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Saved: November 30th 2021
Yeji Ferry
The one-engined ferry on Lake Volta.Remember the saying about best laid plans?? Well, once again we were foiled by Africa! We dutifully arrived at the bus station in Tamale at 4 am (after yet ANOTHER taxi failed to show up!) and then stood around for almost 2 hours before our bus finally left, packed to the rafters. We arrived in Makongo and followed the crowds to the dock and are told the ferry will come shortly. We were pretty excited by this, ad it means we will be on the lake earlier than we thought. Since it is a hot, sunny day and there is no shelter at the dock, we are looking forward to being on the boat. The ferry arrives and we quickly realize it cannot be the ferry that takes us down the lake as it is a small vehicle ferry with limited passenger seating outside.
The Lonely Planet said the crossing from Makongo to Yeji takes 45 minutes. Three hours later our ferry docked in Yeji - we were crossing with only one engine. Side Note: Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world, created when the Volta Rivers were dammed in Akosombo. Many villages were relocated to accommodate the
Sign Post in Yeji
Yeji was not the place we expected to see a sign post like this! new lake. As we crossed the top portion of the lake, we saw many dead trees sticking out of the water - it was very eerie. We expected that we would change ferries in Yeji onto the larger boat that would sail the length of the lake. As we approached Yeji, we could not see a larger boat waiting for us. Peter finally asked the Captain when we should expect the larger ferry to arrive and he told us that it had left in the morning! We couldn't believe it! Everyone we talked to in Tamale told us to leave early Wednesday morning to be there in time for the afternoon ferry. It was also written in two guide books
that the ferry left on Wednesday afternoons. In reality the ferry left very early on Wed. morning ... so we found ourselves in Yeji. Great name for a town. Not a great deal to do in the town. We stayed one night, as we were exhausted from our full day of travel which took us only 155 km. Good Grief!
We left early the next morning to go to Kumasi, our plans had changed and now we were kind
of winging it. Kumasi is the second biggest city in Ghana and has the traffic to prove it! The streets in the centre of the city are just clogged with cars, taxis and tro-tro's and all the honking that goes along with the traffic. We stayed in the lovely Presbyterian Church Guest House which was clean, quiet and cheap. Unfortunately in the tro-tro Peter's large backpack got smelly fish oil spilled on it and it soaked through to where he keeps our sleep sheets. PEE-EWWW!!! It was one big smelly mess and we weren't sure what to do, until the staff came along begging for some laundry (looking for extra money) and we gladly handed over the backpack and the sleep sheets. They did a great job - so great in fact, Peter's bag looked brand new! My bag was pretty jealous ....
From Kumasi we were trying to figure out our next move and decided to head South to the coast for some sun and sand before moving East. On the bus from Kumasi to Takoradi we ran into two of the four fellows we first met in Ouaga. Rob and Ian were separated from Paul and Matt,
but they would all be meeting up in Accra in less than week as they were flying out to Ethiopia. Rob and Ian were carrying onto a beach further than our destination, so we said good-bye again. We had decided on Busua Beach and the oddly named Alaska Beach Resort. It was a perfect spot to spend a few days playing in the surf and enjoying the sun. Here we ran into two other Canadians we had met in Mole - Joanie and Phillipe (from Quebec) and two of their friends - Mary and Amadou. Joanie and Phillipe has signed up for surf lessons and the use of a board for a week. They were in the "Eat, Sleep, Surf" mode! Watching them got Peter and I interested too, but in the end we chickened out of the surfing and went for the boogie boards instead and had a ton of fun in the big surf. We realize now how lucky we were to get 4 days of great weather, because since then we have had rain almost every day. We did get a bit of rain in Busua, but it was still very warm and we swam anyway. We
also walked to nearby Dixcove to visit our first castle on the coast - Fort Metal Cross - so named because of the brand in the shape of a metal cross that was burned into the flesh of the slaves. Most of the Ghanaian coast castles date back to the 1600's and were also used in the slave trade, so they have a very sad history attached to them. Dixcove was our first and we have now seen 3 in total. The town of Dixcove is only a short distance from Busua, but has a very different feel or vibe. We pretty much visited the castle, took a few pictures and then headed back to Busua. Then we decided to walk the whole beach and climb up the set of stairs at the end to overlook the area for some views. Once up at the top we knew the next village, Butre, was not far, so we wandered along a road until we came to the road that lead down into Butre. We found a little path that lead off the road and it came to a clearing which gave us fabulous views over Butre and the beach there. The
views over both Busua and Butre were just magnificent.
We stayed longer than intended, but we were enjoying the beach and the company so much, it was hard to tear ourselves away. Joanie and Phil were great company (and we thank them for speaking to us in English!) and we enjoyed listening to their experiences of volunteering in Mali. The Black Star Surf Shop was the place to hang out on the beach and the tiny restaurant attached served fabulous, fresh food for reasonable prices. We finally did tear ourselves away and we moved East along the coast to Elmina. Elmina has St. George's Castle which again was a major castle in the slave trade. The town of Elmina is very much a fishing village and the only touristy thing to do is visit the castle. We enjoyed wandering around Elmina without any hassles and watching ordinary life happen all around us. Elmina also has a thriving salt industry where they trap the ocean water inland and as the water evaporates the salt is collected.
