On Falling in Love With Ghana

You know that deserted, sand-strewn paradise that the marketing gurus unabashedly exploit to get us to invest/sip/stuff/spend (feel free to substitute your favourite consumer behaviour)? Well, it exists in Ghana. And the best part? So long as you can get yourself there, rent on the place--which includes hammock, basic shelter, tanning chairs, and your choice of the deafening awe of the Atlantic, or the warm waters of the Volta River--is merely the price of a cold, 1.5 litre bottle of Voltic Ghanaian mineral water and a Star beer! For the record, the proces were a little inflated, so the drink bill was just over three Ghana Cedis (equivalent to the same in Canadian dollars!).

For our first trip outside of the city, and into Africa, we decided to drive into the Volta Region, named for the river and lake. Within about an hour and a half, we had covered a lush landscape, spotted with mighty Bao Bao trees, to arrive at Ada, a small community on the banks of the Volta River. We saw poverty and environmental prosperity as we travelled. I cannot help but wonder and worry about what the future holds both for the people and for the landscape.

The Volta River stretches between the base of the lake, and the Atlantic Ocean. The Volta Lake was created when the Akosombo Dam was built, which was yet another of the many projects of the biggest of Ghana's "Big Six" forefathers, Kwame Nkrumah. Today, it is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world and it nourishes roughly seventy-percent of Ghana with its reach. It is also a great source of income for Ghana as they sell electricity from the dam to neighbouring Togo and Benin (this does not mean, however, that power outages are not common!). We hired a boat (45 Cedis return fare for seven--we took Douglas, the driver, as he is the son of farmers and wanted to go on the boat--and for a tour of the estuary region) that took us out to the massive sand dune that is the Ada Foah Estuary.

On our way out to the estuary, we passed a number of fishing villages. Both the people and their boats were of great interest as we moved past. It felt as though we were intruding for a couple of moments as the river serves as a natural bathhouse, particularly at the end of a long day of hauling nets!

Ada Foah Estuary...Paradise Found!

There are a few makeshift resorts there, but we were honestly alone. You can rent a small hut, complete with queen size bed and mosquito netting, for around 10 Cedis a night. They also have bonfires, music and dancing when people want it and when the sea turtles arrive to to leave their eggs in a couple of months, they wil wake you in the mroning to witness the spectacle. As an aside, I love the wry symbolism (intended or not--though I'd like to think intended!) in the picture above of the tattered Union Jack flapping in the ocean gusts above Cohen's head as he combs the river bottom for shells and crabs. We filled many contaners with shells, including a small conch and a sand dollar.

All in all, it was a wonderful day and we will not soon forget it!! I have a hunch it is just the sort of day that will set the bar for all of our future excursions.