13 PLACES VISITED: 1) Sunyani, 2) Damongo, 3) Kintampo Waterfalls 4) Larabanga, 5) Mole National Park, 6) Tamoso, 7) Kumasi, 8) Kokrobite, 9) Accra, 10) West Hills Mall (Accra), 11) Elmina, 12) Kakum National Park, 13) Cape Coast GHANA.
15 OVERNIGHTS: 1) Bush Camp 60km south-west of Fufulsu (Elev 102m), 2) Mole Hotel (Elev 210m), Mole National Park, 3) Bush Camp 10km south of Dawadawa (Elev 254m), 4-5) Camping/Hotel “Presbyterian Guest House”, Kumasi (Elev 224m), 6-9) Camping/Hotel "Big Milly's Backyard", Kokrobite (30km west of Accra), 10) Camping/Hotel "Abanze Beach Resort” (20km east of Cape Coast), 11) Camping/Hostel “Stumble Inn” (4km west of Elmina), 12-15) Camping/Hotel "Big Milly's Backyard", Kokrobite (30km west of Accra) GHANA.
8 UNIQUE WILDLIFE: 1) Olive Baboon, 2) African Spotted Deer, 3) Roan Antelope, 4) Common Warthog, 5) African Bush Elephant, 6) African Harrier Hawk, 7) Guinea Fowl, 8) Tantalus Monkey.
REFLECTION: one of the most popular sayings amongst travellers and even locals in Africa is “TIA” - “This Is Africa” which is mentioned every time things go wrong or nothing happens as per plan or as the “root cause” of every problem in the continent. For example, you arrive at a border that everyone along the way says is open and the little thin guy at the barrier says “no - not open”. I think I will start using it for all my electrical failures? I say it all the time. We all say it all the time. Africa “does it” all the time. TIA.
BLOG POST TRAILER: “The Golden Stool” is a real, ceremonial stool (small two-legged chair) made of solid gold and embodies the soul and spirit of the “Asante” people of GHANA. It is a mystical and prized possession, well hidden because if it is stolen by another culture then the Asante’s will cease to exist! The Asante Kingdom formed in 1692 and grew to become the most prosperous and powerful kingdom out of many in Ghanese history, so much so, that it still exists today with a 66yrs old King and 109yrs old Queen - no, the age is not a typo!. Learn more about this interesting ethnic group in Day 66 of this post.
This post is all about GHANA. GHANA (Pop 25m) is also the “golden child” of Africa. Figuratively and literally! Figuratively because it has one of the most stable democracies and fastest economic growth rates in Africa and literally because it owes this success to gold discovered back in the 13th Century and oil in 2007. Find out more about GHANA in the PS special feature below. There are many milestones in this post: 1) 13JAN16 marks 2 of 9 calendar months away from Sydney and 2) 15JAN16 marks two whole calendar months followed by 70 days on the safari truck - I celebrate these with another special feature below: “PPS: THE MOST TRAVELLED”!
This post takes you through eye-opening GHANA from Mole National Park in the north to the capital Accra on the Atlantic in the south and then on to TOGO. This post is also my first encounter with elephants and several other wildlife of Africa.
GHANA is very Christian and very religious. So much so, that businesses and commuter vans are mostly named after Christian Saints or passages out of the bible. For example: “Save Your Sole” (shoe shop) or “Wash Away Sins” (laundry). It really is quite amusing. GHANA is definitely better equipped than countries up to now but it still has the grit and chaos of Africa! It is hotter and more humid.
The Mole National Park in the north was the stand-out highlight because of its elephants, warthogs, baboons, deer, antelopes and a myriad of birdlife. I walked 2hrs with 3 others and an armed ranger and came within 30m of 5 ton male African elephant eating leaves from the local Matrojana Tree. We saw 8 other individuals and their proximity from the air conditioned hotel that I upgraded to was only 2-3km as the crow flies - this place was well set up, especially for families. It was also exhilarating to see them on foot. Mole was a stark contrast to Kumasi (Pop 3m) which has West Africa’s largest market of 11,000 stalls in an area the size of 5 footy fields and most of them covered in corrugated iron! It is a maze of humanity - an organised chaos. Kumasi is also the centre of the “Asante Kingdom” that continues to this day.
Accra (Pop 5m) is another story. It is crap. Not pretty,. Not much to see. People hassle you for money and to top it off it is stinking, steamy hot. We saw a few sites but they were uncared for and bums hassled us for money to take photos. Thank goodness we did not stay in Accra. We stayed at a beach-front camping and basic hotel cabins, 30km west of Accra. This is also the blog post where I watched “The Force Awakens” in 3D and the latest James Bond film “Spectre” in 2D in a newly built ultra-modern cinema complex only 15min drive from our beachside home - refer special feature “PPPPS: GOLFCO ON THE FORCE AWAKENS” for my assessment of the film. The Ghanese are obsessed with Celine Dion! She is playing at almost every local bar and restaurant. Locals tell us they like her because she originated as a gospel singer and we all know how religious the Ghanese are.
The other big craze in GHANA is “Fan Ice”, small 150mL plastic pouches of ice cream and frozen yogurt that you can buy off street vendors carrying eskies on their heads or fixed to bicycles. At only $0.40 each, they have taken GHANA by storm - not just in Accra but everywhere in the countryside as well!
The Ghanese eat tons of fried chicken - they love it. Accra has two KFC’s and a whole host of look-a-likes - our favourite is “Lord of the Wings”!!!
Even though Accra was a wasteland the one thing that shone was a live Jazz Club called “+233” which is the country code of GHANA - clever Moore! We loved it there. Heard Western as well as African Jazz numbers and danced! It was at night, so much more bearable.
This was a stark contrast to the slave castles we saw at Elmina (St George) and Cape Coast which are 60km further west of Accra. The entire Ghanian Atlantic coast is known as the “Gold Coast” (west) and “Slave Coast” (east) since it contained 37 castles and forts built by the Portguese (1482-1637) and Dutch (1637-1872), shipping an estimated 50-60 million locals to America, mainly via the Caribbean. UNESCO protected "St George Castle" is the oldest (1482) and best preserved and the one hour guided tour is well worth it. At capacity it held 600 male and 400 female slaves. Earlier it was a storage place for spices, salt and gold which was heavily traded by Europe. I also visited the “Cape Coast Castle’, slightly smaller and built 200yrs later but still notorious for its slave trading.
Cape Coast town is significanlty bigger than Elmina and is very vibrant. It is also the gateway to the Kakum National Park where we walked on narrow wooden bridges suspended up to 40m above the forest floor - the so called “Canope Walk”. A bit too touristy, especially when you walk it with 20 other tourists from Hong Kong, snapping away at anything. No wildlife. This is also the post where we organised our own cinema session for the third movie that we saw “The Revenant”, Di Caprio’s latest film - terrific! We were quite sad to leave the Accra area. Eight days at Milly’s gave us ample opportunity to rest and find enough energy to face the upcoming bush camps of Tog and Benin on our way to Nigeria.
