Adanwomase, near Kumasi

Adanwomase is a great place to go

My wife, our daughter at 10 and I took a taxi from Komasi to Adanwomase, about 30 min. We came in the afternoon, and stayed there two nights at Konadu Memorial Lodge (C25 per night) – Maxwell is the host, and he is very helpful. His number is 024 6749146. It is not high standard, but it is clean and okay. Maxwell was our guide for two days, and he did the cooking for us for almost no money. In the morning we vent to Eric at the Visitor Center, where we in three hours were introduced to Kente weaving, cocoa-farming and the life in Andanwomase, In the afternoon Maxweel took us to Ntonso, visiting the Adinkra visitor center. In the morning the last day we vent by tro-tro to Komasi and further on by bus to Tamale and Mole. Maxwell guided os the whole way to Komasi and helped os finding the bus to Tamale.

We really did enjoy our stay at Andanwomase, absolutely a peaceful hassle free village with a lot of hospitality

Alma, Elsebeth & Soren
Denmark

Various updates from Helga

I just returned from a 3 month period in Ghana. I would like to express my gratitude for the Bradt travel guide. It was a great asset to carry!!

To help improve your guide, I would like to make a few comments.

-          The prices you mention in the guide are in general too low. The fuel prices have increased by 50% in January and that is the main reason for higher prices for almost everything.

-          The Coconut Grove Bridge House in Elmina is a good recommendation. It’s wonderful to be in the middle of the town’s bustle, have a great view at the castle & still don’t be harassed on the terrace of the hotel. The phone numbers in the guide are not correct. One number that does work is: +233-20-7125868. The price for my room was 55 Cedi, so the quoted dollar prices are too high.

-          The Butwaku traditional drum and dance ensemble in Elmina Castle doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I haven’t seen nor heard them in February and April and none of the locals could confirm their existence.

-          I can especially recommend the walking tour done by Felix of Ghanaecotours.com. He has an office in the castle, next to the shop or can be reached on these numbers: +233-20-8159369 & +233-24-2176357. His walk through town is very informative and he is a very enthusiastic tour guide. I went to Elmina twice and took his walking tour both times!

-          Takoradi for me was the most friendly town in Ghana. No one harassed us, people were friendly and very helpful.

-          The widely praised Green Turtle Lodge in Akwidaa didn’t impress me at all. I tried making a reservation twice but didn’t receive any response to my text messages. Arriving to the lodge in the afternoon we met a very un-helpful staff member who told us there were no rooms available and didn’t offer any help to get other accommodation, not very comforting after the quite difficult trip there with public transport…. Fortunately I remembered from the Bradt Guide that there is a more up-market beach resort along the same beach, so we walked over the beach to Safari Beach lodge which did have available cabins. After all I was extremely happy because the Safari Beach Lodge is a wonderful place to spend some days!

-          I think the description “the hike to the upper falls is more arduous” for the upper fall in Wli (Volta Region) is not adequate. The 6 hour hike (from lower fall to upper fall, taking a loop on the rim back to town) was the most strenuous hike I ever made in my life. As I put on twitter it makes the Bright Angel trail in the Grand Canyon look like a lazy afternoon walk! Parts are so steep that you actually have to climb your walking rod to get up. I would advise only very fit and sportive persons to do this hike.

-          We really enjoyed our visit to Adanwomase, a kente weaving village close to Kumasi. The walking tour through town was very enjoyable and the community project is successful, we didn’t feel pressured to buy kente cloth after the tour and were only met by very friendly locals.

Again I would like to thank you for your great work. It made my trip to Ghana easier and more enjoyable to have Bradt at hand!

Helga

Adanwomase, Ntonse & Abompe

I’ve visited Adanwomase (Kente weaving) and Abompe (bauxite beads) in the last fortnight and have a couple of updates for you.

Adanwomase offers ‘homestay’ accomodation in addition to the guesthouse. It’s GHC 10 for a double room with clean bedding and a ceiling fan. The accomodation is in a family compound, the host family are really helpful and welcoming, they usually have Peace Corps volunteers staying in one of the homestay rooms so are very familiar with what a Western guest might want or need I think. Facilities include flush toilet and bucket shower, separate to the family bathroom but not ensuit. All our meals were cooked to order by the community chef and delivered to us at the homestay – really delicious (especially the palava sauce!) and portions are huge, we ordered only one meal to share the second night and it was plenty. Meals are GHC 5 each. The weaving tour itself was very good. We were allowed to have a go at several points on the tour and then spent the second day making our own Kente samples with lots of weavers on hand to demostrate and guide us through the process (full day’s materials and tuition: GHC 20) – very worthwhile visiting, and totally hassle free shopping as you describe.

