Graham’s trip report

Graham Douglas has sent me the following updates:

 

ACCRA

The STC terminal on Ring Road is still there but no buses, perhaps they have all been moved to the other one near Tudu station ?

There is another bus terminal for Benin, on the road towards Achimota from Nkrumah Circle, a few hundred yards on the left in an area called Carprice.

The City Garden restaurant is on the other side of Ring Road near Barclays. The have 2 menus, an orange one for Ghanaians and a purple one for foreigners, according to the waitress ! Difference is that everything is double price.Better use the one where you have Honest Chef, called Wok something.

Barclays only change TCs at the branch on High Street, and now only up to 150 pounds per visit.

Baseline Jazz Club is now called +233 , very good. Byewells was rubbish when we went , might as well have been a DJ.

You mention Eclipse bar on you map but it should be in Mompotsie rd, which is parallel, it is also a good budget hotel. (0302257263and there is a very good cybercafe opposite, with air-con.

The White Bell was good until my last visit when I asked for 2 separate dishes, and they put small amounts of each on the same plate but still charged for 2 dishes. Arguing proved fruitless.

KETA

The Emancipation Beach is a great place to chill, before getting back on the road. Driving is psychopathic, and gets far worse in Togo and Benin along the coast. Next time I come I will avoid the coast altogether and cross from Honuta to Kpalime.

ABURI
Try the Highlander Hotel , not far from the garden entrance – and not to be confused with the Oylander.

HO
Barclays won’t change ANY money except for their own customers only one that does is Stanbic and then won’t take CFA. Couldn’t find a Forex either.

ATIMPOKU
The Forex here will change CFA. The Adomi Hotel is now very rundown and not cheap. First room they showed me had filthy toilet and broken washbasin, when I moved I asked them to change the blue lamp for a white one and she said “just swap it with the bathroom light” ! Wires falling off the walls.

AKOSOMBO
The reception centre is where you say but about 1 or 2 Km before the police barrier. The taxi driver took me to the barrier and I then had to go back. Entrance fee is now 5 Cedis but you also have to pay at least 15 Cedis for another car to take you and the guide there. Luckily I was able to split this with another traveller. The tour is very superficial, so I don’t know who gave it a rave review. They don’t allow access to the turbine room either so really all you get is a chance to take a couple of photos ad hear a few basic facts that you can surely find on the web.

KOKROBITE

Phone numbers are out of date for the Garden Hotel/Restaurant,0546392850. This is a much quieter option than Big Millys, but the music is excellent still at Milly’s and so popular now, it looks set to be the next Goa.

Various updates from Jesper

Thank you for an excellent guide book, just a few corrections to the 5th Edition from a visit late 2010.

Page 77 Public Holidays: Farmer’s Day is 1st Friday in December, not a fixed date.

Page 78 Traditional Festivals. I traveled to the Keta Region to see the Hogbetsotso in Anloga but it hasn’t been celebrated for several years following a year with riots and shooting, from what I could understand the government had to set in soldiers and there was at least one killed.

Page 235 Keta Beach Hotel has fully renovated a/c rooms with TV and fridge except for the cheaper annex rooms. It still doesn’t see many guests though and the manager was somewhat disappointed with the review in 5th edition so I hope this will remedy the problem a bit. The beach near the hotel is very nice and an excellent way to see fishermen at work. Very friendly place in general if you want a couple of quiet days in good surroundings. There’s a food stall some 50 meters from the hotel towards the beach where they serve delicious fish at very reasonable prices. The food at the hotel is nothing spectacular but OK