DAY 62, Wed 13JAN16, 283km, Bush Camp 15km south-east of Berekum to Bush Camp 60km south-west of Fufulsu via Kintampo Waterfalls GHANA (Run1). Today marks the 60th day of our safari together and exactly two calendar months that I have been away from Sydney. Amazing. Our first taste of Ghanese people and food was at the town of Sunyani only 70min from our camp site. This name means “place of elephant slaughter” since in the English colonial days this is what happened here. Now it is a bustling town of market stalls, churches and schools. Most business names have religious connections or meanings, e.g.: “Save Your Sole” (shoe shop) or “Wash Away Sins” (laundry). It really is quite amusing. Greet anyone with the words “God be with you” or “God Bless you” and you can have anything you want.
I did this to find an internet cafe and to use the Bishop’s toilet in a theological school of all places!!! There was no one large supermarket but several mum-and-dad-run “mini-marts”, all with wine and beer. Funny that. Highly religious and highly alcoholic! I used an ATM since GHANA has its own currency and headed off to find an internet cafe. One was closed and the other was OK but not that strong - found them very quickly thanks to English and God. GHANA is certainly better equipped, second to MOROCCO so far. We spent 90min in Sunyani and then it was off towards Mole National Park.
At about 2:45pm there was thunderous applause - we were turning into “Kintampo Waterfalls” and that meant water!!! We had until 4pm so I decided that this was perfect for a run then a cooling break after 5 days straight without water. Made it just in time. It was a tough run in the muggy heat of the day. I managed to get back with 20min to go. Sat under the cooling water of some smaller falls and nearly fell asleep! I have never seen so many happy faces on the drive to camp that afternoon. It is amazing how much we take water for granted in the western world. I was so comfortable and the heat seemed to melt away. Camp sites were hard to find because of the many smaller villages that dotted the road to Tamale. Eventually we found a good site close to sunset and enjoyed a particularly good meal that night - satay beef mince with veggie fried rice! Vit and I reviewed blog post 12 and joined Riza, Gary and Roberto to talk about wine regions and boutique beers well into the evening. This was our record 6th straight bush camp without water for washing - I did not count the waterfall since we could not wash ourselves or clothes.
DAY 63, Thu 14JAN16, 119km, Bush Camp 60km south-west of Fufulsu to Mole National Park via Damongo and Larabanga GHANA (Run2). Great sunrise this morning. Could see the full oval pic disk of the sun. Our morning drive was interesting because the villages got smaller, more in number and the mud-brick walls and grass thatched roof huts re-appeared. Kids were still in uniform and still waiving and laughing as we passed by. There are also many NGO projects visible in this area - very spiffy, western-looking school buildings (surrounded by huts), solar panel street lights and great main roads - with lines! Our cook group stop was Damongo. Riza and I were truck guards for the whole 75min we were there so no internet or power for me!
A beautifully dressed old guy on a bike stopped by and we had a chat as I was “guarding” the truck - I even had a stick in my hand to make it all official. Ahmed was born 100km further north of Tamale in GHANA and was a policeman. He used to work in Damongo and liked it smooch that he stayed. He told me that it had better food and weather than his original birth place and has grown to over 200,000 people.
Our next stop was Larabanga. What an interesting place. This town was settled back in the early 1400’s by an immigrant Imam called Ibrahim who built the oldest Mosque in Ghana in 1421 which we visited. He built it in several months using mud brick and tree wood and it is still intact, holding 100 worshippers inside. The Imam is buried right next to the western entrance where a huge Bulba tree grew on his grave and is still there. The entire population of 4,000 is descendant from 12 clans that Ibrahim bought with him.
I met many of the locals and one, in particular, Bobo who wanted me to hold his baby girl for good luck. It was a great exchange since we all spoke English. Once I found out that they were all mad soccer players I mentioned our Roberto from Brazil and they went mad with desire to meet him.
After many more exchanges we were sad to leave them and made our way into Mole National Park only 6km further north. What a place. It is set on a plateau overlooking a huge open savannah below with a large water hole in the centre. There they were. Two huge elephants and two deer about 3km away in a straight line but fully visible.
Then the greatest news hit. There was a hotel with plenty of vacant rooms. I grabbed one immediately ($88AUD per night) because it was equipped with aircon, a fridge, a TV, private toilet, bath/shower and all the power points you could wish for. Then there is the bar and pool overlooking the elephants and their watering hole. Bliss. I then met Riza and others for a local dish of “Groundnut Stew", one with Red Fish and one with Guinea Fowl and eaten by hand with sticky rice - tastes like a light satay curry. It is the most common meal amongst village Ghanese.
While lunching, the elephants grew to a herd of 9 and a group of ten “sub-chiefs” of the Mole district came into the hotel for a luncheon conference but without their “Paramount Chief”. GHANA is divided into about 20 little “kingdoms” or districts each with a “Paramount Chief” (like an Ozzie State Premier) presiding over a council of elected sub-chiefs. The Paramount Chief is not elected and follows a royal bloodline from father to son. It was a jam packed interesting lunch of sub-chiefs, local dishes, cold local beer, plenty of swimmers and frolicking elephants in the distance.
We would see the elephants tomorrow morning so it was off to the room to cool down and prepare some emails. As usual, on my way back tot he hotel a miracle occurred. Just a few metres away from the rangers office was a small patch of bush with 5 deer, 7 wart hogs (including babies) and 5 baboons, eating and frolicking and playing ALL TOGETHER and in the ONE PLACE. Could not believe my luck. Out came the camera and I went bezerk!!! How convenient for me. No trek or time required. Like someone just ordered them up for me.
After my frenzy, I managed to find a ranger with a hot spot and sent some emails and posted Blog Post 12 - I was up to date and very satisfied. I went for a run back to Larabanga just as the sun set and met some baboons along the way. It was significantly cooler and very still and quiet - more African magic!
What was even better was the shower that followed. My first soap and shampoo after 6 days in the bush - the waste water ran red for quite a while and I had to shampoo my hair 3 times to release the dust and knots! I felt almost human - the fridge chilled rose, camembert and olives in our room completed my transformation.
DAY 64, Fri 15JAN16, 205km, Mole National Park to Bush Camp 10km south of Dawadawa via Damongo GHANA. Today was “elephant day” and I sprang out of bed at 6am to get pack and get ready for our 2hr morning trek at 7am. Today also marked 2 calendar months of our safari together. Ten of our group turned up for the morning walk. Another 6 had completed the walk yesterday afternoon. We split into two groups of 4 and 6 and luckily Riza and I were in the smaller group with Graham and Dan. Our trek started at 7:15am and lasted exactly 2hrs covering 5.8km out of the vast 4,577 squad kilometres that makes up Mole National Park. Our guide, Abdul explained that there are just over 400 elephants in the park comprising 20 “families”, typically between 5-20 individuals in each family. They move around as a family only when in search of food or when giving birth. These elephants eat the bark, roots and leaves of the “Matrojana” tree which is up to 5m high and 3m wide. The elephants here will grow up to 3m tall and 5-6tons weight.
