Trip to ghana
 

Hey there guys and girls
We are planning to spend 3-4 riding around Ghana and just hanging out.
Any ideas of places and things to see and do would be great.

Thanks


Lifes journey is not to arrive in a well preserved body
but rather to slide in sideways totally worn out shouting "holy shit"
what a ride

3-4 what? Days or weeks?! Im presming weeks.

I loved Ghana and have been lucky enough to go there 4 times but Im afraid to say its all obvious stuff i did, nothing too adventurous:

Mole Natonal Park, Lake Bosumtwi (near Kumasi), Kumasi, Kakum national Park (good canopy walkway above the forest), Cape Coast and Elmina, Akosombo dam, Kintampo waterfalls etc

Next time Im hoping to cross from Tamale to Yendi then down the eastern side of lake Volta before cutting into Togo.

All of these places are worth a visit in their own right Id say. Lovely country and great people. Have a great trip.

thanks dave
you are right 3-4 weeks is the plan
we are planning to ride all over the country, what are the roads like out of the towns?
also what time of the year were you there and what was the weather like?
we are a couple of kiwi (nz) boys so we dont mind a bit of rain.
cheers

Lifes journey is not to arrive in a well preserved body
but rather to slide in sideways totally worn out shouting "holy shit"
what a ride

I have been there in october/november time, and also in january/february time. No matter on when I was there it was always pretty hot, but not unbearable by any means. Humidity on the coast is pretty bad at times, but not like Cameroon jungle or anything like that, just everyting always feels damp, washed clothes take forever to dry!

Main roads between Burkina border-Tamale-Kumasi-Accra-Cape Coast on the whole pretty good. Its all pretty much paved, but alot of it is old tar so can be very bump/wavey.....hit the waves at 80kmph and your suspension gets a good wake up call! Certainly part of the road between Kumasi and Accra is quite shitty tar, but just go a bit slower and no worries. Mostly single carriageway of course so big trucks slow you down at times.

Road into Mole park is dirt, mixture of good graded and corrugated shit, but not bad by any means.

Road from Accra to Togo border is good at first, but then some really shity tar towards the last 100kms or so, pretty slow going here. Migt be better to head up to the border between Akosombo and Kpalime....good road most of the way, except no mans land (dirt, but pretty good dirt).

This is all from 2008 though, so may have improved/deteriorated. They improved some stretches for the Africa Nations so to impress the visitors, but then appeared to give up when the cup was over!

Hello,

I just spent about 3 weeks in Ghana (this February), riding on a small Yamaha YBR125. I would mostly agree with Dave and add the following :

• If you go to Kakum Park and are disappointed because you didn't see animals (which was my experience and is also likely, from what I hear), make sure you visit the "Monkey Forest", about 3km before reaching Kakum. It's a sanctuary run by 2 Dutch ; they rescue animals which would otherwise be killed or eaten... (monkeys, alligators, turtles, some rare small and average sized cats like animals which I'd never seen before, only one snake but lots of snake stories, and lots of fun to talk with). They've also got beer and loads of stories to tell about the 7 years they've spend in Ghana so far.
• The central region produces palm oil ; anywhere you see palm trees, you can be sure they're producing it somewhere not too far ; it's quite a impressive thing to see them boil and grind the fruits to turn it into oil... You can stop anyone and ask where it's produced ; this will likely lead you into some small village somewhere and can be an awesome experience.
• Akosombo damn was nothing to write home about imho.
• I took an alternate road from Kumasi to the coast (I arrived from Burkina), going through Dunkwa, Bogoso and Tarkwa, and drove past quite a few "above ground" gold mines where a bunch of guys were paid to find gold in the mud. I just stopped by the side of the road and asked if I could have a look ; they showed me around and we chatted for a while. You can always pay to go on some organized tour (in a real underground mine), but this was loads of fun. However, the road itself had quite a few bumpy spots and was not a whole lot of fun (I think I would go again though).
• The entire Volta Region around Ho was beautiful and I think really worth a visit. There are mountains, winding roads, great and simple people, monkey reserves...
• The main road to Mole park was horrible and no fun at all if you ask me (I posted a story a few days ago on this board). That's the one that goes East-West from Fufulsu to Damongo ; it's bad washboard the entire 90km and was the most exhausting and worrying road experience I've been on in West Africa. If I had to do it again, there's no doubt in my mind that I would go through Buipe (South of Fufulsu on the main highway). The road is sometimes rough and it'll take you just as long to reach Damongo, but you'll be having more fun.
• I had fun improvising rides around Bolgatanga in the North, passing through little villages. If you go there, make sure you visit villages on "market day" ; some people will form little troupes and dance around the village in semi-traditional outfits asking villagers for a donation (I came across these on three occasions, the one in Zokko, North of Bolga, being the most extravagant one).
• The road (East) from Ho to the Togo border was very good (paved). My guide book mentioned that Agortime-Kpetoe (if I recall), on that road, not too far from Ho, is a very cheap place to buy good Kente cloth, but I didn't stop there, so I dunno. It has however come to my attention that weavers often will sell their stuff to be sold in Kumasi and Accra, so you might as well buy it there. I got some near Kumasi, in Adanwomase, just a couple of km North of Bonwire.

I can post you my gps track if you like.

Bon voyage!
Jean-Philippe

hey thanks guys
all that info is fantastic
we are thinking of going mid january 2011
cant wait

thanks jpvalois if you have the time the GPS track could be helpfull

Lifes journey is not to arrive in a well preserved body
but rather to slide in sideways totally worn out shouting "holy shit"
what a ride

Hey Weeman,

My internet connection here (in Kara, Togo) is too slow to upload the tracks. I will try again in a few days from Natitingou in Bénin.

jp