Travelogues of the former Gold Coast

DAY 2 (17th December 2011)

EASTERN REGION

I decide to go and see the Boti Falls in the Eastern region today. I had read somewhere on the internet that it is just about 90 minutes from Accra, but upon asking for directions from the owners of my hostel, I was told the journey to Koforidua where Boti falls is located is more like 2 hours. I take a bus from the park at Kwame Nkrumah circle. Halfway through the journey, my stomach starts rumbling, informing me that I need to use the toilet ASAP! I immediately start praying that it should exercise patience till I reach my destination. I simultaneously break out in sweat and goose pimples and God answers my prayers as I very uncomfortably held on till we reached Koforidua.

Fortunately, there is a public toilet at the park in Koforidua which charges 2 cedis, the toilet is not too clean but I'm in zero position to complain.I feel much better after using the toilet and continue my journey to Boti which is a further 30 minutes drive from Koforidua. I wander into the compound that houses the falls and wonder that no one challenged or asked me to pay entrance fee. This makes me wonder how the country makes money from tourism if anyone can just go in and out of tourist sites without paying. I ask one of the hawkers at the place who directs me on how to get to the falls and I start descending the 250 steps leading to the falls. I wonder again at the seeming non-management of the tourism industry here. There are only 2 people around to see the falls, a guy and a lady, both wearing lemon green polo shirts that had written on them, the name of a tourism club. I ask the guy to take a picture of me at the falls. After obliging, he asks where I am from and thereafter offers to take me to the other tourist sites there in Boti.

The Boti falls are two, separated by some meters. The guy I met at the falls explains to me that the two are supposed to be male and female and that from time to time, the two merge together to "mate"

The walk to see the ancient cave, three headed palm tree and the umbrella rock was indeed a long and very treacherous one as we kept ascending and descending the narrow rocky and sometimes slippery path. Missing a step along this path could result in death or at the very best, several broken bones. At a point in the journey, I felt like turning back but was encouraged by Ebenezer, my guide, who,not knowing what was going on in my mind, heaped praises on my seeming fitness.

Ebenezer explains that the Boti tourist sites was discovered in 1950 by a Koffi Yesu though the place did not become well known until 1966 when the then president of the country visited it. He told me the place is called esi-afuro (not sure this is the correct spelling), meaning the place of ascending and descending.

Walking to the ancient cave

the three headed palm tree

and finally, the umbrella rock

took the better part of three hours. It was exhausting but going through with the journey gave me a sense of accomplishment. I exchange email and phone with Ebenezer who has the interesting habit of
calling every female 'mum'.

By the time I return to my hostel, it was well after 7 pm and I had to take a very expensive (considering the distance) taxi. I was so tired, I just wanted to get back to the hostel. we passed through Aburi town (I'm reminded of the famous Aburi conference of just before the Nigerian civil war in 1967).

I notice that funerals are a very big thing in Ghana as I saw quite a number of funeral processions along the way. One would in fact be forgiven if like I almost did, one makes the mistake of thinking that all the people clad in black and most times, combination of other dull-coloured native fabrics are going to the same funeral. I soon notice however that all persons going for burial ceremonies are required to go in mainly black attires which because of the colour look very similar.

At the park at the Kwame Nkrumah circle, I see more hawkers wearing socks and some others selling food already packaged in take-away packs. An interesting sign caught my attention at the Koforidua park.The sign read: ADESI FUNERAL AND FASHION CENTRE. I initially found it quite difficult to marry fashion and funeral together (I was later to understand that this is quite natural as wreaths made of ribbons is quite a big thing here and they are mostly made by tailors).

Although english is the official language here, the people from one region to another seem to have a major dialect that they all understand and speak and so you hardly hear them speak the English language with one another.

I found myself having to say "sorry I don't understand" too many times to keep count each time I am addressed in the local dialect.

Ghana Travelogues

I admit the title above is not very original besides the fact that I consider it to be too obvious, I would much prefer a less obvious and far more creative title but alas, my brain is just not cooperating with my desire this night and so I shall leave the title as it is until something literally creative smacks me in the brain!

I had for years been mouthing my desire to take a vacation by myself and away from my normal hangouts and so when I finally made my decision in 2011 to go by myself for a two week vacation in the former Gold Coast, more than one person expressed scepticism at likelihood of my enjoying the vacation especially since I had admitted I had no friend in Ghana that could take me around and show me the country.

Because i'm just as human as the person next door, I sometimes allowed the doubts to get to me but I am ultimately happy that I didn't allow myself to be dissuaded from embarking on the vacation. I spent a total of 15 days in Ghana, and, my only complaint apart from the fact that I don't like their food, is that the days went just way too fast!

DAY 1

ACCRA

My first impression on getting to Accra and travelling from the Kotoka International Airport to my hostel at Darkuman was that Accra combined the beauty, serenity and wideness of roads that can be found in Nigeria's Federal Capital city (Abuja) and the crowdy, dusty and sometimes port-holed roads that can be found in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria.

The roads were mostly well-ordered, neat and wide as we left Kotoka Airport and approached town almost up to Ring road. However, as we got to Ring road and left it especially as we approached the Kaneshie market (a massive building which housed mostly sellers of foodstuffs), up to the point where we got to Darkuman, the scenery changed to that of the ever-bustling Lagos. I only succeeded in taking a picture of the Flagstaff house and couldn't take pictures yet e with my Sony digital camera with which I was at this time yet to make a full acquaintance.

Interestingly, because the weather in Accra was so similar to that of Lagos that it lulled me into a false sense of still being in Lagos. During the journey from the Airport to my hostel, a sense of uncertainty started creeping in; would I enjoy touring and seeing all the tourist attractions in Ghana that I had seen on the internet and decided to visit? I however made up my mind to enjoy every second of my vacation regardless of the fact that I'm travelling alone.


After having rested for some time and not having eaten any real food except a piece of fish and part of a bar of chocolate that I had brought along with me, I decided to go out and do some exploring around the neighbourhood of my hostel. I take a very long walk (feeling like Janie Walker), trying to see whether I would chance upon any place or thing of interest; I didn't. I however did see a place called ANAMBRA FOREX BUREAU. Unless the word Anambra has some meaning in one of the Ghanaian languages, I felt very sure that the place was owned by one of my ever-industrious Ibo brothers. I felt like whipping out my camera and taking a picture of the place but was restrained by my not wanting to appear like the "Janie Just come" that I am.

The harmattan in the evening, seemed a bit more forceful than it was earlier in the day, and I noticed a handful of hawkers wearing socks in their slippers. Again, I resist the urge to take a picture of these hawkers.

Through my walk back and forth, I see no fast-food joint though I saw quite a number of food outlets which incidentally branded themselves as fast food outlets though of course not in the sense that we have in Nigeria. I finally enter one of the food outlets on the street of my hostel and ordered fried rice and chicken. Lo and behold, the fried rice is not like we have in Nigeria. The fried rice in Ghana has none of the vegetable that we put in ours in Nigeria. But at 2 cedis (equivalent of 200 Nigerian naira)for a take-away pack with 2 reasonably-sized chickens and a small amount of salad, I'll say it is food cheap (I don't want to say dirt cheap seeing as it is food we are talking about here).

Back at the hostel, I meet Angelic, a Netherland graduate of International Law who tells me she is in Ghana for her internship at a human right centre somewhere there in Accra. she seems real friendly and we chatted for quite a while about her experiences in Accra before we both decided to call it a night.
My life as a tourist starts tomorrow!