Page 298 Afram Plains. I crossed from Kpando in November and the water in Lake Volta was so high that there was no ferry, only open longboats with room for maybe 50 passengers. A fine experience but it was very hot when we crossed and no shade at all. I don’t know if the high water was just for a short period but as it was you couldn’t cross with a car. I spent a couple of enjoyable days in Donkorkrom where they don’t see many foreign tourists. I stayed at St. Michael’s which is a fine hotel (not a guesthouse) with 4 self contained rooms in the main building and 6 more under construction of which 4 will have a/c. I paid less than 20 GHC for a self contained room, very clean with good plumming and TV. Cheaper rooms in the annex and also a couple of cheap guesthouses in town. I recommend that you make a reservations for St. Michaels since it is used a lot by local business men and government people. Phone 0848 22043 and 020 9019079

Stefan’s updates

ACCRA.
Rising Phoenix is great value but you have to like rastafari culture (they are constantly hanging around there).
Fort Ussher: worth seeing, but in a bad state of repair – ask the guard which parts to enter, some are close to structural collapse.
Beaches: forget about it, also at Labadi Beach Hotel. The water is full of rubbish, better go some dozen kilometres westward or eastward.

CAPE COAST.
At Haizel’s guesthouse, the water pressure was not sufficient to make the showers in the second floor work.

NEAR KAKUM.
Hans’ Botel deserves positive feedback for the beautiful view of the pond and the many weavers, and the rooms are also ok. They could improve on their breakfast however. If not on a weekend, it is all but overcrowded.
At the nearby ostrich farm, construction is going on which will result in a new lodge. At least the place is quite beautiful, not too close to the street and on a hill with a view of the forest.

KUMASI.
Baboo’s is good but Queen’s Gate can also be recommended. The “King of kings” (near Tasco’s) is dark, loud, and offers a view of a backyard only.
Sanbra hotel is good, but try to get a room with natural light.
The Vodafone internet cafe near the post office is excellent.

GREATER ASHANTI.
The Besease shrine is a nice place to rest among the tortoises, but the priest speaks just enough English to tell you that he wants money; a visit is not really rewarding.
Abono at Lake Bosumtwi can be very peaceful in the morning, with most tourists arriving only at ten or later. Still, you cannot avoid the BAKDA rope and the caretaker, and many begging children aged around 8-12.

TAMALE
The connections offered by OA travel are as good (and as cheap) as those by STC.
Heritage hotel (near Las) was a bit shabby and suffered from permanent power failure. There are some more hotels at that corner that deserve to be scouted for the next edition.

MOLE
Mognori can definitely be recommended as a less decadent alternative to Mole Motel. It is a pity that most inhabitants do not speak English, but all a very friendly, and the local guides are up to their task. In our case, the transfer to the park was a bit improvised and hazardous, with three people on a motorcycle, so you better say in advance whether you want to accept this.

HO
The Kalapka reserve offers a beautiful landscape of woodland, forest, and hills. The ranger was very eager to give up an interesting walk. There will be a guesthouse at the rangers’ camp near Abutia Kloe in the near future offering a very basic accomodation (it has not yet been sorted out whether and how they will get electricity for the guests).

EAST COAST/KETA
Every place seemed to be void of tourists (we were there on a weekday), the guesthouses as well as the beaches, and the water is very clean and ideal for swimming.
Abutia guesthouse is quite large and has 4 types of rooms (not: 4 rooms).
Maranatha is very scenic, as is the boat taxi transfer to there and from Abunyiani to Ada.

Stefan

Annette’s updates

I spent 4 months in Ghana during 2007 in which I lived just near Kumasi and travelled North to South and recently spent another 2 weeks in 2010 travelling mostly East to West. I have a few updates to the Bradt Guide which I hope will prove useful for the next edition (I was travelling with the 4^th edition as the 5^th edition was not yet out).

ACCRA – I stayed at the Silver Gate Hotel. It is located in Demalt (North Kaneshie) and rooms cost between 15 and 25 cedi. The rooms are very large, self-contained places with a fan and TV. The staff are very friendly and helpful. I stayed here twice and both times it was excellent.

CAPE COAST – Stayed at the Red Cross Hotel. Actually quite impressed. It was really clean and the staff were eager to help even going so far as using their mobile phones to call our next port of call to see whether they had rooms available. At Cape Coast Castle they employ policemen to help tourists (and  keep hawkers out). They are really friendly and even gave me lunch while I was waiting for my friend to finish.