They typically live 60-75yrs. Our trek took us down into the watering hole plain where we saw four elephants after 20min of walking. Three were in the water drinking and splashing water on their backs. We stood on the water’s edge about 80m from them. It was simply breath taking. There they were, in their own habitat with no cages or keepers around them. Our guide did carry a rifle to shoot in the air if the head male charged us. No elephants or people have ever been hurt or killed at Mole. We then stepped back from the waters edge when I noticed a crocodile in the water close to one elephant. We then saw another two and one on the shore.
Our guide explained that the elephants always have fowl walking near them to eat the seeds out of their poo and the crocs hope to snatch one of these as they follow the elephants into the water. Nature at work. The elephants in the water looked funny as they had two skin tones - their natural skin colour under the water line with sand washed off and the one with sand above.
We then proceeded into the bush hoping to find some more and instead saw many deer, antelopes, wild guinea fowl and an eagle. No luck. We circled back to the watering hole and saw five more but different elephants eating leaves from the Matrojana trees near the water. The place the elephants live is very hot. The surface is very dry and hard and littered with circular footprint holes and lots of poo! Trees are spread out and the place is sizzling hazy hot after 10am to sunset. I was glad we did the morning trip as it was cool, clear and the light was right.
As I was doing a lot of filming and narrating with Riza and our ranger Abdul, he took a particular liking to it and took me up to 30m away from one of the big males! Unreal. I was in heaven. I snapped and narrated away. My first up close and personal encounter with wild life - definite highlight to date. The male elephant I was close to started scratching himself and his “fifth leg” was as big a s the other two!!! We laughed heaps!!!
Some of the other elephants were shovelling sand sunscreen on their backs and we wondered what the equivalent SPF blockout might be! I then noticed our hotel at the top of the ridge just behind the elephants. What a great set up Mole is - a definite must-do, especially the opportunity to do a WALKING elephant trek - I am told that they are rare in the east. There was a definite “spring” in my step as I walked back to the hotel to have my last shower and take my packed stuff to the truck. I met Vit along the way and he helped me film a narration of an elephant skull just near the place I had my animal frenzy the day before.
After a nice cold drink we were off at 10:30am headed for another bush camp on our way to Kumasi some 430km away. We stopped again in Damongo for cook group and had lunch soon after in a huge quarry where we collected backup cook wood for the truck. Another stop in a small-tow get “FanIce” branded frozen yoghurt inside a little plastic pillow and priced at just $0.40AUD!
They are all over GHANA and a life saver in this heat - many girls sell them in small foam eskies balanced on their heads. I have had several but I think they have a laxative effect! Our camp was a nice spot near a village judging from the number of local visitors we had - they are fascinated by the tents and how we cook. Dinner finished early tonight and because we would have power tomorrow I decided to invite Riza and Roberto to my tent for a film. We watched “Blood Diamond” starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Fantastic and so relevant. Many of the film’s scenes reminded us of what we had already experienced. It was great to watch a film set in Africa. We enjoyed the movie immensely and resolved to watch more. It was a great end to what was a great day of Africa.
DAY 65, Sat 16JAN16, 215km, Bush Camp 10km south of Dawadawa to Camping/Hotel “Presbyterian Guest House”, Kumasi via Tamoso GHANA (Run3). The news was good. Tonight we would be staying in a place with hotel style rooms and a laundry service. Unreal. Tonight there would be no cook group and we were free to have dinner in Kumasi. Super Unreal because there is a Brazilian style grilled meats place a-la-Ghana style! There is also music and dancing in Kumasi. Tomorrow was a free day in Kumasi. Super Dooper Unreal. This pepped everyone up and we could not wait to set out. Our first stop was in a small town called Tamoso but it stood out. In just 100m it sold more fruit and veg that we had seen in most big towns and all of it very high quality, good size and colour. Then we noticed that there were only women selling everything. (PHOTO BELOW: John G in an elephant footprint).
As I was picking out my bananas and oranges I felt a hand on my butt! A whole bunch of younger women had gathered behind me. They felt my hair and asked me to raise my arms. Suddenly one grabs on to my armpit hairs and yells “cut off, cut off, why you no cut?” I started laughing and explained, “because in my country only women cut here”! They started to laugh and talk amongst themselves. In the meantime the bottom slapping continued. The same girl then pulls on my belt and asks “you cut down there or is there many many hair?” I replied, "yes and no. Some men do and some men don’t”. More laughter and chatter. Finally came the invite. “You stay, you stay”. Hilarious. They would not let me get back on the truck. How was that for a cultural exchange! That is Africa for you.
The first half of the day’s drive continued to bath us in cool moist wind - it was a stark contrast to yesterday afternoon - one of our hottest on record. We arrived in Kumasi at 12:30am and it was stinking hot.
Roberto and I shared a room with aircon, TV, fridge and internal toilet and shower. Riza also took a room on her own upstairs. After selling in, Roberto, Riza and I walked to the nearby supermarket to stock up on the staples. We got back and stuck everything in the fridge and got onto the WIFI because it was just too hot to visit the city - we decided to do this tomorrow morning when it was cooler.
I waited until 5pm to run when the heat and humidity was bearable. It was a messy run, on a main road with traffic and pollution everywhere - not as many motorbikes as Bamako. I made it but was glad to be under a shower and cooling down. The best part of the day was settling down to wine, cheese and olives in an air conditioned room, super-clean after a cooling shower. (PHOTO BELOW: my friends in Larabanga)
Only Chris took a room and everyone else set up their tents in the grounds and used the share toilets and showers. Roberto, Riza and I, now known as “the Culture Club” set out to find our grilled meat place. The third taxi driver we came across claimed he knew where it was and off went. It was inside the “Sir Max Hotel”. The hotel existed but the restaurant had shut down 2yrs ago! This has happened on a number of occasions to us - this is the problem with a Lonely Planet that is 2-3yrs old.
The same taxi driver took us to “The View”, Riza’s backup from Trip Advisor but it was way too exclusive, trendy and pricey and no one was in it! Back to town it was to try and find “Vic Bobos” which Andi had mentioned. Once again no luck it had moved but no one knew to where. It was now approaching 8:30pm and Roberto had the shits because he was starving! Luckily, Riza remembered the name of the street lined with local food stall grills and we found it! Did not waste time finding a corner grill with plastic tables and chairs behind it and plenty of cold beer inside an adjacent small shop front.
We gobbled down skewers of beef, goat and chopped up Guinea Fowl. The meats were very overcooked and chewy but tasted OK. The freezing cold 650mL of beer was the highlight and helped wash down the meat. The my 5th disaster hit. I stepped into a deep open gutter that lines both sides of most roads in the centre of the city. I wanted to ask our cook to cut up our chicken, I walked up to stand next to him and my right leg just went down. I grabbed the edge of the BBQ to steady myself and flipped up the grill which the cook caught with one hand and dragged me out of the gutter with the other. I then realised that the cook had been standing on wooden planks laid out over the gutter and it was so dark I could not see the open gutter on either side of him.
