Week Three
13th September – we explored the Upper East. We visited Sirigu, a traditional village where the custom is to paint the houses. We also visited the Pikworo Slave Camp. This was a highlight of the trip for the historical context. It was a camp where the slaves marched from Mali and Burkina Faso were kept before being sold and marched through Ghana to the Cape Coast area. Seeing this place brought home the truth of how badly the people were treated.
14th September – We returned to Tamale to pick up a new truckload of money to pay for the car and hire it for a further two weeks. We had planned our trip whilst in Tumu and decided that having a car was essential. Dad had by this time come to terms with the fact that is was better to have a driver. Malik by this time had become part of our trip and we couldn’t leave him behind.
15th September – we now headed south to the Volta region. This was by far the worst road we had ever driven down. It made the Upper West roads feel like carpet. It was not helped by the torrential rain we encountered and one village that was situated on a hill found its road turned into grade 4 rapids rather than a road. Malik did well to drive through it. After 8 hours we should have been in Wli our next stop however, we had only managed to get 2 thirds of the way before having to give in and find a bed for the night. This we managed quite comfortably.
16th September – the weather was much better today, and we continued with our journey quite quickly. Arriving at Wli falls by lunchtime. We found some accommodation – not the place we wanted but the another place. They owners were very friendly and on Saturday nights had local drumming and dancing. We were very lucky. The place was not in the Bradt guide but mum has informed me that following an email she sent them on her return the hotel is going to be mentioned in the next publication. We feel we have done a little something for Ghana tourism.
17th September – the reason we included Wli on our trip were the magnificent falls. The walk to them was through a mini rainforest, extremely different landscape from the barren north. We left Wli in the afternoon for Ho our next stop. By this time the roads had improved somewhat and the rest of our trip would be on tarmac. The hotel we stayed in, in Ho had a swimming pool. Malik was very excited about this as he wanted to swim. There is a pool in Tamale where he lives and he has used it a few times but only with armbands. Ho didn’t have any only a big rubber ring. After some unsuccessful attempts using the ring dad decided to teach Malik to swim. 2 hours later he had Malik swimming the length of the pool without stopping and with no aids. Quite an achievement for them both.
18th September – Malik was back in the pool first thing making the most of his new skills. We travelled back halfway back to Hohoe today, much to Dad’s uneasiness, to visit a couple of villages. Tafi Abuipe and Tafi Atome. The former is a Kente-weaving village and the latter a monkey sancturary.
We were all extremely impressed with both of them especially Tafi Abuipe. The whole village works together to produce the kente cloth. The money earned gets split amongst the workers. They also have a factory where 2 people from each family work and the kente produced there gets exported out. All the kente cloth. Mum particularly liked the kente and bought so much that I don’t think they needed to produce any more for a couple of months!!!
The Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary was fun we got to feed the mona monkeys. Very cute.
19th September – we again headed south, the destination Accra. We travelled via the Akosombo Dam. I had been there before but hadn’t had a very good guide. this time the guide was much better, and we got a good insight as to why there was such a problem with the water levels and how much was needed before minimum would be reached. (they finally reached the minimum in October and hopefully there shouldn’t be a shortage for the hot dry season).
We also stopped at a place where traditional glass beads are produced. In the olden days beads were used as currency. The method hasn’t changed much in the last few centuries, the source has. Instead of making glass from sand they now recycle bottles. I thought it was funny to see Bombay Sapphire and Baileys bottles lined up to make beads. Again we bought from the source. Ghana makes you realise the importance of fair trade. The prices they charge for a bracelet where the process has taken hours and is hot and hard work, is ridiculously low. I just know how much they would charge for the bracelet in Europe and the States. The money is just not getting back to the source.
Our final stop before Accra was Tema, we met and chatted to some doctors who were volunteering on a medical ship docked in Tema for a few months. It was with an organisation called Mercy Ships. They specialise in facial and eye disorders. They invited us to ship to have a look around. We took them up on the offer and landed at the dock. Malik was exceptionally excited about this stop. He had never been on a ship before so wanted to have his photo taken. Finally at the end of the day we arrived back in Accra and felt our trip was coming to an end. Not quite though we had another week to relax at the beach. But only after mum had bought the material shop out of all the fabric they had. 20th September – met up with new volunteers who were on their induction. I introduced myself to Di and Alan the volunteers coming to Tumu, we spent much of the day with them.