Our next stop was Cape Coast, the capital of the coastal region. The Cape Coast Castle is the largest of the coast castles
Eat, Sleep, Surf
Phil making it look easy! and houses an excellent museum. Unfortunately the day we visited the castle it rained and our photos are a little gloomy. The views of the coast line from the Castle are quite stunning, no matter the weather. From Cape Coast we also visited Kakum National Park for an overnight trip. Kakum is a protected tropical rainforest that has the world's largest canopy walk. The canopy walk consists of a series of narrow suspension bridges connected by 7 tree platforms at a height of about 40 m. It is quite spectacular to view the rainforest from the tops of the trees! The day we arrived we booked a night tour and the early morning canopy walk. The night tour was meant to be an hour long, but we were gone for over two hours and thoroughly enjoyed our first ever night walk. We didn't see any big animals, but we saw lots of creepy insects and a huge snail (which we later saw for sale in the markets) and bush babies (very small monkey-like mammals). The sounds of the rainforest at night are overwhelming. It was a very unique experience that we are so glad we took advantage of it. The
Black Star Surf Shop - Busua
Named After Ghana's national soccer team The Black Stars. early morning walk started at 5:30 am and again, was a great opportunity to see the rainforest from a totally different perspective. We were able to watch the monkeys jumping from tree to tree and foraging for their breakfasts before they hid out for the day, keeping away from the crowds of people. The best part was that we were able to take both of these walks with only one other person and a guide. The park is open from 8 am to 5 pm, so we were able to enjoy the park without any crowds. The other person on our walks was Ando, a young French girl working in Ouaga. We stayed up late chatting with her after the night walk and shared breakfast the next morning and would have liked to spend more time with her, but she was heading to Butre for some beach time and we were spending one more night in Cape Coast before descending upon Accra. When we got back to Cape Coast Peter decided to have his first African haircut at the very fancy hair salon with the sign " Shoe Doctor - Hair Cut", which was a wooden shack on the side
Climbing Stairs in Flip Flops is Not Recommended
The stairs were rickety and rotting in places and quite steep. But the views were worth it! of the street with one chair for hair cutting and stacks of shoes.
We arrived into the chaos of Accra and were delivered to our "budget hotel". There is no such thing in Accra anymore. We also found that food in restaurants is also very expensive, as are taxis. We needed to stop in Accra as we had some difficulty finalizing our plane tickets to Cape Town online. We are flying with Ethiopian Airlines and are taking a milk route to South Africa. We had to go into the office in Accra to pay for the tickets. We were very glad that we were able to confirm our flights without any hassles and now we know we will leave Ghana on June 29 and arrive into Cape Town on June 30.
We left Accra to visit the Eastern region of Ghana, the area we had hoped to explore after we disembarked the ferry. So it has taken us a little longer than we planned, we are now in the East. Right now we are in Akosombo, the site of the dam and the ferry departure point. We were hoping to take a boat cruise on the lake and
At the Top of the Stairs
What a view of Busua Beach! at least see some of the sights we missed, but we found out today the boat is out of service. So we will give up on the lake, since it seems some force is keeping us away from it, and we will go to visit some of the mountains and waterfalls of the Eastern region.
Thus far we have found the eastern area to be very lush and green - such a radical change from the more northern countries we travelled through. We are looking forward to exploring this part of Ghana further.
On another side note, we have been asked how we could be drinking Nescafe (instant coffee) when so much coffee is grown in Africa? We are wondering the same thing ourselves! The last time we recall having real coffee (that was excellent) was in Dakar. Since then we have had a couple of hideous espressos and even when the menu says "Fresh Coffee" - it is never available and you get Nescafe. Just the other day we actually saw a sign for the Ghana Coffee Producers Association, but we have yet to see any real coffee here. Ghana is also a large producer of cocoa,
Dixcove
View from Fort Metal Cross toward the town and harbour. and we have only seen one brand of chocolate bar that is produced in Ghana. I'm assuming the coffee and cocoa is all for export.
If anyone is planning on travelling to Ghana, the cost of everything has gone up since the re-denomination of the Cedi (Ghana's currency). From the prices listed in our guidebook most things have gone up at least 5 Ghana Cedi's (the Cedi is almost on par with the Canadian Dollar) and in Accra the prices have doubled or tripled. In some ways it is more expensive, but in others - like eating on the street - is very cheap. Ghana is known to be a progressive West African country and in many ways it is, but there are still frequent power outages, and we have found only one pay phone in the country that works. Definitely a country of challenges!
Thanks for following along,
Lots of love,
Laini and Peter
P.S. The photo of the giant avocado is for my cousin Mo who asked for a photo of the ginormous food. We had to pay 10 peswas for the privilege, so I will be sending you an invoice Mo! hahahaha
The
Look out at Dixcove
This small look out on an island in the harbour is being renovated for one man to live in. mango was delicious and cost less than $1 - we are loving the mangoes!!
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Maureen
non-member comment
Language of the Continent
I must say, I'm continually surprised that you keep running into locals who speak French. Have you met anyone who speaks Arabic? Or other languages that one would expect to find in Africa? I'm starting to wonder just who ran that continent for so long - the French? hahaha And I must add that signing up for the notification for new blog entries was the best thing I ever did. :) Glad to hear you're still enjoying and TRAVELLING! I would have been out of cash months ago!