I grazed my leg on the gutters edge and opened up a flap of skin in one area which started to bleed. The man yelled and a woman came out and grabbed me taking me inside to where the beers were to clean my wound and put some serviettes on top. Riza and Roberto did not see me fall but saw the commotion after. I had the shits again. A cold beer helped and then all of a sudden some loud African dance music came on and some of the ladies around us started to dance - Roberto lit up and started to order more food and beer and our dinner turned out to be a great local experience and dirt cheap! I cannot remember what time we got back to our cold rooms where sleep was instant!
DAY 66, Sun 17JAN16, 0km, Camping/Hotel “Presbyterian Guest House”, Kumasi GHANA (Run4). Up at 9am. Great sleep. Sprung out of bed looking forward to our free day in Kumasi. Riza had already been out and found a local neighbourhood where she had brekkie and met a whole bunch of kids. She offered to take us there on our way tot he markets. Great idea and turned out to be the highlight of our day. We were surrounded by kids in their Sunday best - all ages - boys and girls. Today was in fact Sunday and EVERYONE goes to church! There are morning, midday and evening services with many on the street side-walks where their are rows of fold-out seats and a big screen broadcasting a preacher and choir from a church hall somewhere else in the city or country! Amazing!
I interviewed the children and then they showed us a local dance and showed them my “dag dance”. Another successful cultural exchange - no wonder we are called “the Culture Club”! "The Kejetia Markets" are the biggest in West Africa with 11,000 stalls over an area the size of 5 football fields, most of them covered in corrugated iron. You can buy just about anything including food. We spent plenty of time sampling fresh coconut (water and flesh), papaya, plantain chips and of course more “Fan Ice” frozen yoghurt.
"The Manhyia Palace" was only a short walk from the markets and a great place to learn about the Asante history and culture. The old Palace was built in 1925 by the British to house an Asante King that they had exiled. It was used by Asante Royalty until 1974 when a much larger building was erected just next door where the current King and Queen now live. Asante Royalty follows the female lineage and has a strange rule of succession. There is always a King and Queen but they cannot be married but can be siblings or first cousins.
If the King dies, the Queen selects the new King and they cannot be their son or father but can only be a brother or uncle or nephew. If the Queen dies, the King selects the new Queen and the same rules apply. This was done to prevent nepotism and keep the bloodline open and more varied. “The Golden Stool” embodies the soul and spirit of the Asante people and cannot fall into enemy hands. It was dropped out of the sky by diety in 1692 to start the Asante Kingdom. It actually exists but only the King and Queen know where it is hidden. It comes out two times a year on sacred days tone paraded through Kumasi which is at the centre of the Asante Civilisation and the capital of the Kingdom which occupied much of West Africa in its hey-day. Ghana is divided into regions, each with a “Paramount Chief” that report to the King. The chiefs “advise” elected members of parliament on solutions to local problems and the members report to the President who has executive powers (not a figure head). The President must also seek advise from the King when passing laws or for military decisions including war. They are two “side by side” systems, very similar to the one in Vanuatu in our own region.
It was a steady walk back to the supermarket near our compound and at that point we decided to have a nice sit-down lunch at an air conditioned place that many of our fellow travellers had visited last night for dinner. We then realised that there are no local walk-in and sit-down restaurants in Kumasi. Only local food stalls. All sit-down places are inside western style hotels and also feature music and pool tables - all have TVs broadcasting sport from around the world, especially English and European soccer. “The Vienna Bar” was only 1.5km from our hotel and well-equipped. We enjoyed chicken salad, mushroom omelettes, pork and fish with rice washed down by cold beer. We got back to the hotel around 3:30pm and at 4:30pm I was off for my second run in Kumasi and decided to take a different route passed the Vienna which looked nice.
It was a better run than yesterday in terms of pollution and traffic but my leg was sore from my fall the night before. The wound was drying out but sore to touch. I ran past all of the hotels and restaurants that we had taxied to the night before and I could not believe how close together they were - the taxi driver had ripped us off a bit and it was lucky that I refused to pay him more! It was not long until the Culture Club was busy doing what we do best - talking about our experiences, the problems and potential solutions of local life in Kumasi over wine and olives. We were in the mood for another African-based movie so we decided to stay indoors and watch “Out of Africa” - we all had emergency rations of canned food and pulled these out to enjoy with the movie. Merryl Streep and Robert Redford were fabulous in this film. This day was the complete African experience and we had no trouble sleeping off our satisfaction.
DAY 67, Mon 18JAN16, 329km, Camping/Hotel “Presbyterian Guest House”, Kumasi to Camping/Hotel “Big Milly’s Backyard", Kokrobite, (30 west of Accra) GHANA. As we put our stuff back onto the truck for our departure to Accra we quickly realised just how humid and uncomfortable it was outside our air conditioned hotel rooms. Just the slightest physical exertion and you are dripping with sweat! Why had so many people decided not to upgrade to a room - that turns out to be $12AUD per person per night extra.
The trip south was quiet in the morning. A combination of a late night and the humidity. The landscape became much more tropical with lots of palms and lush green foliage. We took a road that plonked us on the Atlantic coast at Namboko, approx 160km the west of Accra, so that we could avoid Accra since our camping/hotel at beachside Kokrobite is 30km west of Accra. We plan to stay here for 4 nights to change passengers and get 4-5 VISAS. We would travel the 45min to/from Accra on the truck or in local minivans. It was great to see the aqua green colour of the Atlantic (“Bay of Ghana”).
Big Milly's Backyard is the ocean! Right on it! Comprises camping grounds for tents, plus 20 rooms with and without aircon. Roberto, Riza and I upgraded to rooms - aircon was not available today but for the next 3 nights - bliss, since the humidity and heat here is now like Bangkok - even at 4:30pm when we arrived it was hard to bare. I have no idea how the people in tents will survive. I made a bee-line for the office to call DHL but all lines were busy and it closed at 5pm so I would try again at 8:30am on opening. I was both anxious and excited on getting my new equipment. We settled into our rooms and showered before enjoying a few cold beers on an elevated balcony overlooking the ocean and taking in a cooling ocean breeze. It was great. This place is run by a tiny elderly lady called Milly who is 70yrs old and originally comes from England. She looks like she just came from a bridge game or the RSL club - very unassuming.
