Blogs from Volta, Ghana, Africa - page 6

Hey All! I've adopted a new policy...well, actually it's not really new, I've just finally given word to my strategy while abroad. Weekdays belong to the University, but the weekends belong to Ghana! That being said as soon as I got back from Dreamland, I began to plan my next trip... Yeah, maybe a little eager...just a little. After surveying beaches, I thought it was time to head north. So myself and three others departed for the Volta Region of Ghana, using the town of Hohoe as our adventuring headquarters. We left Accra late Friday afternoon by bus, arriving at the sleepy town of Hohoe around half past eight. We stayed the night at the humble Matvin Hotel...which was...well, it was no Dreamland Beach Resort, but hey, it was a place to rest up, grab some ... read more

This weekend I went back to the Volta Region with the girls from my group to see the monkey sanctuary. It was our first time taking a trip on our own and I felt like I had a “real” African experience because we spent the night on the outskirts of a village called Tafi Atome and interacted with the local people as well as the monkeys. And it helped that we didn’t pull up in a huge air conditioned tour bus with a guide. It took three hours by tro-tro to arrive, and then the sanctuary was 5km down a dirt road. Three local girls helped us down the road until we found a pick up truck that gave us a ride the rest of the way. Once we got there we met Emmanuel who would ... read more

The weekend after Togo we agreed we’d had enough excitement for one fortnight and chose to stay in Accra. What with 11 hour trips to Takoradi and hiding from Togolese taxi drivers, I still hadn’t had my much-hoped-for day on the beach, so I decided to play things safe and spend Saturday sitting by the pool at Accra’s Novotel. At eight cedis it isn’t a bargain, but you do get a free drink and towels provided, and you’re guaranteed not to end up stuck on a tro-tro full of bush rats and child traffickers by mistake. Instead I just had two happy days of reading and sitting in the sun. (I have, predictably, rediscovered reading since I stopped having to plough to the end of three set texts a week. I did, however, manage to leave ... read more

Sorry I have not kept this blog updated... there has not been too too much to write about so I saved myself the frustration of dealing with the internet for awhile. This past weekend we went to the Volta Region and stayed in a village (Liati-Wote) with families. In this village there is a waterfall and a mountain you can climb. The plan was to leave Saturday morning and go to a monkey sanctuary and Sunday we were supposed to climb the mountain and then visit the waterfall. Unfortunately, due to a flat tire mid way through the trip we had to alter our plans. Let me first start by explaining the ride up there. We actually left pretty much on time (about 20 minutes late). The bus we had did not have any air conditioning ... 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