Blogs from Northern, Ghana, Africa - page 2

After the mild chaos of my first few days in Ghana, week 2 saw me fall into a fairly steady routine - up at first light, 5.45 (the family are up earlier for their prayers), run or practice Taekwon-do in the small window of time where it is light but not too hot. Breakfast, shower, cycle to work for 8.15. Sit talking to the staff for half an hour or so (it would be very rude here to go straight to your desk and start work - relationships are way more important than this 'efficiency' thing that British workplaces aspire to). I have been working on a manual of financial procedures whilst overseeing their accountant redoing their financial records and producing budget to actual reports for their major project. So it's not all play. Lunch is ... read more

This will be my third and last blog about Ghana. While I was in Kumasi, I visited the Lake Bosomtwe which was formed by a meteorite impact. It’s located about a 45-minute drive by trotro outside of Kumasi and the village Abono lies at its shores. There are a few hotels along the lake and I went to the first one where I sat down and had a drink. Then I walked a little bit along the shore. I had my swimming clothing with me but I didn’t enter the water. I walked further into the direction of the village and there were many locals enjoying a day at the lake: swimming, dancing, eating etc. I just sat down for a while, relax, observed and enjoyed the scene. I continued a bit further where again I ... read more

We departed Abor for the last time in the wee hours of the morning. Our short time at the hospital now complete, we were off for a few days of sightseeing through Ghana before our unfortunate departure home. Our three hour ride back to Accra ensued (most of which I slept through) and when we arrived we met our driver and our guide named Cosmos. Gaby also came by to say hi to us and it was so good seeing him again. We then made our way north for 12 grueling hours. Approaching the north the road was no longer paved and we hit brutal stretches of nausea inducing path, until we finally reached the northern region and Mole National Park. Everyone was so wiped, and thanks to our crammed tro-tro, really sore. Needless to say ... read more

Hey, sorry it has been a while I've been off traveling up north, and haven't had any access to the internet for some time thus this will be a long one! Sorry! I think, for the first time, I'm not going to be chronological and start off with the north. On Wednesday me, Louise and Bret all went up to the Northern region to see an orphanage in a place called Yendi, look around Tamale (3rd largest city) and of course go to the Mole National Park - the largest National Park in Ghana. We quite optimistically got up at 5am to try and catch the 8am bus. Fatal error. Despite getting to the bus station at 7am (after waiting quite a long time for a tro from Achiase), we didn't manage to get on a ... read more

Accra - Kumasi - Bole - Larabanga - Mole National Park - Tamale My plan is to do a round trip from Accra, the main destination being Mole National Park. The park is normally accessed from the town of Tamale (to the East of Mole) as there is a bus from there direct to the park, but as that would entail doing that stretch of road twice, I decided to try and approach from the West instead, and go to Tamale afterwards. Monday 2nd August Had a lie in because there are plenty of buses from Accra to Kumasi. I packed and caught to tro-tro to the centre of Accra then walked to the bus station buying some food for the journey on the way. As luck would have it a Kumasi bus was just leaving. ... read more