Trip Report 5-26th Feb 2013

Sandra writes:

We (German couple, 41 and 52, journalist/university prof) visited Ghana for three weeks in February 2013 and found the guide very good and valuable (and – this for Germans who are preparing for Ghana -  far far better than the German one from Jojo Cobbinah, this one gives just lots of wrong and more of useless information.)

Here a couple of updates to the Bradt guide and highs and lows as we have experienced them (prices are usually for self-countained doubles or one of those big-bed singles, with fan)

Accra, Pink Hostel (100 GhC)

nice staff, full of young volunteers, feels a bit in the middle of nowhere, okay but nothing special.

Accra, Afia African Village – also called: Afia Beach, Accra (120 US Dollar)

the bungalow was nice, although the AC did not work, for being in Accra the beach looks very good, pay attention when you call to make a reservation: The guy I asked how much it is confirmed the figures, 100 for a standard bungalow, 110 with balcony and 120 with ocean view, but he didn’t say that it was in Dollars although I was talking of Cedis all the time. At the end Helen, the boss, proofed to be very professional: she charged us the 120 Cedi. In fact 120 Dollars seems a bit too much and 6 Cedis for a beer is double of what you pay elsewhere.

Ada Foah, Brightest Spot Guesthouse (25 GhC)

great value for the money! nice courtyard with very good tilapia & banku served.

ferry Ada Foah to Akuse (5 GhC)

the MS Sogakope left on time -  Friday 6h in the morning – and this is a great trip to do. Women are selling food and there are lots of little villages to see (even if I some times felt a bit like in a zoo).

Atimpoku, Adomi Hotel (35 GhC)

room was okay and quite – what you won’t expect, because the Hotel is right on the main traffic circle. The owner is half-german and has been living in Hamburg for most of his life, good opportunity for an interesting chat on Ghanain-German cultural differences.

Koforidua, Erdrec Hotel (34,50 GhC)

the Hotel description fits just perfectly! one feels a bit like in USSR already entering the reception Hall and for sure once touched the dark red carpeted floor – quite unique. still: good value, just a bit out of town, but plenty of shared taxis on the street.

Boti Falls didn’t have any water in mid February, even if the man at the Trotro-Station in Kof-Town was sure there was, they still want the full fee.

Kumasi, Sanbra Hotel (44 GhC) and Fosua Hotel (60 GhC with AC)

both okay, but alltogether not too friendly or nice, just okay. We didn’t find the coffee shop or the cocktail bar in the Aseda House though.

Tamale, Catholic Guesthouse (33 GhC)

very nice place to stay, we particularly appreciated the quiet garden after downtown trips, plenty of shared taxis to get into town.

Visiting the Mosque and walking up is worth and also walking along the Zongo Hausa to the leather workers, on the rooftop bar of the Crest Restaurant do not worry if a couple of young Ghanains take a seat at your table, they are just curious and want to talk and they will leave immediately if you just tell them friendly to do so!

There is a ForEx in Hospital Road now.

Bobiri Forest Butterfly Sanctuary (30 GhC)

this is a wonderful place to stay! Agnes prepares good diner even if you arrive without reservation and a very nice breakfast with lots of fruits, take it both on the terace of the main house. The walk though is for sure a bit longer than 3km, but still it is worth walking from Kubease. And: Jonathan does a great job as a guide through the Forest (4 GhC).

They told us they are open year round, but still maybe it is better to phone: 020 8094709 or 0236 464520 (the numbers Agnes gave me)

Winneba, Lagoon Lodge (35 GhC)

the first room somewhat stylish (in our sense) room for decoration and colours, huge bathroom – very nice. Food is good, somewhat ridiculous that there is no smoking allowed in the garden though. The guys at the reception/at the bar were friendly but totally clueless, it took them nearly half an hour to copy, re-copy and re-copy again the same invoice. Be patient!

Winneba itself seems poorer than other small cities, the beach is okay but nothing compared to the ones farer west and seeing the University Campus is worth – like a wholly different, elitist, world.

Green Turtle Lodge, (60 GhC)

it is (still) a great place to stay, what a wonderful project! But we had the impression that things are changing and that this might be related to the fact that the original owners have left (we talked to the caretaker who said the place is still for sale, but an American might buy it within short time). The huts could easily be in a better shape: for example the electricity didn’t work properly when it got humid at night, because the connecting wires were ‚connected’ in the most unprofessional way – though the staff managed to fix it after a while; time to buy new matrasses and pillows, and for sure to wash the cushions. The evening turtle tour now seems to be done only if tourists ask for it, at least the documentary book on the daily turtle watch tours stopps in february 2011 or 2012 (sorry can’t remember the year). The staff is friendly, the food is good and a bit different in style from what we had most of the time, but the reception looks a little bit like there was no-one there for the last two years.

Still the beach is great!

The canoe tour (10 GhC) with Jimmy at 6h in the morning in the mangroves behind Akwidaa (poor little village 25minutes west from the Turtle walking at the beach) is everything but exciting and Jimmy didn’t have a good day, he hardly said a word and after 35minutes he seemed only happy that is was over.

