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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Impressions
of Ghana by Ken Gambier Why Ghana? people asked when I told them where we were going on holiday. It was not easy to explain as it is not one of the popular destinations. We wanted to go somewhere warm in February without travelling too far, we love Africa but hadn't been to West Africa before, and the itinerary with its game viewing, slave-trade castles and walking in the tropical rain forest sounded attractive. So off we went, and here are my impressions of that small country. Tourism seems to be largely undeveloped apart from the coastal strip including Accra, the beach resorts and the castles, and even there they have not really got their act together. There are relatively few places to change money, travellers cheques are not accepted in most banks, and credit cards cannot be used to pay for meals. It is still very much a cash-based society. I changed US$300 at Accra airport on arrival and received over 1 million cedis in 5000 cedi notes, the largest in circulation. Each note was worth about $1.40 or 85p. There are a few tourist gift shops but postcards to send home are in short supply. We were in a party of 16 tourists, the majority British but with four American ladies and one German lady. All were experienced travellers but we were not entirely prepared for some of the privations we were to encounter. Perhaps the worst was the one night when we camped, in order to visit a village near a monkey sanctuary. We had just about enough time to erect our tents before it got dark, the promised mattresses did not appear and the camp was ten minutes walk in the dark from the primitive ablutions. Few of us slept much that night. On another occasion we arrived hot and sweaty just before dusk to stay in a "simple hotel" to find that the running water and electricity did not come on until nightfall, so we had to splash around with buckets of water. We had been warned about malarial mosquitoes but did not encounter any, which was fortunate as the mesh on the doors and windows was often not adequate. The mosquito killer tablets worked only for the few hours in the evening that the power was on. There were no hooks to hang mosquito nets and one evening when I felt vulnerable I draped a net over two bedside cabinets, one either side of the bed. All the hotels had seen better days and had not been maintained at the higher standard they had once known. The roads outside the major towns of Accra and Kumasi were unmetalled and were very dusty, this being the dry season. The shade temperature most days was in the 30s and much higher in the direct sun. After a few days the air-conditioning in the bus broke down and we had to have the windows open. Our clothes got filthy in a few hours and had to be rinsed through every evening. This was not always easy without hot running water. Having said all this there were some real highlights of the tour. The people in the more remote places were very friendly and the masses of children were delightful. They knew we were coming and waited expectantly to crowd round the bus when it stopped. They all wanted to shake hands and the smaller children walked round the village holding our hands. The usual routine was for the tour leader to be taken to the village chief to be introduced and to state the purpose of our visit. A bottle of schnapps and a fistful of cedis helped the village elders come to a swift decision that we should be allowed to tour the village. We carried bottles of water on the bus and we each bought at least one bottle a day. The plastic empties were stored to be handed out at our stops where there was a scramble for possession by the local children. Our Ghanaian driver was excellent and negotiated carefully round all the potholes in the roads. There were some long journeys and one day he drove for over eight hours to gain a round of applause on arrival at the other end. The Volta river has been dammed to create a large lake in the centre of the country, and touring Ghana involves a long drive around its perimeter. One day we walked about three kilometres to see the 60m Wli Falls, said to be the highest in West Africa. We had to cross the Agumatsa river nine times either wading or over tree bridges. Some of the group swam in the pool under the falls but the water was quite shallow and rather cold. In Mole National Park in northern Ghana there was the exciting prospect of seeing wild animals but there was no transport to take us round the park. No doubt in time someone will provide the capital to buy 4X4 vehicles to develop the park's attractions but at the moment safaris have to be carried out on foot. This limits the range to about to 4 or 5 kilometres from the accommodation. Nevertheless we saw several elephants, some crocodiles, many baboons, antelopes and warthogs in that small area. It is quite an experience to walk within 50 metres of an elephant with only a ranger's rifle for protection. The rangers know all the elephants and their dispositions, and will only take tourists near the friendly ones. One old bull with only a single tusk was kept at a distance. All the 15 castles and forts of the Ghana coast have been designated World Heritage Monuments by UNESCO. We visited Fort Metal Cross, Elmina Castle and Cape Castle, all of which had been used to accommodate slaves waiting to be shipped abroad. The guides were frank about the part played by African traders in collecting slaves together for sale to the Portuguese, Dutch and British slave traders. They showed us the terrible conditions in which the slaves were held and told some harrowing stories of their treatment. By comparison the accommodation for the European officers was of a high standard. We spent two nights and the day between at Busua beach resort which was very upmarket compared with the simple hotels we had been staying in. The accommodation was excellent and everything worked. The prices of drinks and meals were correspondingly higher but we could still eat well for £5 a head. We walked (as advised) in the company of a security guard to nearby Dixcove to see the fishing boats unload their catches and prepare the fish for the local market. We had fresh tuna for dinner that evening and it was delicious. We visited Kakum National Park with its natural tropical rainforest and heard how it is being conserved to prevent the hardwoods from being felled for export. We enjoyed the aerial walkway 40 metres above the ground which gives a good view over the forest canopy. The walkway is said to be one of only a very few in the world. We were a little disappointed to see no animals or birds from our lofty view but did see some colourful butterflies. It is a very poor country. Encyclopaedia Britannica records that in September 1998 the exchange rate was 2325 cedis to the US$; when we were there the rate was 3500 cedis so inflation is high. EB states that the GNP per capita in 1996 was US$360, so one can make assumptions about today's rate; what I changed at the airport was probably nearly a year's average income for a Ghanaian. The UK figure for 1996 was US$19,600 or over 50 times more. It was the British colony of Gold Coast until 1957 and English is still the official language. The tribal system is still much in evidence and chiefs sit on specially designed stools as a definition of their status. So strong is the attachment of the tribe to their stool that in 1896 the Ashantis allowed their King Prempeh I to be deported to the Seychelles rather than risk the loss of their Golden Stool by fighting to defend him. In 1900 the British Governor of the Gold Coast went to Kumasi and demanded the surrender of the Golden Stool. The Ashantis refused and went to war with the British as a result. There is no official religion in Ghana but the Christians are in the majority, particularly in the south. In the north it is mainly Moslem and most villages have a mosque. At Larabanga there is a very old - possibly 13th century - mud/stick mosque with minarets and painted walls. We were invited to see it and take photographs but were not allowed inside. There are some Ghanaians with animist beliefs who hold monkeys sacred. We flew both
ways by Ghana Airways, daytime flights with seats to spare, a very comfortable
journey. The weather was fine on both occasions so we had a good view
of the Sahara desert and of Spain, the snow-covered Pyrenees and France. First published in VISA issue 37 (summer 2000) |