The following update information relates to chapters 1-5 of the Bradt Guide to Ghana:
CHAPTER 2: NATURAL HISTORY
Butterfly enthusiasts are pointed to the following website: http://aboutus.bcghana.org/aboutusindex.html – PB, Feb 08.
CHAPTER 3: PLANNING YOUR TRIP
If you want to download a visa form, please note that the correct website is www.ghanaembassy.org. Oddly, when you download the form, it gives the website address as www.ghana-embassy.org – which leads you to rather useless unofficial website. PB, May 08.
CHAPTER 4: TRAVELLING IN GHANA
Myself and five other college friends of mine had an absolutely free of charge six days tour in Ghana with an organization which offers it in Ghana for groups of six or more friends or family members from a same country, arriving in Ghana on a same date and participating in their volunteer work program in Ghana. I recommend them for any group of budget travellers who want to have a real cultural immersion and very friendly unique guided tours in Ghana. Their web page is: www.volunteeringinafrica.org/ghana.htm Barbara Osom, Dec 07
l want to introduce a newly established organisation based in Tamale and Accra known as Dagbon Development Foundation or DAGDEF’. It is a local NGO and I am the volunteering project coordinator. The organisation need volunteers for an orphanage eg school teachers, hospitals, nutrition centres. DAGDEF will not reimburse cost of travel to and from Ghana or Contact person ABDULAI ABASS DASANA, Tel: 00233249123107 or 00233207087746. Email: dasanaabass@yahoo.com; dasanaabass@hotmail.com. ABDULAI ABASS DASANA, Dec 07.
USA banks with visa cards say a reissued card can be used in Ghana by the banks in Ghana calling to verify the new number. Not true, the banks in Ghana demand the plastic card. Bank’s wouldn’t wire transfer either. Western union is one’s only chance and worked quickly. Diana Lilla, Jan 08.
TIPPING -AN OPINION: In all the first world, few travelers would ever think of checking out of a hotel without leaving a tip for the chambermaid. However, for whatever reason, tipping chambermaids in the third world by foreign travelers occurs less frequently. Ironically, small amounts would go along way to improving the quality of life of these low paid workers and would be so greatly appreciated, and yet.. A SUGGESTION: Should you wish to tip, try to identify your chambermaid and give the tip to her directly. Hotel regulations require all workers to wear name tags. Do not leave your tip in your room. Often there is a mad dash to get into the room first just after you leave by male personnel with no connection to the room. Charity and Chris Scott, Jan 08.
THE TOURIST AND THE AIR CONDITIONER: Since March, 2007, Ghana has been suffering from an intense energy crisis that necessitated the implementation of a National Load Management Program, known locally as “LIGHT OUT”. With the advent of the rains and the arrival of gas through the just completed West African Pipeline, the program has been temporarily suspended. However, electricity rates have jumped 89% from October, 2007 to November 2007. Furthermore, the past year has seen dramatic rises in the cost of diesel fuel to power generators used when the lights go out. These two occurrences have particularly hurt the small 1 and 2 star hotels and guest houses around the country which strive to provide quality accommodation at much much less than half the cost of the bigger 3, 4 and 5 star hotels.
To help your small operators keep your hotel rates down, here are a few guidelines:
a. Turn off your air-conditioner when you are out for the day or for a meal. It usually takes but a few minutes to cool down your room on your return.
b. During the day, if you happen to be in your room, open your windows and catch the breeze or turn on your overhead fan.
c. Want to take it easy at your hotel, why not enjoy the garden or the veranda, the restaurant or the bar.
d. Should the electricity go off during the day, try to refrain from asking that the generator be turned on.
Charity and Chris Scott, Jan 08.
