I’m finally getting around to sharing some of our Ghana experiences with you. I really thought I would have done this one month ago, but readjusting to life in the States has been a strange thing, and I needed to put some time between West Africa and my resumption of life in Arizona.

Not that things in Phoenix are bad. On the contrary, after being in a daze for a few days after our January 17 return, we gradually got into the swing of our final trimester here. Abraham’s taking his final classes and looking for a job, I’m substitute teaching, and before you know it, we’ll be out of Arizona in May. So coming back here was necessary in order to move on with our lives.

Now that we’ve got some traction under our feet, I can look back and reflect on Ghana, Senegal and all the details of our short time in West Africa. Wow! We were really there. What an amazing part of the world, so diverse, so beautiful, yet so unfathomable. Some things I miss. Some things I don’t miss at all, to put it mildly. It wasn’t always easy, but it was definitely memorable, and is another part of understanding how amazing life on this planet can be. 

On December 18 we flew from Senegal to Togo, where we spent one night and took a bus the next day to Accra, the capitol of Ghana. After a few days exploring Accra and meeting some of Abraham’s relatives amid the heavy pre-Christmas traffic that clogged the city, we escaped to the Volta region, a few hours to the northeast. It was a welcome change. Hilly. Lush. Green. Everything at a slower, friendlier pace. It the part of the country that really helps Ghana live up to its reputation as one of the friendliest countries in West Africa.

Our first stop was the interestingly named town of “Ho.” There we met Crafty, from whom we bought several crafts for friends and relatives. He made many of them himself. I’m pictured with him in front of his house. The mural of Africa on the wall is made of stones. 

We stayed at the very tidy guest house located on the grounds of the regional Presbyterian office. One of the things we discovered on the grounds were several large ant mounds. Abraham is dwarfed by this one.

Still, we wanted to go even further away from large towns. We took a crowded little bus (tro-tro) from the crowded lorry park, and rode up a winding road to the highest town in Ghana. Amedzofe. It stood at about 600 meters, but that’s high for otherwise flat West Africa.

Apart from the occasional tro-tro from Ho, there were no vehicles in Amedzofe. It was very quiet, and quickly we adjusted to it’s slow pace.

Upon arrival, we stopped by the local tourist office. Amedzofe, like many small towns in the Volta region that receive tourists, has a small, local-run tourist office. There, arrangements are made to stay in local guest houses, and small fees are collected for the sites tourists want to visit. We paid about $20 for the two of us to climb the top of the small hill above town and to visit a nearby waterfall. Naturally, we could have visited those places without ever paying anything at the tourist office — the tours are self-guided — but those funds are funneled right back into community projects, so it’s a worthwhile cause to support.

We arrived on a Saturday, the day before Christmas, and we were immediately drawn to the center of town, where a large number of men and boys were gathered around a slab of concrete.

Two teams placed round seeds onto small indentations on the surface in front of them. Then the men would take turns shooting seeds across the surface in the hopes of knocking the other teams’ seeds off of the indentations. It was really fun to watch, as the men really got into it, cheering, scowling and arguing over the shots.

In this picture, the man in the white t-shirt has just tossed a seed.

He missed the shot, as can be seen by the expression of his face in this picture that was taken just a couple seconds later.

On Christmas morning, we decided to take the waterfall hike. After about 45 minutes of flat or gentle descent, we came upon a sharp descent to the bottom of the falls. Fortunately, the community had put in some posts and rope to help us (this is one of the community projects that tourist funds go to). We were grateful for the rope, because it was a treacherous drop. 

This was taken at the bottom of the falls. It was idyllic, as nobody was there, and the only sounds to be heard was the roar of the falls.

Back in town, we came upon an odd site. Several roosters sat on the branches of a small tree, occupying the entire tree and occasionally crowing.

This was taken on the top of the hill. A large, metal cross stands on its highest point, placed there in the 1930’s by German missionaries who lived in the area. In fact, the Volta region was once part of Togoland, and the people there are Ewe, like most of the population of southern Togo. This area was occupied by the Germans, but was the first German territory to fall to allied hands during World War II.

Locals will tell you that the cross was used as a secret communication device by the Germans, although most reputable sources tell you that that is highly unlikely.

Abraham on the hilltop. You can see in the background that it was very hazy. This is because we were in Ghana at the start of the Harmattan season. Harmattan winds bring dry, dusty air south from the Sahara into Ghana and other parts of West Africa from December to April. The result of the dust is hazy skies, which makes picture-taking a challenge. Of course, this picture was easy to take, as handsome Abraham was the subject. 

The day after Christmas, we descended the mountain through thick jungle until we came out on to the main road. After a few more minutes we reached a small town, where we rented a taxi who took us to this kente-weaving village. Kente cloth is highly prized, relatively expensive cloth that is made in villages in eastern and central Ghana. Making it is a long and complicated process that involves using a machine like this one to weave the different colored cloth together into interesting patterns. Many of the workers, like the one on the left, are young boys.

These older boys worked side-by-side. You can see the cloth extended taut and tied to a large rock while they are weaving. 

Later that afternoon we made it to Wli falls, the highest waterfall in West Africa.

Needless to say, it was beautiful. That’s me underneath the falls.

My next posting, within a week or so, will be about the coastal region.