Blogs from Lake Volta, Volta, Ghana, Africa

Two days of flying and we are in Accra. It's dark, hot and humid. We are greeted by Armstrong, brightly dressed, helpful and smiling. The hotel is cool, the bed soft. In the morning we are greeted by more smiling, helpful people. In the hotel, in the street, in the market. We wander through the city to the coast - no real beach in Accra, just a rocky shore. Everywhere ladies sit on the roadside selling food, stationery, hardware, clothes. Ancient minibuses rattle past, hooting and belching diesel smoke. It is over 30 degrees and the humidity is near 100%. We don't so much sweat as melt. The next day we are off to the Millet Festival at Odumase. We arrive just as the parade of chiefs is starting. First come the lowest ranking chiefs, walking ... read more

13:24 The Boat trip was fantastic!! There were so many amazing sights and people and most of all animals. It cost 3 USD (United States Dollar) for a 3 hours cruise. I got a great picture of Elephants right up close on the bank of the lake. They were huge! The sailor told me they weigh up to 7500kg. This afternoon I plan 2 go fishing but first I’m going 2 an African Café. ... read more

Here's one about Shia, madventurer's famous little village an hour away from Ho. So when the new volunteers arrived in Ho we (Izzy, Harriet and me) all shipped ourselves into their fancy air-con tro and headed over to Shia. We may have been a little sentimental about leaving Ho but more excited about all the new people and the crazy new project. So we were told we were to help build a new technical block for the local college. This would help the students who were training in carpentry skills. So the main part of the project for us, seeing as we were only there for two weeks was clearing the area, digging the foundations and making bricks. There were a lot of locals eager to help which meant that some of the time we weren't ... read more

Part of Paul Kpai’s vision for economic development of his Have community and surrounding region is to promote tourism in the stunningly beautiful Volta Region. With that in mind, Paul treated Celia, me, and Jason (another Village Volunteer in Have) to a complimentary day tour of some of the most impressive wonders in this vicinity. Lucky me, I got to do the tour again, with the newest volunteer Kim, who is from New York, and is working on “the farm,” the sustainable agriculture project established by Paul about ten years ago. The tour agenda included Wli Waterfalls, highest in West Africa; Amedzofe, the highest human habitation in Ghana; and Tafi-Atome Monkey Sanctuary. A grand tour, indeed. Paul recruited his good friend, Constance and his SRV as chauffeur and tourmobile. Paul ordered lunch prepared for the road, ... read more

The day following our river trek, Paul took us to another river spot, a short drive from Kpeve town. No rice farming in this spot, just the peaceful, quiet beauty of the river, fishermen, boats, and fisher family activity in open huts on the shore. Looking across the river at this place is an island (or what looks to be an island) on which Paul dreams of having an ecotourist resort for all income levels, Ghanaians and international visitors. We had a fun day, unlike no other. In addition to enjoying the river, scenery, boats, and fishermen and family activities, we enjoyed some transportation on Paul’s motorbike. Celia and I travelled to Kpeve (a few short minutes) by trotro, and Paul met us there on his motorbike. He then took each of us, in turn, down ... read more