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Finally i have found the time to write about my final week in Ghana! I am incredibly sorry for the time delay but i have been frantically trying to prepare for my next adventure- for which i leave tommorow!!!
My last week in Ghana was definately the most eventful of my trip- it was great fun and very interesting as i got to learn a lot more about the country by seeing a different region. I spent my final week on the south cost of Ghana- (formerly know as the gold coast) and shared my adventures with my travel buddies Jennie and Mary.
Our first adventure was the night bus from Mampong to Accra- The bus left Mampong at 10ish and arrived in Accra around 4am, the driver kindly allowed the passengers to stay on the bus and sleep until the sun starts to rise. We left the bus around 5 30 and headed off in search of the Syto office (jennies organization) where we left our bags for the week- this was a godsent as our backpacks were incredibly heavy by this point. We spent most of the rest of the day travelling, taking numerous buses, tro tro's and taxis and finally arriving at the idylic Green Turtle Lodge in Akwida. The lodge was absolutely beautiful and very in tune with the natural environment and local peoples. We slept in a large dormitory bungalow and used out door toilets and showers- the showers even had running water which was blissfull. We spent most of the afternoon and all of the next day hanging out on the beach, eating, playing games and just generally chilling out- a much deserved break after childcare and malaria.
We left the Green Turtle lodge early and took a beautiful walk down the beach to the closest village in an attempt to get the first tro-tro. The village was quite primitive and incredibly small, as usual there were goats, ducks and chickens wandering about, but there were also local children bathing in the lake before school and fishermen readying their nets in their beautiful hand painted boats. I tried to take pictures of the scene but was gruffly yelled at by a local who told me to "stop that awfull behaviour."- i of course very rapidly returned my camera to my bag feeling quite ashamed of my "awfull behaviour". We spent a veyr long day of travel, including 2 different tro-tro break downs on our way to beyin. We finally arrived however and still had time to find a hotel and take a very exciting trip to Nzulezo the local stilt village. The trip out to the village was increddible, before we began we were told we would have a little walk as it was theend of dry season and thus a lot of the lake had dried up. Thisin mind we set out accross beautiful savannah grass lands in search of the lake, they neglected to tell us however that this short walk would also involve wading through squidgy black mud followed by knee deep- or waist deep in my case warm water before finally reaching the boats. I thought it was awesome, but other unsuspecting tourists should be warned as they may not find it so enjoyable. The boat ride accross the lake was stunning and reminded me greatly of my time spent at Sacha lodge in Ecuador. When we eventually reached the stilt village the first sight that greeted us was a monkey tied up by his tail- alarmed at the captive state of the monkey i questioned our guide as to why the monkey was tied up- his response was to look at me as if i was dim-witted and remark "So it doesn't steal the tomatoes" as if this was the most obvious thing and he couldn't believe i was asking such a stupid question. The stilt village was quite incredible and was fully decked out with church, junior school, a couple shops and a guest house. Each family had their own mini street that crossed "main street", with their family's rooms and out door kitchen, it was actually very impressively put together although the older children did have to row back accross the lake everyday to get to the secondary school. The Beyin Beach Resort where we spent the night was positively luxiurious- the beach was beautiful and we shared a cabin complete with en-suite hot water bathroom, fan and mosquito netted bed and porch, was absolutely beautiful and the english couple that own it were delightful. Sadly we couldn't stay long however as we left relatively early for Cape Coast where we eventually found a grotty hotel (after much searching) and took a tour of the colonial castle and slave dungeons. The dungeons were very chiling and it was fascinating to hear the tales of the slaves from the african perspective- made me realise how horrible we british really were. for example, the church for the white people was built directly above the male slave dungeon which the africa people believe was to signify heaven and hell-horrendous when you think about it like that.
The next morning we visited Kakum National park where Jennie and i did the cannopy walk- this involved climbing many stairs before setting off accorss 9 rope bridges joined together by rest platforms in the trees. Sadly there were no nimals to be seen however, the views were incredible and it was most bizzare to be able to see above the tree line.
Our final destination was ada foah, which is the place at which the Volta river enters the sea. Our Hotel was located out on the point so that 100 meters on one side of our sand floored hut was the atlantic ocean with its salt water and raging waves, while on the other side 50 meters from out hut was the calm, fresh volta river. it was an incredible experience, even though despite an incredibly long walk we never made it to the actual point. It was a fabulous place to spend my birthday and our last coupld of days in Ghana- we even bathed in the river, which was a wonderfully enjoyable experience, and well worth the trek out there, which included a bus, a taxi, 2 tro-tro's - one of which broke down and finally a canoe.
Our last port of call in Ghana was the Accra craft market, where i spent my remaining dollars and purchased some very nice handcrafted woden sculptures and traditional masks. the market was absolutely huge and every single person wanted to show you their wares, even though they were the same as everyone elses! "free to look", "my turn now" and "i give you nice price", were the three favourite sayings of the market and my haggling skills were deffinately put to the test but in the end i deffinately came out on top with an excellent deal.
It is incredibly hard to believe that my time in Ghana is over- i had an absolutely wonderful time, but it is time to move on to the next adventure. I will deffinately go back however, especially now that my host mum has named her baby after me!
I hope you have all enjoyed reading my blog and i look foward to writting the next one- thank you all for your support. so much love xxx - signing off!!
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