Big Milly's Backyard is one of many camping places along the so-called “Slave Coast” or “Gold Coast”, a span of beaches roughly 200km to the east and west of Accra where most of the slave trading to the USA, Caribbean and South America and gold deals with Europe took place from the 14ht to 19th Centuries. Apparently most of the descendants of black America came from this coast (e.g.: Louis Armstrong’s ancestors were raised in Abanze and The First Lady Michelle Obama traced her origins from the Cape Coast - The President & First Lady visited the Cape Coast in an Official Visit on 11 July 2009). Tonight was a special treat from Oasis of burgers and chips at Millys Restaurant, which is very well equipped with local dishes and not expensive. The 650mL beers are only $2.50AUD. Our treat was tasty but not filling so we walked to a local pizza place that came highly recommended. The pizza was OK but not like they said. It was also expensive at $20AUD. Tonight it was Part 2 of “The Gods Must Be Crazy” - another hilarious instalment of the Kalahari bushmen. Getting to sleep was tough with just a fan - it was hot and humid and cooled down only after midnight. I am glad I was not in a tent - for now...
DAY 68, Tue 19JAN16, 0km, Camping/Hotel “Big Milly’s Backyard", Kokrobite, (30 west of Accra) GHANA (Run5). Sleeping in is always a treat when overlanding but it was easy getting up this particular morning because I was keen to ring DHL to find out about my electronic goodies! Success. I finally got through to someone and they confirmed they had my two packages and that there was no customs clearance or extra payment and I could pick them up on presentation of a passport or photo ID. I would do this tomorrow when all the group was due to drive into Accra on the truck.
I then checked some emails and spoke to mum and Nick Drinias. I also looked up sessions of “The Force Awakens” because there is a brand new South African 3D cinema complex just 15min taxi ride from us and also in Accra. I would aim for 7pm tonight. Satisfied with a productive morning on a very delicate internet, I went for a run but it was tough. It was 10:30am when I ran and already hot and humid. Next time I will go at 7am. Since I was a sweating mess on my return I decided to clean out my locker on the truck and re-arrange it to fit half the space since I would be sharing with a new person joining us here today or tomorrow along with another five. Gary had already left and Bref and Chris were leaving this arvo.
Accra is the first of three interchanges since the Luton UK to Cairo trip is actually four back-to-back trips: Luton to Accra, Accra to Cape Town, Cape Town to Nairobi and Nairobi to Cairo. The truck was closed up so it was like a sauna and I must have lost another 2kg! It was time for a refreshing swim before moving rooms. The sand was grey and the water quite swellish with good body surfing waves and a sweet temperature somewhere north of 25C. Loved it.
We then moved rooms from fan to aircon and fridge - much better and it was not long till we were lying in our aircon rooms snoozing or reading or typing away and drinking cold beverages. Relief at last. After a brief snooze (locals snooze between 2-4pm, due to the heat) the entire group sat together on the breezy balcony at 4pm and filled in the Angola and Togo forms.
At 5pm Roberto, Riza and I were in a taxi for the 15min drive to the new “West Hills Mall” servicing the outer suburbs of Accra. This is an ultra-modern shopping complex comparable to any in the Western World - it is a luxurious, air-conditioned oasis in a dusty, muggy waste-bowl. Built by South Africans it also has a cinema complex at the top and “The Force Awakens” was on the menu! I had googled the “Silverbird Cinemas” this morning and discovered this mall and the screenings.
We bought tickets ($8AUD) and sat down to a thoroughly luxurious meal (Fillet Mignon) at “The New York Sizzler”, the only restaurant in the complex. Dinner and a movie - Star Wars in 3D - unbelievable after 13 days straight of bush camping. We were the only people in the cinema! It was pitch black when we ran in (dinner went late) and as soon as we sat down and put on our 3-D glasses they flicked on the film. As the movie progressed we realised that it was very dark (low light or contrast), even the film’s day scenes. Riza complained but they said that could not do anything and gave us 3 complimentary tickets to any movie. Sound and 3-D were fine. I give an assessment of the film below at "PPPPS: GOLFCO ON THE FORCE AWAKENS”. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and for a brief moment we thought we were back at home. Back in my room, I watched the rest of Part 2 of The Gods Must Be Crazy and hit the sack due to our early rise tomorrow.
DAY 69, Wed 20JAN16, 73km, Camping/Hotel “Big Milly’s Backyard", Kokrobite, (30 west of Accra) to/from Accra GHANA (Run6). Today was embassy day. We met 4 of the 6 new people on the truck after leaving at 7am for the Angola embassy in Accra. Doug is a retired teacher in his early 60’s from Ventura in California USA. Thomas, 40, is an Architect, specialising in Shopping Centres, originally from East Germany and living in Vienna AUSTRIA. Gabriela, early thirties, is a Chemical Engineer who moved with her family from Poland to Chicago USA when she was 12. Lucy (early thirties) is also a teacher from London England. The other two met us at the embassy: Mike (early thirties) is a primary school from Cardiff in Wales and Tim (early fifties) is an accountant from London England. We arrived at the embassy at 9am and stayed there for 3hrs which is normal. They finger printed us and we also filled in forms for Togo and Benin.
Finally at 12:30pm, Doug, Riza, Roberto and I were able to set out by taxi to DHL - I was very excited. The others went to the Accra Mall on the truck. DHL was an easy affair. In 10min I was hugging my new Canon SX-60, Lumix TZ70 and 3 Mac car chargers. I got a little homesick when I received the two cartons and saw my brothers signature on the side - I almost expected him to pop up from behind the counter and say "howdy”! I removed the goods and put them in a carry bag I bought with me and then it was off into the hot Accra sauna.
We tried to walk the 1km to the National Museum but got lost and decided to take a cab. The museum looked closed so we drove to the “Mazola Market”. They were nowhere near as good as others we had seen so we kept going until we reached “Kwame Nkrumah Park” which contains fountains, an arch and a statue dedicated to the first President of Ghana. What water? Dry as. As we walked closer to the arch and took photos, a scruffy dressed local pops out yelling “no no no photo, ticket, ticket”. He looked like a bum with no uniform or badge but was very irate so we decided to back-off and leave. We passed the Law Courts - the best looking buildings in Accra.
We continued on to Jamestown which dates back to the 17th Century and is one of many ports that the English used to ship gold and slaves. What a disappointment. Lonely Planet definitely over-rates it. It is smelly, ugly and there are no shops or seats. If you try to take a photo, a bunch of young men in colourful clothes emerge saying you can only take photos with a guide and it is the same old African story - I am a youth worker supporting the community - I will show you around and let you take photos for a donation - surprise surprise. No ID, no badge, nothing. The lighthouse was closed (supposed to be able to go to the top to take photos of the city) and the museum was old and decrepit. They were very pushy and we got the shits and said “no thanks” and left.
We caught a taxi to the the bottom of “Condiments Road” which is also known as “Oxford Street”. This contains restaurants, bars, cafes and shops and very popular with ex-pats and tourists. One highlight was sipping cappuccino on a air-conditioned rooftop cafe with views of laboured Accra. We had some fried chicken here and wondered into some shops - I tried to buy a spare battery for my new Canon SX-60 but no luck - no one sells spare camera batteries - strange!