ELMINA – Mabel’s Table. We walked here from Elmina Castle and it was quite a trek! It was a bit more expensive then quoted in the 4^th edition but the food was excellent and they were really large portions. Probably one meal between two would have sufficed.

BEYIN – Beyin Beach Resort. This was our favourite place. The new budget accommodations cost 20 cedi a night (huts with beds and mosquito nets). It was very clean, the shared bathrooms were the best I have seen and it was in such a beautiful location.

NZULEZO – We didn’t stay here. The boat ride was so beautiful although I didn’t see too much as I was constantly bailing out the boat! Did seem a bit gimmicky. The chief’s daughter brought her purse along to our ‘meeting’ to pocket any money we seemed obliged to fork out. Interesting place though.

PRAMPRAM – We set out to find the Turtle Conservation and Ecotourism Project but could not find any sign of it. We asked around the village and nobody seemed to think that they were still around. I have big question marks next to this project in my book. Hotel de Vas was closed, nobody seemed sure if it was going to reopen. We stayed at Sealane and had the same problems as other readers. The ‘Western-style’ food was very expensive. There no water and broken lights. It looked like a very tired place. When we told them we weren’t going to pay unless we got water, they fixed something and we had temperamental water but no hot water. For 30-60 cedis a night, we could have hoped for much more (just take Beyin Beach Resort for instance!). The breakfast which is included is just tea and bread (egg is extra!). Highly recommend not staying here. On the other hand, the ‘Who is your friend chop bar’ had excellent fresh food and really good service.

KETA – From Ho we caught a tro-tro to Denu and then one to Keta. We stayed at Abutia Guesthouse for 12 cedi. The shared bathrooms were absolutely full of mosquitoes (as were the rooms…). I guess that’s what you pay for being so close to the lagoon. The restaurant was not serving food and they instead sent us to Angel Food (on the road to the Lighthouse) which had really good and well-priced food.

BIAKPA – Mountain Paradise Lodge. Unfortunately the weather was terrible while we were staying here and I got the feeling that they were trying to charge for every single little thing. Everything came at a cost. There was no mention of the shared bathroom accommodation (maybe it was full?) and we were not allowed to use tents as it was so wet. The self-contained room was priced considerably more than the book said at 25 – 39.5 cedis. There is now electricity at the site. Taxis were expensive to get there but we were lucky enough to meet the owner of Mountain Paradise at Fume who, although on his way to Hohoe, took our bags so that we could more easily walk the distance from Fume to the Lodge.

FUME – Hanson’s Spot was closed and didn’t look like it was going to reopen anytime soon. We asked many, many people in the village about the unsignposted guesthouse but nobody seemed to know about it.

TAFI ATOME. Accommodation cost 15 cedi. The beds were the most uncomfortable that I came across in Ghana. They do have a running shower now though (no buckets) and the drinks in the shop were cold. The monkey tour was at 6am and we had an excellent guide. Food at the chef’s house was amazing! Seemed the ONLY way to get to and from Tafi Atome was by motorcycle for 1 cedi each way.

HOHOE – Stayed at Grand Hotel. The bar was really loud. I slept with earplugs. Had breakfast at Taste Lodge. Reasonable food but service was very slow (even for Ghana!).

KUMASI – I stayed with friends but when I did have to stay in a hotel in the city, I went to the Kumasi Wesleyan Guest House which is on Asomfo St. It was quite disappointing. There were many stairs to get there and it was not that clean (hair in shower and when we asked to move rooms because our air conditioner didn’t work there were tissues under the bed…). 32 cedis a night for TV and air con. Good location. Nurom Inn Annexe was closed for renovations.

LAKE BOSUMTWI – 2 cedi entrance fee for white people. Good lunch and drinks at Lake Paradise Resort.

Regards,

Annette.