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Oct 10
Everything is going fine in Accra, Ghana, am taking it easy in the heat. The people here have a great sense of humour and are incredibly friendly and relaxed. Accra is a very modern city, the internet is everywhere and you can buy anything in the shops or from baskets on peoples heads.

Ghana

Stevemonty
2005-09-23 19:03:29

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group and I met several of their group. This area is near the African Music and Arts Acadamy where I watched another show, tried some Ghanian dancing and had a couple of bongo lessons.
I'm then travelled with a Andy a medical student from Cardiff who had been working in Kumasi. We went to visit the UNESCO slave forts at Cape Coast and Elmina. It's hard to describe in words what went on here but it's really interesting and important to visit here and to make sure humans are never again allowed to treat other humans in such a horric way.
Tro Tro in Elmina

Had a brief stop at Kakum National park for a rainforest ropewalk and lunch in a restuarant surrounded by a crocodile lake where I had pork and peanut soup, before catching the evening Tro Tro to Kumasi. Tro Tro are like small minibuses which are packed 5 people across. They are cheap and convenient, you wait up to an hour for them to fill up with people, then the driver winds his way across the whole road avoiding potholes.
Oct 24
Hi, am in Tamale after a couple of days in Kumasi, where I saw the Ashanti Queen at an awards ceremony for school achievers and visited the largest market in West Africa. It's easy to get lost in there but the market is organised by different products one's that stand out are the African medicenes and meat stalls. On the last evening I went to a birthday party with German and Ghanian medical students, friends of Andy.

The next morning I travelled to Tamale and then onto Mole National Park where 4 of us went on a series of 4 bush hikes. We saw 5 elephants at a distance of just 20 metres, monkeys, baboons and 4 types of antelope. On the last day we visited the ancient mosque in the small rural village of Laraganga. I have created a website for Kony there to promote his eco-tourism project which is helping to build a school and provide sanitation for his village.

http://www.geocities.com/larabanga_ecotourism
It can be quite difficult travelling here sometimes because there is a lot of poverty and it's hard as a European to think about this as we are so obviously priviliged by where we were born. But I believe I am travelling for the right reasons and if I can help along the way with a website then I feel a bit better about myself.
Oct 28
I then caught a Trotro onto Bolgatanga, from here i cycled to the village of Tongo where I met the chief of the area. Interesting because they had retained their original beliefs and not taken on Chrisianity or Islam. I entered a communal mud built hut with straw roof through a very low door after removing my sandals.

The next day went back for their new year festival, there was 2 big talking drums in the middle and about 30 to 40 people dancing around it into the night. Some wearing metal shakers on their feet to add to the rhythm of drums and chanting. Amazing atmosphere and the dancing was really good, cant wait for it to catch on in the nightclubs at home!

I was also recognised by the local deaf school pupils whom I had visited the day before where a American Peace Corp worker called Linda I had met in the Tro tro station the day before teaches. So I spent some of the evening learning and trying to communicate in sign language with them.