By the time the sun started to set we resolved to go to a live Jazz place called “+233” (the country code of GHANA) for an evening of drinks, food and Jazz! Tonight featured an “all girl band” on keyboards, bass guitar, drums and a lead singer. Not top of the line but a good sound and covered many western favourites as well as some African numbers. They even played a special request for Roberto! Beers were the coldest I have had to date - there was ice formed on the outside of the bottle! Most of the crowd were well-heeled locals, dressed to the hilt. Women were gorgeous with high heels, huge boofy hair-dos and loads of make-up and accessories. There was even a table full of businessmen enjoying a buffet dinner. I swear that the table next to us were Greeks - balding overweight guys with bottle-blonde wives and a table full of kebabs and beers. It was midnight when we left and managed to catch a cheap cab back to our beachside cool spot, 30min drive away.
DAY 70, Thu 21JAN16, 0km, Camping/Hotel “Big Milly’s Backyard", Kokrobite, (30 west of Accra) to/from West Hills Mall GHANA (Run7). Terrific sleep - under an air-conditioner, like a true Antarctica Golfin. Woke at 7am, so I could do brekkie duty - I was excused for dinner duty last night by my cook group and Andi, because “cultural experiences” come first when we are in big cities or unique locations - good rule! I went for a run immediately after because the sky was blue and the heat and humidity were full-on, even at 9:30am!!! Ran in the opposite direction to yesterday and enjoyed it despite the torture. Many youth cheered me on and put out their hands for a “high five”. As soon as I got back my iPhone turned itself off! It was not out of battery but was burning hot - a casualty of my runs here! I plugged into power and still nothing! I left it in my room and I cleaned my runners for the first time in 70 days. (PHOTOS RIGHT AND BELOW: Abanze Beach).
Paid for my room and expenses as we were leaving for the Cape Coast tomorrow. By noon the same offenders (Doug, Riza, Roberto and I) walked out of the compound to Kokrobite village to get a taxi to the West Hills Mall so we could use our complimentary vouchers from the night before. We watched the latest Bond film “Spectre” which was fantastic! Action from start to finish and a great plot line. The cinema brightness was much better than Star Wars but still not what it should be - I know because I own a home cinema. No assessment here - just see it. Post Bond we enjoyed some cold beers in a cafe in the centre that had a great WIFI and then went shopping for some supplies. We had a “split dinner” at the centre tonight. Riza and I went back to the same place as yesterday and Roberto and Doug stayed at the WIFI cafe because they liked the rice dishes there.
We then met up for drinks before travelling back to camp. Had a great laugh with the taxi driver on the way back. The driver was very religious and saw that we had bought wine and asked us what it was like and if it was bad for us. He had never drunk wine in his life. We talking about the health benefits of a glass of red with every meal and how this must be true because Christ turned water into wine thereby giving wine the “thumbs up”! He laughed at this and said he would try it to “make Jesus happy”! Back at our hotel we unleashed plenty of culture (wine, fetta, gouda, olives, gherkins, mushrooms, nuts) and talked about the new people, the controversial changes to the cook groups and the need to communicate our preferences for sightseeing vs shopping vs eating before we set out to see a new city. We had a great time and lots of laughs before retiring.
DAY 71, Fri 22JAN16, 114km, Camping/Hotel “Big Milly’s Backyard", Kokrobite, (30 west of Accra) to Camping/Hotel "Abanze Beach Resort” (20km east of Cape Coast) via West Hills Mall GHANA (Run8). What a relief! My iPhone was alive again - the alarm bells woke me up. Second relief - everything fit into half my locker and Doug’s stuff fit nicely into the other half - even with 6L of wine and a lot of food! By 9am, we were on our way to West Hills Mall to do cook group shopping. We were there for 3hrs and I had ample time to go to my favourite WIFI cafe to make several calls: spoke to my mum, brother, Nick Drinias and Lucy Braoudakis. I was very pleased. I was on truck guard at 11:30am until our departure time of 12:30pm - it was stinking hot but a slight breeze made it bareable - just!
Our 140km journey along the “Slave Coast” towards our campsite at the “Abanze Beach Resort”, just 20km east of the town of "Cape Coast”, took 2.5hrs. The scene at camp was idyllic. Absolute beachfront camping under Palm Trees with little gross roofed huts as airconditioned hotel rooms with private facilities and fridge. The English Fort “Amsterdam” on top of a hill at one end of the beach and a vast expanse over 8km at the other with big wooden fishing vessels everywhere.
The good news is that we managed an upgrade to an aircon room for tonight but a big group has booked all of them for the next two nights - Eric, the Manager will do what he can to help us retain our room - Go Eric! As we arrived early and had such a huge beach in front of us, Roberto and I went for a run at 4:30pm on the sand. Here is where the truth emerged - so much for idyllic - there were lots of beachside villages and I lost count of the men, women and children that were pooing on the beach! Dig a hole and deposit just in front of the water line and let the high tide flush it away. I had plans to swim there tomorrow morning but these are now “under review”! Just a touch of blogging and backups in the cool of my room before dinner and some beaut sunset shots with the Fort to the left. Another Bond film tonight “Casino Royale” to close the day. (PHOTOS ABOVE: St George Castle. PHOTO BELOW: Elmina).
DAY 72, Sat 23JAN16, 51km, Camping/Hotel "Abanze Beach Resort” (20km east of Cape Coast) to Camping/Hostel “Stumble Inn” (4km west of Elmina) GHANA (Run9). It was not a good morning. Roberto woke me with the news that three of our tents had been slashed and things stolen. Not a great way to mark the 70th day of our safari. Yuki had an iPhone and some clothes stolen, Dave lost his sleeping bag and Vit lost some money and several items including his back pack. Not surprising given the large number of locals living on the beach to the left and right of us in poor conditions. I recalled taking my sunset photos in my cozzies and being asked for money, even by women and children. I also reflected on what I was taking to my tent and decided to take even less - no toiletry bag, no shoes, just my thongs, my sleeping bag, my bush toilet and the clothes on my back - even then I would store my clothes in my sleeping bag! This incident also highlighted the importance of the bush camp rules, especially keeping the truck’s back door padlocked at all times.
Andi/Grant decided to leave this camp today and spend tonight at a resort in Elmina - this was welcome news since this town has two significant forts that were used in the slave trading days and we were planning to catch a bus here today as a day trip. It also meant another opportunity to upgrade to an aircon room - we were facing tents tonight and tomorrow if we had stayed at Abanze. I never thought I would be so happy to ride on the truck since that was the only way to get fresh air in what was the worst morning so far - humid and stuffy like a closet!
Our beachside site of “Stumble Inn” looked great - beachside and covered in plans and greenery however things changed when we saw our rooms - no aircon, no fan, no lights. Since we arrived at 11am we decided to head into Elmina to see St George’s Castle, the largest and best preserved of the 37 castles/forts that were used by the British and Portuguese to ship 50-60 million slaves to the Americas between 1637 and 1872.