14th September – We returned to Tamale to pick up a new truckload of money to pay for the car and hire it for a further two weeks. We had planned our trip whilst in Tumu and decided that having a car was essential. Dad had by this time come to terms with the fact that is was better to have a driver. Malik by this time had become part of our trip and we couldn’t leave him behind.
15th September – we now headed south to the Volta region. This was by far the worst road we had ever driven down. It made the Upper West roads feel like carpet. It was not helped by the torrential rain we encountered and one village that was situated on a hill found its road turned into grade 4 rapids rather than a road. Malik did well to drive through it. After 8 hours we should have been in Wli our next stop however, we had only managed to get 2 thirds of the way before having to give in and find a bed for the night. This we managed quite comfortably.
16th September – the weather was much better today, and we continued with our journey quite quickly. Arriving at Wli falls by lunchtime. We found some accommodation – not the place we wanted but the another place. They owners were very friendly and on Saturday nights had local drumming and dancing. We were very lucky. The place was not in the Bradt guide but mum has informed me that following an email she sent them on her return the hotel is going to be mentioned in the next publication. We feel we have done a little something for Ghana tourism.
17th September – the reason we included Wli on our trip were the magnificent falls. The walk to them was through a mini rainforest, extremely different landscape from the barren north. We left Wli in the afternoon for Ho our next stop. By this time the roads had improved somewhat and the rest of our trip would be on tarmac. The hotel we stayed in, in Ho had a swimming pool. Malik was very excited about this as he wanted to swim. There is a pool in Tamale where he lives and he has used it a few times but only with armbands. Ho didn’t have any only a big rubber ring. After some unsuccessful attempts using the ring dad decided to teach Malik to swim. 2 hours later he had Malik swimming the length of the pool without stopping and with no aids. Quite an achievement for them both.
18th September – Malik was back in the pool first thing making the most of his new skills. We travelled back halfway back to Hohoe today, much to Dad’s uneasiness, to visit a couple of villages. Tafi Abuipe and Tafi Atome. The former is a Kente-weaving village and the latter a monkey sancturary.
We were all extremely impressed with both of them especially Tafi Abuipe. The whole village works together to produce the kente cloth. The money earned gets split amongst the workers. They also have a factory where 2 people from each family work and the kente produced there gets exported out. All the kente cloth. Mum particularly liked the kente and bought so much that I don’t think they needed to produce any more for a couple of months!!!
The Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary was fun we got to feed the mona monkeys. Very cute.
19th September – we again headed south, the destination Accra. We travelled via the Akosombo Dam. I had been there before but hadn’t had a very good guide. this time the guide was much better, and we got a good insight as to why there was such a problem with the water levels and how much was needed before minimum would be reached. (they finally reached the minimum in October and hopefully there shouldn’t be a shortage for the hot dry season).
We also stopped at a place where traditional glass beads are produced. In the olden days beads were used as currency. The method hasn’t changed much in the last few centuries, the source has. Instead of making glass from sand they now recycle bottles. I thought it was funny to see Bombay Sapphire and Baileys bottles lined up to make beads. Again we bought from the source. Ghana makes you realise the importance of fair trade. The prices they charge for a bracelet where the process has taken hours and is hot and hard work, is ridiculously low. I just know how much they would charge for the bracelet in Europe and the States. The money is just not getting back to the source.
Our final stop before Accra was Tema, we met and chatted to some doctors who were volunteering on a medical ship docked in Tema for a few months. It was with an organisation called Mercy Ships. They specialise in facial and eye disorders. They invited us to ship to have a look around. We took them up on the offer and landed at the dock. Malik was exceptionally excited about this stop. He had never been on a ship before so wanted to have his photo taken. Finally at the end of the day we arrived back in Accra and felt our trip was coming to an end. Not quite though we had another week to relax at the beach. But only after mum had bought the material shop out of all the fabric they had. 20th September – met up with new volunteers who were on their induction. I introduced myself to Di and Alan the volunteers coming to Tumu, we spent much of the day with them.
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