Ntonse (v. close by, famous for the Adinkra cloth) is worth stopping off at too as they have developed a similar community based visitor centre to Adanwomase. We stopped here en route between Kumasi and Adanwomase. Transport was very easy, a tro tro from Kumasi’s main station, the a share taxt onwards from Ntonso. The visitor centre was closed for Easter but a calabash carver, making the Adinkra stamps, quickly called the guide who came down and opened up for us with no complaint. The centre houses a small exhibition of very old cloth which has been donated by the chief (and should be behind glass it’s so precious and beautiful!) and the equipment and processes of the stamping. The guide explained the history of how and why Adinkra was developed, demonstrated the process and had us stamp our own cloth for GHC 5 each I think. There’s also a small gift shop in the museum selling cloth, cards with the adrinkra symbols and the calabash stamps themselves.

Abompe was amazing! We almost didn’t go as we were a bit worried about showing up unannounced to such a small project, we couldn’t find a number anywhere. I mentioned this to the guide, George, and he was very keen that I might pass on his contact details to you for other visitors. His number is +233285322263. He’s a brilliant guide, the tour was informal and very flexible according to our interests. We saw the bauxite beads being shaped and moulded and tried the whole process ourselves. The tour also includes a meeting with the chief, beehives in action (and honey straight from the comb) if you’re interested and bamboo bikes! There’s a relatively new project as far as I understand being funded from the US and based in Abompe manufacturing bike frames entirely from bamboo.

The guesthouse itself is gorgeous. Abompe is stunning and the visitor centre and accommodation is based not far from the centre, hosted by Oykere. This man has retired to such an idyllic spot, the most peaceful and diverse (plant wise) gardens I’ve come across in Ghana and he’s opened it up for sharing. He’s keen to chat over a beer in the evening and has currated his own exhibition of the kinds of beads that were made when his mother lived in the village. Facilities include double room with clean sheets, flush toilet and bucket bath, the room is GHC 10 a night.

George’s wife Paulina does all the cooking to order, there’s no menu, she cooks what you want -we had HUGE egg sandwiches for breakfast and (more) delicious palava sauce with yam for dinner. Cannot recommend this place highly enough! Ghanaian hospitality at it’s best

Best, Grace

Adanwomase update

At such a short distance away from Kumasi, this is a great village to visit! NOBODY hassles you while in town and the kente weaving tour is a must-see while in country (whether at Adanwomase or not is, I suppose, up to the reader).  We got very reasonable souvenirs (Kente strips at 5-8GhC, coin purses for 3GhC, etc) and learned from our informative tour guide, Seth, all about the process. I would highly suggest it; the cost now being 5Ghc per person plus 50p for unlimited photos.  Another strange thing: this town has garbage cans!  In order to get there you actually want to alight at Nkwanta (not Ntonso like the map and book suggest). We aren’t sure whether the name got changed recently, but they dropped us in Nkwanta after we asked for Ntonso and it was the correct place… I believe it was somewhere around 40p per person for the taxi/trotro ride to and from the town.

-Krista & Rick S.

ADANWOMASE UPDATE

2009 has thus far been a very busy and productive year for the community and tourism project at Adanwomase in Ashanti

In March, the long-anticipated Visitor’s Centre construction was completed.  After construction was complete and the building painted, contractors handed over the keys to the Adanwomase Tourism Management Team (ATMT).

The ATMT, in collaboration with Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) and the EU, executed the Opening Ceremony of the Visitor’s Centre on April 29^th.   Discussions with many of the invited guests, visiting dignitaries, and community members afterwards confirmed the event was an overwhelming success.

Shortly afterwards, the ATMT set up operations in the new building.  The existing furniture and decorations were moved down from the old office to the new Centre.   The ATMT is currently planning creative ways to decorate the new centre, ways that will be both informative and enjoyable for tourists. 

 

Eric Boakye Yiadom  & Jeremy Davis