For this reason, the whole Ghanian coast is known as “the Slave Coast”. Elmina (Pop 30,000) is a bustling place with Atlantic on one side and an let n the other - quite picturesque. UNESCO protected "St George Castle" dominates the skyline. It was built in 1482 by the Portuguese and later sold to the British in 1872. Originally it was used by traders to store spices, salt and later, gold until the store rooms were converted in dungeons for the slave trade. We saw these dungeons and the infamous “door of no return” which is a physical door through which all slaves passed to be placed on the boats outside, never to return to their African homes. It was a haunting sight since this door and the castle literally embody the origins of “black America”. At capacity, the castle held 600 male and 400 female slaves. Many died in the abhorrent and inhuman conditions.
We could only bare to bite in the cell for a few minutes in the choking humidity so I cannot imagine the horror of being shacked up here for days and weeks with no washing or toilets. Inhumane. The one hour guided tour was well worth the $16AUD. In the centre of the castle is the first ever Catholic Church built in Ghana and West Africa which is now a museum with textual and photographic displays of the entire history of this area, the people and environment.
After the tour, we sat down to terrific lunch of local food at the only western-style hotel and restaurant in the town. I consumed a very common Ghanian dish called “Red Red Fish” which is a stew of black-eyed beans and local fish served with fried plantains. Delicious sweet and sour combo. We decided to stay at this place since it was well-shaded and serviced by a cool off-shore breeze. Sank a few beers and even some passing Fan Ice frozen yoghurt. It was a good day in Elmina.
I decided to go for a refreshing swim when we got back before my run. The ocean was quite active with good body surfing waves but breaking too late for a decent run. The water temp was well north of 25C and very refreshing. I decided to run on the road since the beach was very soft and uneven. It was a nice evening and I did not get hot. I made it back just in time to help Doug (teacher from California) set up our tent - yep - my new tent buddy replacing Chris who left in Accra. After dinner we tried to watch a movie in my room but it was too hot and there was no ventilation even though it was blowing outside. We aborted the movie and sat on a lounge outside overlooking the beach because the moon was out and there was a magnificent ocean breeze. I also talked to Vit and he explained yesterday’s drama. Vit actually chased the guy who had slashed three tents and as a result, the offender dropped Dave’s sleeping bag (valued at $225AUD). Vit also found his day pack later with most items inside minus his money, head torch and glasses. Vit found Yuki’s personal clothes. What a day.
DAY 73, Sun 24JAN16, 215km, Camping/Hostel “Stumble Inn” (4km west of Elmina) to Camping/Hotel "Big Milly's Backyard", Kokrobite (30km west of Accra) via Kakum National Park and Cape Coast GHANA. Today was a busy day. Another National Park and Castle before our return to Big Milly’s. Four of our group decided to get off the truck in Cape Coast (only after 45min of driving) on our way to Kakum National Park. We would return to Cape Coast to pick them up and see the Castle. Kakum was very tropical. Big trees. Thick canope. The so-called “Canope Walk” was not worth it for $20AUD which is pricey for GHANA. 8 of us did the walk along with 10,000 Chinese - that is how it seemed - about 20 of them from Hong Kong. The 1.5km walk took just over one hour and ascended to a maximum height of 40m above the jungle ground.
The Canope Walk comprises 8 sections of thin wooden walkways sitting on metal frames surrounded by armpit height rope nets attached to thicker ropes that connect to metal cables bolted into very thick and very tall trees. Built by CANADIANS and serviced every 6mths. You need to walk slowly and have at least one hand free to hold onto the roped balistrade. For every step I took on the thin, wobbly platform, I hear a “click” from one of our enthusiastic Hong Kong photographers! A word in their defence. Here is a bunch of people in heir late 60’s and early 70’s with the finest cameras I have ever seen, photographing their way through Africa! Tacky dress, but a bit of respect please! My mum would never do this, so a little respect is out there!
Cape Coast (Pop 250,000) followed. What a place. Super busy with small covered bars ever 100m. I walked around the outside walls of the Cape Coast Castle and replaced the internal tour with a thorough walk of the town. The castle is right on the Atlantic and was built by the Dutch in 1637, renovated by the Swedes in 1652 and taken over by the British in 1664 and used as the administrative capital until 1877. The castle also overlooks the main beach which is full of long heavy wooden fishing vessels and the sane was packed with local youth playing soccer. The streets were alive with the smells of local food, music and street traders. Lots of smoked fish everywhere. The air was thick with humidity and after 2 hours in the sun I was desperate for cold beer so I sat myself down in one of the small side bars and had my first Ghanian Cassava Beer and some fried sweet potato.
The beer was like a brown ale and 6% strong. It hit the spot. I spoke with two local guys, both knew Australia well and dreamed to be there one day. By the time I got back to the truck for our 3pm departure I was completely spent and wet with sweat. Snoozed all the way back to Milly’s. I was over the moon when I found out that Andi had secured the same air conditioned room as before. Bliss. Put the aircon to full blast, packed the fridge with wine and had possibly the best shower of the trip! It was great to de-sweat! Tonight we enjoyed another treat at Milly’s Restaurant - a pasta primavera. The Culture Club gathered for another movie in my room and I surprised everyone with some peacock and beef kebabs that I picked up for only $0.40 each. Roberto was in heaven - a Brazilian re-united with his beloved meat! We decided to abort the movie and talk about death tonight! Thoroughly stimulating. Could not even remember when we slept.
DAY 74, Mon 25JAN16, 0km, Camping/Hotel "Big Milly's Backyard", Kokrobite (30km west of Accra) to/from West Hills Mall GHANA (Run10). Slept in to 9am today. Much to my amazement the morning was NOT humid. It was the coolest morning run I had here but it was extremely hazy to the point where visibility was down to 500m. The young office manager at Milly's, Thomas, now a good friend of mine, explained to me that there are many days in the dry season (Nov-Feb) when dry, hot winds from the Sahara blow down south onto Ghana and overpowers the moist air from the Atlantic, condensing it into a fog and replacing all the humidity with dry air. Today was one of those days. Weird. It is like Bangkok suddenly going dry for one day! Perfect weather for our trip back to West Hills Mall. This time, Vit joined us and we made a bee-line for the cinema.
The latest Di Caprio movie, “The Revenant” immediately caught our attention but there were no sessions until late afternoon and Riza had cook group tonight. Roberto then surprised us all by suggesting that we ask the manager to screen The Reverent at a time to suit us, since we were probably going to be the only ones to see it. I gave this rationale to the manager and we nearly feller when he said “yes”. We picked our own time of 1:20pm. Where else can you organise your own cinema session - only in Africa! This gave us plenty of time to have a relaxing lunch at our favourite internet cafe. We entered Cinema Number 4 and I waved my hand like a Hollywood Director and the film suddenly came on. What a film. Set in the late 1700’s or early 1800s in Montana USA and Alberta CANADA, The Revenant tells the story of a fur trapper’s extraordinary tale of survival and revenge in some breath-taking scenes of mountain, snow, forest, rocks and raging rivers. The air-conditioning was so strong, it felt as though we were in the movie! Imagine that. Ghana heat outside and a snowy cinema inside. We absolutely enjoyed it. “Revenant” actually means “someone who has returned after being given up for dead”.