Butre, Hide Out Lodge (50 GhC)

Another great beach and another nice lodge. in comparison with the Green Turtle the food here unfortunately is done in some ‚western style’ kind and this is not a good idea at all: I had a bad banku which was cut into slices like Italian polenta, the pepper sauce wasn’t hot at all and the fish was just a fried slice – what a disappointment in comparison to so many great grilled tilapia, banku and pepper I had on the streets elsewhere. The advantage on the other hand is Butre itself, which is just around the corner – over the bridge to be exact – and a very nice little village, with fishermen who that morning we were waiting for a Trotro had exposed what to us looked like little sharks and dolphins!

Elmina, Coconut Grove’s Bridge House (110 GhC, 85 GhC when AC does not work!)

the idea was to go to the One African Guesthouse – but do not try to walk their from the main road where the Tros between Takoradi and Cape drop you off, it is just too far and it is all walking along the busy road. So we ended up in the Coconut Grove’s: the building is very nice facing the bridge and the castle, but for the room itself it is definetely a bit overpriced and the breakfast is ridiculous – every single street egg bread was a lot better.

Elmina was the only city we visited which had a square place and spots around – being from Old Europe that was what we missed elsewhere – thanks to the Portoguese!

the fish market is definetely worth the 1 GhC entry fee – quite an impressive quantity of tunas and even more impressive the way slight women cut them into pieces with machetes.

Cape Coast, Mighty Victory Hotel (40 or 50 GhC)

Oasis Beach seemed to us a bit too much an all-Obruni/volunteer meeting place, the Mighty Victory is worth the walk through town up the little hill and it isn’t far at all, a quite and nice place to stay with gazebos in the garden-kind entrance. Don’t miss the Market day on Sunday.

Fabienne’s updates

Hello,

I am coming back from a recent 2 weeks stay in Ghana, with your precious guidebook as a helper (5th edition)!

Here are some comments, additions, suggestions and so on, that might be helpful to others I hope:

GENERAL
- page 65: banks would NEVER change money, only the forex bureau of the towns

- page 70: we never saw an accident and all of the tro-tros we took where far more prudent than in many countries where we have traveled!

CAPE COAST

- page 163: the Standard chartered on Chapel square has closed
- page 166: Baobab house, apart from all its wonderful concept has now, in the house, rooms to rent. 15 cedis for two, nice (but the facilities are shared in the courtyard and they will not provide you with towels); a very good value and location.
- page 166: Chic Hebbs village seems nice but it as very few things from the list to serve and the woman-owner is too welcoming but in fact she is not sincere and just wants to make money; she does not behave nicely with her staff.
- in Cape Coast you have not mentioned the post office, after the Savoy hotel up the hill then right handside.

ELMINA
- page 177: the post office is not there anymore ; Gramsdel restaurant … does not serve food, just drinks! But a nice place to eat, after the post office on your map going towards Gramsdel but on the same side of the street as the post office “Cozy corner”, a simple hut serving good ghanean food, a decent selection, freshly cooked, not expensive.

BUSUA
- in Busua, best than any places to eat (Daniel the pancake man included) the street food!

ABURI
- page 240: the cocoa farm is nice to visit but they do ask a fee of 5 cedis per person
- nice place to eat in Aburi, “Bamboo canteen”: a long list of ghanean dishes, not expensive, very good, nice lady cooking and managing, open from very early morning to late at night. Coming from May lodge, left handside after the fork where the carvers are. May lodge now charges 25 not 15.

KOFORIDUA

- page 246: Kes charges 23 the double, not 13!

AKOSOMBO
- page 256: the Continental hotel will also change dollars
- page 257: Adomi charges 30 and 40 which is overpriced for the rooms and the staff is not welcoming. Benkum is much better (also charging 20 and 25 now)

LAKE BOSOMTWI
- page 327: in Abono the “caretaker” is still there and bugging!

ATIA KUSIA
- page 332: in Atia Kusia, they wanted 17 C for two!

It was our first trip with Bradtguide and it is just wonderful, complete, serious. Thanks!

Fabienne

 

 

Ananse near Koforidua

Hello. I’ve spent some days at ANANSE VILLAGE, near Koforidua last time I was in Ghana (January 2010) and they have started a cooperation with a German NGO: they run a free KG on their premises and are doing some microcredit project with local women.
Most important, they can now be reached by mobile, here’s their numbers: 0542680964 or 0201745284.
Warmly recommended as usual… moreover if anyone is interested in volunteering at the kg or in the village school, you can contact them: info@ananseghana.org or http://www.ananseghana.org

Frederica & Paulo

Tetmar Hotel, Koforidua

I own the Tetmar Hotel in Koforidua, which has good to standard and affordable rooms, certified by the Ghana Tourist Board.
If your readers want to find out more, my contact number is +233243680507/08194148.
EMAIL: jonestetteh2003@yahoo.com

Thank you, JONES TETTEH

Vodafone Internet

VODAFONE HIGH SPEED (THE FASTEST IN AFRICA AT 40 MB!) INTERNET CAFES: State of the art facilities-a/c, skype, modern computers and comfortable desk chairs-at Vodafone INTERNET cafes. 4 have opened up in Accra at Cantonments, Accra North, Accra Mall and Accra Central as well as at the main post office in Kumasi. Introductory price GH C 1.80 per hour! Others soon to open in Tema, Koforidua, Ho, Tamale and Takoradi if they haven’t already.

