a mixture of all sorts of roads. Some part you have to navigate around the holes, or stay behind a very slow truck which is zig-zagging. Other parts you can go as fast as you feel safe to go. The map in the Bradt guide turned out to have the wrong scale, so the 100 km from Cape Coast is actually a lot more than 100 km, a problem we would come across again on the last day of our holidays. Because of this and the fact that we missed the ringroad around Takoradi we arrived after dark in Busua. A good excuse to stay at a 4 star hotel in stead of the idyllic cottage hotel a few km further. The huge hotel was all empty except us and two people we saw at breakfast. It was not tourist season, but that is not a reason not to serve your guests and overprice the mediocre food. They almost got the concept of an infinity pool, unfortunately they built a childrens playtower right between the pool and the ocean.

The next day we drove not far to Safari beach lodge. Just as well we didn't do it in the dark half an hour slowly from hole to hole. The journey was worth it though. A nice semi-open free standing room with fan, eco toilet and outside shower.

Our Safari style room

open air shower

The owner remember a colleague staying there, the name didn't ring a bell, but when he showed us the name he was using the middle name and of course I don't know the middle name of all my colleagues. The only downside of staying there was the noisy ocean. It was not a constant rumble, but more a big wave every now and then, even though you know it, it still wakes you sometimes.

Hanging out

 On the way down we were offered various foodstuffs by the road - one we didn't manage to capture was the baskets full of giant land snails ...mmm protein

Adanwomase

After Kumasi we spent the morning at a community based tourism project which showed us the traditional Kente cloth weaving

 Its a complex and time consuming business, only done by men.  I have seen similar weaving here in Ouaga, but it was the women weaving conversely...

flowers and pods on the tree at the same time

 we also took a village walk - seeing the cocoa plantation, and eating a taste of the cocoa fruit - sweet and tangy

cocoa nibs drying in the sun

sad tourists swaddled in Kente

 Mid - morning snack - yummy donut / olieball things

Kumasi

The drive from Wa to Kumasi was not very eventful, roads varied from reasonable dirtroad to good tarmac.













The differences with Burkina were small. Just some small differences we noticed:

Women sitting sideways as a passenger on motos. More tin roofs on houses (more wealth). Girls with very short hair, we assume obligatory by school. Worse roads. People speaking bad english instead of reasonable french.

Our arrival in Kumasi was some sort of adventure. As often we had no clue where the map started and had to get some sense of the scale. This is very difficult when there are no streetnames and no big landmarks. Later it turned out that the map was wrong as well. Kumasi was a lot bigger than I expected.


At some point I saw what seems to be the largest wasteground ever with people walking amidst junk and some small rubbish fires. Than the street turned into a market. We were stuck in between sellers, pedestrians and taxis either not moving or pushing their way in every direction. We guessed this should be the centre. With some luck and asking we did find the hotel we were aiming for.












love the shoe display!














The owner of the hotel explained the situation to us. The market had just been cleared that week. The marketsellers, mostly ladies, were offered a place in the new market, but they refused due to the increased price. So with no place to go the market has moved to the surrounding streets, creating chaos. As the hotel was right next to the market it is bad business for them.

The next (sunday)morning we noticed we were in a christian area of town, singing next door. We went to the cultural centre around the corner. The restaurant was not open, even if the sign said so. So, off to the streets to find something to eat, and we did. We thought we could eat it there, but the girl made it a take away. We took it to eat at the cultural centre grounds next to a place where a service was going on. A lot of yelling the same sentence over and over and shouting to 'cheeses' (I think they mean Jesus).
















Black coffee, coffee with milk, pineapple and an omelette sandwich. Tasty, but drinking coffee from a bag is a skill we have yet to master.

We spent quite a lot of time relatively at a local bar, the streets next to the hotel were market, and town itself seemed to be closed for Sunday, its a hard life.

On our exploring we found out why Kumasians are fatter, "NO KEEP FIT" on the road to the airport.

Border controls

In order to see a bit more of Burkina and not to rush straight to the sea in Ghana we took the long way down. The road to Leo (town not person) is as many Burkina road rather uneventful. Leo is a small market town at the border. Almost immediately after Leo the road became a dirtroad after about 15 k we came at the border control. To our surprise the Ghana side of the border! We missed the Burkina side and drove 15 k through no-mans-land illegally. So we had to go up and down the same road again.

How can this happen? A short explanation. In most african countries there are police controls throughout the country, as is the case in Burkina. Here most posts consist of a sign in the middle of the road, or at the side and a policeman (sometimes accompanied by friends) sitting, hanging, drinking tea or lying down. So when there was a small sign after Leo and no sign of an office or even an official we assumed that this was a police post. The customs guy was very surprised; how could we have missed the 20 year old sign 20 meters from the road on an ordinary building? It is a shame you have to be polite to these people and humor is often not appreciated, so we gave a hint the a bigger sign might not be a bad idea.




























The Ghana customs of cause laughed at their Burkinabé collegues and took their time giving us a stamp and papers for the car. Because I forget the letter from the embassy I had to pay a small fee for the car papers, luckily we could pay in Francs, so we got 1 pound worth of change in Ghana Cedis, which at that point was our only local cash.

We were prepared for a lunch on the road so no problem. From part of our fortune we bought a local (sweet) bread. The next small town did not have money changing facilities either.
After a reasonable, but bumpy road we arrived in Wa, not a bid deal, but they did have cash machines. Nowadays you can pin with your Visa card in all of Ghanas bigger towns.