Livin' it Up! - Blogabond

From Ouagadougou, where I last wrote from, we traveled straight down to Accra, Ghana in a 17hour bus trip. It was bearable, expect for the heat that drained every last bit of energy out of you as the bus comes to a still stand. The 'Aircon' that was advertised was actually just two ventilation holes in the roof. But this was nothing new by now so when we arrived in Accra at 3am, we just slept till the sun rose and then set out for a hotel. Accra is a weird city. Coming from predominantly Muslim French West Africa, the in-your-face Pentacostal Christianity was quite a change. Everywhere banners advertising the latest outpouring of the Holy Ghost is displayed. for the rest of the city the shops are adorned in Christenese, MTN sponsored labels. It is like the christian version of Alice in Wonderland. You can get a 'oh my God' haircut, or get furniture at 'the Lord's casket' or get internet at 'resurrection power communication centre'... Why not try 'Jesus is Lord Machanics' for a car breakdown or go to 'The Great Provider General Wholesalers'. Its all right here in the Pentacostal capital of the world!

After a few formalities inc securing our Accra - Douala, Cameroon flight (we decided to fly across Nigeria after seeing District-9... jokes!!), we headed out for the Green Turtle Lodge some 300km down the Ghanaian coast. On arrival, we were all blown away. This is a eco-lodge with almost zero impact on the environment. Its run on solar energy and the sewerage is worked back into the earth. The building material is also all natural. But more than this, it faced a nice outstreched beach with fun 3ft shore breaks for body surfing. What a place to veg for the next 6 days! So, as you could expect, I dont have too much news on the last few days. We met some really cool people and I take some great conversations along for the rest of the trip.

But a few words on the lodge. The owner and his wife wanted to work in development and he did a few jobs in agencies in London. But then felt the need to be involved hands-on. The options were Mozambique and Ghana. Deciding on Ghana, they got this nice piece of land sandwiched between two villages and the beach. In one of the villages, the child mortality rate is 1:5 which is shocking, these people really need help. So their lodge is part of a greater view on development where they use this as a launchpad to work with these communities. They also set up a Green Turtle conservation project to help these endangered species (I saw one laying eggs then hurrying back into the ocean; awesome sight). I think there is still a lot of opportunities in combining eco-tourism with development work. And it was so cool to see this in practice...

So all in all a very cool 6 days and now we have two days to kill in which we will visit some slave castles and walk a huge hanging bridge over the tropical forest. Then we will go back to Accra and fly to Douala, Cameroon on Tuesday from where we will aim to hike the highest mountain in West Africa, Mount Cameroon... exciting times ahead!

written by

afrikawasbeer on November 13, 2009 from Takoradi, Ghana

from the travel blog: Traveling Africa Overland

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Walter

Ek is Rache Kitching se ma - wou net laat weet ek volg julle trip met groot belangstelling - wat 'n amazing experience! en dankie dat jy dit so "vividly' deel.

Ek het vir een van SA se reistydskrif joernaliste Jaco Kirsten vertel van julle trip en die blogadres gegee - ek hoop hy volg dit op - ek sal hom weer herinner by geleentheid.

Groete
Ansie Kitching

written by Ansie Kitching on November 13, 2009

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