Ghana border crossings from CI. Nothing is mentioned anywhere about the ‘quiet’ way to get over the border, via the lagoon & Newtown. It’s reasonably straightforward on the CI side and arriving into Newtown with the border just over a small wooden fence it appeared on first glance to be an easy option. However, after finishing easy CI formalities a few kms away we arrived at Ghana immigration – Akwaaba or so they say – it was anything but! It seems that immigration there haven’t seen a passport containing a visa for a very long time and we became subjects of a training exercise; initially telling my 12year old NZ goddaughter she couldn’t enter. From immigration to Newtown we found someone willing to drive us the 1.5km down to the tro-tro station(then asked us to cough up 1cedi each) where the first of a lot of Ghanaian arguments started! We got a empty tro tro at 5pm eventually to Half-Assinie (with further problems regarding money & tickets) where we caught another towards Takoradi. Returning we went via Elubo/Noe where Ghana immigration are more switched on and didn’t give us too much grief. Chloe Grant, Jan 08.
As a female who travelled alone to Accra, Anomabu, Cape Coast, Elmina, Takoradi, Tarkwa and Kumasi in May 2007, I can report that nothing criminal or difficult happened to me and I felt perfectly safe. If you really want to make a good impression, say “Medaase.” I hope to return this summer. Courtnay Micots, Mar 08
Based on my last visit in summer 2007, power is a big issue. Ghana is experiencing rolling black outs because electricity demand is higher than capacity. These black outs are supposed to scheduled and therefore predictable, but outside Accra and Kumasi I found this wasn’t always the case. Most hotels and restaurants have generators but this means you have to be very careful about what room you pick. Sleeping next to a generator is no fun at all. Jack Lord, Mar 08.
I thought it best to inform you of some ongoing trouble in the north-eastern part of Ghana centred around the town of Bawku. I have seen recent newspaper reports of fighting between two particular tribes over some issue, and one recent headline said “5 killed in Bawku”. Another report said that a curfew was in place beginning I think at 3pm until next morning. Another report dated 15/3/08 mentioned a conflict between the Mamprusis and Kusasis, but I don’t know if this is the Bawku problem or another one. This same report talked of “the conflicts that were raging in different parts of the country”. However, my wife and I travelled recently to the north, but not to the Bawku area, and saw no trouble at all. Trevor Cook, Apr 08.
Further to my last email, here are some further reports taken from various issues of the “Daily Graphic” newspaper here in Ghana.
1. Saturday April 19th, 2008: “President’s intervention in Bawku conflict lauded – The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Alhassan Samari, has commended President J. A. Kufuor for his personal intervention in the Bawku crisis which has led to the gradual return of peace to the town.”
The article reports that the curfew had been from 3pm to 7am but because of relative stability in the area it was now 10pm to 4am.
2. Monday April 21st, 2008: “‘Maintain peace in Bawku area’ – The feuding factions in the Bawku conflict, the Mamprusis and Kusasis, have been called upon to maintain the existing peace in the area and continue to live in harmony to ensure lasting peace in the area.”
The article reports a press conference speech made by the President of the Bawku Students Union of the Navrongo Campus branch of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Mr Issaka Mubarik Deliman.
So the situation is currently improving but not yet fully resolved. Trevor Cook, Apr 08.
BBC Reuters report in early May states “Four killed in Bawku”, and this has caused a severe curfew to be re-imposed. Trevor Cook, May 08.
We found that ATM’s seem to be more widely available than was reported within the guide -Barclays in particular seem to be opening branches at a very rapid rate. Charlotte Butterfield, June 08
FURTHER READING
Just Published… Three Cheers For Ghana! Robert Peprah-Gyamfi “This very readable book on modern Ghana is not a dry treatise on the economic, social and political conditions of the country, but a journey of discovery in which one meets the people, wonders at the signs of new affluence in the executive houses and expensive German cars driven by sophisticated housewives, travels with the author and his family to their old hometowns, shares the glee of their extended families in seeing them again, gains a personal and moving perspective into the recent past of the indigenous cultures, the poorer farming folk who in some cases still struggle to survive; it is an account of first-hand experience whereby one understands the author’s concern to help advance the prospects, not only of the disadvantaged members of the family, but of the country as a whole.”—Charles Muller, Diadem Books For further details, please visit www.3cheers4ghana.com SUPPORT PROPOSED MISSION HOSPITAL IN GHANA BY ACQUIRING YOUR COPY OR PASSING THE MESSAGE ON. WARM GREETINGS FROM THE AUTHOR! Robert Peprah-Gyamfi, Jan 08.