This was our third big screen movie in so many days - we felt western again. After the movie we stocked up on the usual Culture Club favourites at “Shoprite” (a huge South African supermarket chain much like Marjan in Morocco) before heading back to Milly’s. Tonight it was a sausage sizzle with Coleslaw. Tonight’s Culture Club topic was “Wealth” and it was a beauty judging from the empty fridge the following morning. (PHOTO BELOW: Cape Coast).
DAY 75, Tue 26JAN16, AUSTRALIA DAY, 0km, Camping/Hotel "Big Milly's Backyard", Kokrobite (30km west of Accra) GHANA (Run10). "Happy Australia Day” was the greeting at brekkie this morning. It was another semi-Sahara day, so one of the new guys, Thomas, the Architect from Austria, decided to go for a run with me. He was originally born in East German Rostock and is a former Greco-Roman Wrestler! He is still quite athletic and very very flexible. He likes to keep in shape via the occasional run and plenty of yoga with his wife. A quiet, unassuming person and very pleasant to talk to. He was also interested in coming to the Mall with us tomorrow to watch a movie.
Today was a blog day for me. We all agreed to skip the mall and catch up on cleaning, reading, photo culling and blogging s we could go into the mall tomorrow to post at our reliable internet cafe. I hit my Mac at 10am after my run with Thomas and did not look up until late afternoon. The power was out until 11:30am so I was super glad when it came back on. I finished this post at 5:30pm and rewarded myself with a cold Cassava Beer. Roberto, Vit and Riza joined me at 6pm for wine and Vit proof-read this post. We had dinner at Milly’s since the truck was cooking more carbs with no veggies or meat in sight! After dinner we drank the local “Palm Wine” fermented to 5-7% - it is a milky white concoction and tastes a little like sour coconut. I did not really like it much but it did help us sleep!
DAY 76, Wed 27JAN16, 0km, Camping/Hotel "Big Milly's Backyard", Kokrobite (30km west of Accra) GHANA (Run11). Another cool, non-humid hazy Sahara day today. Had to take advantage and run in the morning. After my shower I updated the kilometres in my post and headed off to the mall with Roberto, Thomas and Riza to post this blog. Success. It was up in just 3min - tons of text and almost 50 photos. The internet is so good at the “Enda Cafe” that I also updated my Mac operating system and Office software as well as the O/S and 36 apps on my iPhone. Then it was our fourth movie “The Last Witch Hunter” with Vin Diesel. It was the worst of the lot. Very predictable and not much of a story. Thomas on the other hand got his own session of “The Revanent”. He was alone. They even started the film twice so he could buy popcorn! After the movies, we stocked up on whatever wine and food we had consumed since our last shop and kissed the mall goodbye - it had been a worthy oasis for tired bush camp West Africa travellers. It was a quiet evening. I did cook group after what seems a long time and then retired to my room to get some sleep before we set off for TOGO tomorrow...
PS: A LITTLE ABOUT GHANA:
GHANA is the size of Great Britain and English is the most common language. 70% of the population are Christian (mainly Catholic & Protestant but also lots of Charismatics and Pentecostals), 15% are Muslim and the rest traditional African beliefs in animals and nature. GHANA was originally inhabited in 4,000BC but did not get properly settled until the 13th Century when gold was discovered and several Ghanian “Kingdoms” were established, each with their own “king”. The most successful of these were the “Asante” that dominated in 16th Century. It did not take long for the Portuguese, to come sniffing after the gold and before long the British, French, Dutch, Swedish and Danish just had to have their bit too. These Europeans traded gold and slaves on the “Gold Coast” of GHANA and by the 19th Century, the British took over by defeating the Asante in Kumasi in 1874 and slavery was abolished.
Independence was inevitable and came in 1957 with Kwame Nkrumah as the first President. He lasted a long time taking the country to great heights but also ploughing it into great debt. His army took over in 1966 when he was visiting China and ruled until 1979 when a half Scottish, half Ghanese guy called Jerry Rawlings rose to power by promising to overthrow army corruption. He eventually became President and took the country back to the top and finally handed over to his deputy in 2000. Since then there have been democratic elections and stability. Kofi Annan (former UN Secretary General) was Ghanese. GHANA is famous for its dancing (kids learn at age 3), “Kente” cloth and “akpeteshie” or high alcohol palm wine. The most common dish is “Groundnut Stew”, a spicy liquified ground nut paste with ginger and meat or fish. “Red Red” is also common = black-eyed beans with fried plantains - beef, chicken and fish can also be added.
PPS: THE MOST TRAVELLED:
To celebrate the completion of 2 of the 9 calendar months of my trip on 15JAN16 here are the top travellers of our group in terms of countries and territories visited when we started this trip on 15NOV15: 1) Graham (64yr old from London) at 112, 2) Chris (32yr old from Houston) at 92, 3) Dan (38yr old from El Paso) at 88, 4) Vit (59yr old from Vancouver) at 72, 5) Dave (60yr old from London) at 82, 6) Riza (45yr old from Delaware) at 67 and then me at 7th with 60. I thought I was high. Truth is that the top three have worked in many countries and taken the opportunity to visit those in their vicinity. Vit has also been traveling non-stop since he moved to Canada and is single. What the top 5 and I share in common is that none of us are married or have ever been married! Time is not “money", it is “country"!
PPPS: INTERESTING FACT ON AFRICA:
There are now over 1.3 billion people living in the 55 countries of Africa and speaking over 2,000 different languages/dialects. 500 of these are in Ethiopia. 50% of the population in 38 countries still live in the slums. 38% of all people are illiterate.
PPPPS: GOLFCO ON "THE FORCE AWAKENS":
Overall I rate the film 7 out of 10. I enjoyed it but it is not what I expected. I thought it would significantly progress the story line beyond “Return of the Jedi” which it is meant to follow but in my opinion, all it did was to repeat the story line of the original “Star Wars” episode 4. Droid carrying secret message to Rebels, young woman finds it, evil emperor trains new recruit, black version of Luke, English version of Leia and then our old favourites, Han, Leia, Chewy, the Millennium Falcon, Death Star and even Luke. Even the bar with strange creatures where Han did his deals was repeated (one of the creatures resembled Jaba). They did a great job hiding Luke’s bloated face and huge body - in reality he is grossly obese and does not sound anything like his younger self - which is probably why he got no speaking part. Even poor Leia sounded like a granny when she spoke. Sad. Only Harrison looked and sounded better than the original - like Sean Connery or a fine red wine, that get better with age. What was great about the movie were the special effects, the battles and the sound - all advances on the original. I reckon that Disney made this film as the 3D version of the original - it was too hard to convert Star Wars into 3D and do justice to the space craft and social effects so they redid the whole thing and made it for 3D. This movie was clearly a remake of the original and aimed at goobers like me who rate Star Wars as the best film of all time.
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