Accra, Ghana

Arrived in Accra late on Saturday night after flying from Heathrow via Lisbon and then on to Accra which is the capital city of Ghana. The trip officially started on Monday morning, although several of the group met before that as most of us were staying at the same hotel. Fourteen of us, plus our two drivers (Al and Jason), will be traveling via truck from Accra to Freetown - a 42 day trip taking in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Many of us will continue on subsequent trips north towards Morocco whilst some passengers will leave in Freetown and some new ones will join. For this section of the trip, we are a largely British contingent, although we do have a token Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian and Uruguayan. Apart from a couple of people who have travelled together before, we are all independent travellers so I’m enjoying getting to know new people. Everyone is extremely well travelled so all have interesting travelling stories to share.

After meeting on Monday morning, unsurprisingly there have been lots of administrative matters to sort out before we can get on board the truck and on our way. Despite having travelled extensively in other parts of Africa, I can see already that West Africa is going to be a whole different ball game from a logistical point of view! Obviously, visas are required for all the different countries we are to visit and whilst some we were able to obtain in London prior to travel, many have to be applied for en route. So our first task on meeting as a group was to complete applications for our Guinea visas. That was a fairly painless process as we were not required to attend the Embassy in person but sent our passports, applications, passport photos, visa fees, etc off with a local guide. He magically reappeared that evening with our passports complete with Guinea visas!

However, we also need to get visas for the Ivory Coast before we leave Accra and that particular Embassy has chosen to make the process rather more painful. Firstly, you have to make an online payment and print off proof of payment. Sounds simple right? Not when you are in a country that barely has workable wifi. The wifi at the hotel is pretty much non-existent although we are told that it is the best wifi that we will have for some weeks to come!! So based on that, you may not be hearing from me very often.. Anyway, after time spent in internet cafes we all managed the first part of the process yesterday. Then today, we had to go in person to the Embassy and submit our applications. Those visas will hopefully be issued tomorrow afternoon, but Jason is going to stay behind to collect them so that we can continue on our way and not waste any more time in Accra. Hopefully he will catch up with us at some point with our passports!!

After stocking up on food and drink, we are now ready to head out of town first thing tomorrow morning. Really excited to be getting back on the road and seeing what else Ghana has to offer. We will be heading west along the coast, and camping on the beach for a couple of nights before heading towards the northern part of Ghana.

Aside from all the admin, there has been time to see some of Accra too. It is a typically dirty, dusty, sprawling, bustling African city. Friendly people, but very anti-photographs so not easy to get pictures of street scenes for example without upsetting someone! No taxi driver seems to have a clue where anything is, although inevitably they will say that they do and then get hopelessly lost! Some of us did a walking tour yesterday and visited a local school and the markets. Music seems to be a big part of Ghanian life and school assembly at the end of each day includes lots of drumming and dancing which was great to watch. Certainly seemed a lot more fun than my school assemblies! The local markets are fascinating with masses of spices. I was particularly intrigued by the bowls of dried chameleons which apparently have great medicinal qualities…

Whilst I could undoubtedly rattle on for longer, I will leave it there for now because I’m not entirely sure that the wifi is going to allow me to post this…fingers crossed.