Chris Scott, Four Villages Inn

Lots of new Ghana updates

This January, we  spent a wonderful three week holiday in Ghana. A loyal companion along our way was the Bradt guide. We were fortunate having taken it with us, as the guide was of much help, was nicely written and it just had the right length (meaning amount of information), but we have a few personal remarks about places, hotel, people and so on.
Accra: The paloma hotel was okay but clearly overpriced

Kakum NP: It was the beginning of our trip and we didn’t know how much to pay the guide. We’re embarrassed to admit that we paid 30$ for 3 hours. To our defence: It was not clear to us if the price mentioned in the guide is for a walk as part of a group or for the guide (independently of the group size). We did get on the canopy walk before it was officially opened so we saw some monkey jumping from tree to tree. Later during the walk on the ground we these amazing long-tailed monkeys.

Nothing to add about Elmina, the Green Turtle and the Safari Beach. The guide describes this all very well.

Kumasi: The Guestline lodge was very poor value, we wouldn’t stay there again. Even more as there was mould on our breakfast’s bread. The Kejetia market was big fun! The museums were quite overpriced and the guides (no offence) so ridiculous that it was almost comical.

Lake Bosumtwi: We stayed at the Lake point and liked it very much (best housing quality we’ve seen in whole Ghana; good food and friendly staff). One day we walked from the Lake Point eastwards, on the other day westwards till the Rainbow. You should write more about the walks, as especially the one eastwards was very nice, leading along many fields and through villages. The street to the Rainbow was not half as pleasant and the Rainbow itself was disappointing (we only had lunch, but that was mediocre and we were ripped off by asking 10 Cedis for two flavourless, watery pineapple juices).

Tamale: We only stopped there overnight on our way to Mole. There was this annoying, sunglasses wearing young hustler who quickly approached us when we got off the bus from Kumasi.

Bus to Larabanga: We were at 4am at the station, but no body really wanted to help us and people said the MMT bus is already full. However, we hardly got the chance to ask people since this hustler quickly talked to them when we tried to ask someone. Behind the station were another two buses standing(one MMT, one from another company), and the hustler told us (and got some cash for that) to take one of them . At about 6:30am, the MMT bus was finally leaving, taking all passengers from both buses. There were about another ten tourist, all of which were quite unease and confused about the bus.

Larabanga: A pretty nice place to see and no problems at all. We stayed at one of the Salia brothers out of town. We enjoyed talking to his wife, the volunteers and other travellers. We didn’t think the tour guided by the nephew of one Salia brother was worth it, his English was too limited and his stories not so interesting. Probably if one of the Salia brothers had been the guide, it would have been better. We also rented bikes twice to go to Mole – and twice we got a puncture. The bikes are poorly maintained (well, how can you maintain a bike without spare parts), but the bigger problem is that the bikes are just not made for roads like this.

Mole: We liked it (the park, the good guides, the elephants…), how couldn’t you…

Koforidua: You should mention that the STC bus doesn’t pass there on the way between Kumasi and Accra

Amedzofe: We didn’t know what to expect – but were anyhow a little disappointed. I as a view hunter would have liked the view from Mt Gemi very much, but there were so many little bastards (meaning flies), I couldn’t stay for more than 3 minutes. There is a direct narrow and sometimes steep path through the forest from Amedzofe to Biakpa (1 1/2h), also doable (but not easy) with backpacks. Ask the tourist office for directions. We left the Paradise Lodge with mixed feelings. We liked the food but the room had a very poor mattress. But worst, we ordered one breakfast but got two (which we sent back), and then the woman in charge wanted us to pay for the two. As we refused, she wanted to deduct the money from the servant’s salary. We therefore paid half of the unordered breakfast but gave this money to the servant.

Akosombo: The Afrikio looked great but was full – the Volta hotel was okay but for this price you can expect more – we were longing for watching a movie, but there were only 7 channels available of the long list that they promised. The ride on the Dodi princess was not interesting in itself, the island (well, the locals from the mainland to be precise) are spoilt by the tourism. But watching the upper-class Ghanaians and their dancing was much fun. S

Some more things: In the STC buses, we got once or twice the seat in the back. As the journey was long, the AC not properly working and the engine very hot, it was a quite unpleasant trip.

After we were quite fed up with young fellows asking for donations for their football team, we started to tell them that we do not donate to individuals. We gave therefore 50 cedis to a volunteer we talked to and from then on we had a good argument and (maybe even more important) the confidence to stop the donation-talks pretty quickly

We are both vegetarian but didn’t have real problems with the food and actually liked most of it. Only in Amedzofe food was really limited. We ate vegetarian fufu, banku and TZ. Snacks were always present in the form of bananas, cookies, coconut, plantain etc. Certainly not necessary to take protein bars if you are only staying for one month or less.

Last but least, we want to clearly state that we liked Ghana very much!

Kind regards Benjamin Frey & Annemiek van der Heijden