Welcome to Ghana

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After a long haul through the hot and dry semi-arrid/desert climates of Morocco, Mauritania, Northern Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso, the humidity and greenery of Ghana have been a welcome change of scenery. Our first night in Ghana we bush camped in a field near the Burkina Faso border and had a very interesting experience. The population density is so high over here there is no possibility of finding a bush camp away from local people. Soon after we arrived we were surrounded by teenagers who's father owned the land we planned to camp on. They were very friendly at first, but later on after many people had gone to bed they decided to demand money for letting us stay there. It would have been fine at that - many people have been demanding our money for quite some time - but then they threatened to burn our tents if we didn't comply. It was a scary situation and I'm sure that the threats were as empty as any threats teenagers tend to make in any country, but we didn't want to take any chances and eventually agreed on a small sum of money to keep them happy. Not the best first impression of the country that is supposed to be one of the friendliest in West Africa.

Other benefits to Ghana are that after 5 countries of French speaking people, Ghana is an English speaking nation. It was awkward at first because we caught ourselves a few times trying to speak to the locals in French.

On the way to Mole National Park the next day, we stopped at some beautiful waterfalls for lunch. Ghana is improving...

We should also mention the stop in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city. Here is home to arguably the largest market in West Africa. It is also the place that we spent our 4 year/48 month anniversary (how cute).

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Photos

Waterfalls stage 3
Beautiful setting welcoming us to Ghana.

Waterfalls stage 1
Kathie posing by stage 1 of the Akwaaba waterfalls where we stopped for lunch on our way to Kumasi.

Change of scenery
Finally some greenery. We're definately not in semi-arid desert anymore!

Kejetia Market
In Kumasi, this market is regarded as the largest in West Africa. We decided to watch from above.