The land of the black star

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There is something wonderfully terrifying about stepping outside your comfort zone for the first time in your life and thrusting your head above the parapet!

Landing in Kotoka Airport,Accra was when I took that plunge. Stepping off the plane into what was my preconceived notion of "Africa".

Of course my notions were all wrong and walking from the plane into a clean and orderly airport arrival terminal wasn't nearly as terrifying as I expected as my senses told me rather ignorantly "This is Africa, don't let your guard down....you've seen this place on T.V!"

Oh how foolish I feel now. Of course I had read that the relative safety and mostly "developed/Western" facilities (I hate both those phrases) are what lends Ghana its mocking title of "Africa Light".....the diet choice for an "Africa Virgin".



The queue at the Airport filtered through rather quickly and a finger print scan of my digits was done and (faster than most airports in Ireland and the U.K) away I went into the warm night air of Accra.

The bus ride from the airport to the hostel was much shorter than expected. You see, Kotoka is pretty much dead centre of the "city zone" of Accra. So along the well paved motorway we went in a Toyota Hi-ace bus. The journey to the "Pink Hostel" only took about ten minutes. The hostel is located in the southern suburbs of the city centre and is at the upper end of hostels in the city.

The first two nights we stayed there the AC didn't work, not that it bothered me much, but it took a slight readjustment when compared to sleeping in the Irish climate!

Lights out on night one in Africa........





A piece of advice I would give to anyone visiting Accra on a (backpackers) budget; stay away from the supposed "Higher end" hostels/hotels etc. They are not worth the money paid for them. I would suggest you seek out a hostel run by a charity and support them and also get a friendly and basic service. My pick of Accra's places to stay would have to be the Salvation Army hostel which is smack bang in the city centre. Extremely basic facilities but the people are friendly the hostel is very secure and safe and its convenient for grabbing an early morning tro-tro(bus) If you've been out in the wilder regions with a bland diet of banku and kenke you'll also enjoy the fact that a some fast food eateries are close at hand to fatten yourself up again!

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