We spent the whole of February
2013 in the exotic land of Ghana in West Africa. This being our first visit to
Africa, it evoked both excitement and trepidation at what it would be like.
To start at the very beginning
– Rajeev’s greatest fear was the yellow fever shot that one has to take before
setting foot in Africa. In Maharashtra, yellow fever shots are only available
at two locations in Mumbai - Ballard Estate and near the International Airport. So we made a
special trip to Mumbai to get the yellow fever shots and the Ghana Visa. Ghana
has a Consulate on the Marine Drive in Mumbai, which is authorised to issue
visas. By the time we reached Ballard Estate in Mumbai from Pune it was already
11.30 A.M, and we were not expecting to get our shots that day because they
only give 100 shots a day, between 10am and 12 noon. Desperate people line up
from 6am. Lucky us! We were numbers 98 and 99 in the queue and only one other
girl, Tasneem, who travelled from Pune like us and had been returned the
previous day, was accepted after us. Tasneem
gave us scary details of how she was detained in Nairobi the previous time she
had travelled without her yellow fever shot and was “quarantined”.
Getting the visa the next day was
a cake walk as we had all our papers including our confirmed tickets. We had
booked our flight tickets on the Ethiopian Airlines, which has one of the
shortest flight times to Ghana. We selected it because it offered the best
rates at the time.
A picture taken from the window of the aircraft
The flight has a half hour halt at Addis-Ababa, to switch to
the connecting flight to Accra. It is a very short window and as feared we
missed our Addis to Accra flight on the 1st Feb.!! Not a bad thing
at all because the 11 hour flight after travelling 4 hour by taxi from Pune the
previous night and sitting up the whole night at Chhatrapati Shivaji Intl.
Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai had left me
feeling less than perfect and in desperate need of a break. We were put up at a
nice hotel called Panorama and as we had packed up an overnight bag which we had
carried as cabin baggage, we had a comfortable stay in Addis. The hotel
provided us lunch, dinner and breakfast at 5 am the next day, before taking us
to the airport. Addis Ababa has a few ‘museums, cathedrals, coffee shops,
market places and street life’. We, however, decided to give a city-tour a pass as I was not
feeling too good.
Nevertheless, we did get to see and get
a feel of this ancient land and culture.
Bole International airpot, Addis Ababa
Addis has a beautiful skyline with the Ethiopian Highlands as the background
Hotel Panorama
The Dining Space
Our new found Ghanaian friends- Kofi, Seli, Meri and Wilsonwith Rajeev on the hotel steps
That's a quaint Church
Ethiopian Coffee (Tea) ceremony
All hotels and homes in Ethiopia will have this very special ceremony for their guests, where the whole ritual of roasting, crushing and brewing of the seeds is done by a lady in an elaborate ceremony.
While waiting in the queue for
check-in at CSIA, Mumbai airport we had struck up a friendship with a few Ghanaian travelers - and it became a pattern – broad, friendly smiles, a handshake and
a warm “welcome to Ghana” and you get this wonderful feeling of belonging to
this beautiful country with its warm, friendly, and trusting people. I enjoyed
the flight from Addis to Accra much more after the night’s rest. Rajeev tried a
couple of bottles of French Chardonnay served on the Flight, I was more
circumspect and stuck to tomato juice while we nibbled on little jet shaped
crackers. Cute! Then they served the most delicious lunch of Bassa fish in
white sauce and rice I have ever had in any flight anywhere; they even managed
a vegetarian meal of fried rice for Rajeev.
Had a Ghana football supporter sitting next to
us who kept us entertained. Football is a passion in Ghana as cricket is in
India. As the Africa Cup was going on, people were glued to the TVs and radios
and occasionally in the dead of night we heard loud cheering as the home team scored
a goal or advanced in the tournament.
ACCRA - aerial view
Our friend in Ghana had to wait a couple of
hours before we finally emerged with our baggage after getting ourselves fingerprinted
at the Immigration!! While coming out the guy checking our baggage tags asked Rajeev "have you brought a gift for me?" Later we learnt there are other variations to this - "show me some love" or the more common one with the policemen stopping traffic to ask for "chop money" or more subtly "it is very hot here". Akwaaba - welcome to Ghana.
'Welcome' in all the languages of Ghana
ABOUT GHANA
The History
Ghana means a “Warrior King”.
Before the British colonised it, Ghana was divided into a number of Akan
kingdoms which included the Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman,
the Denkyira and the Fante. Non Akan states created by Ga and those by Dagomba
also existed. The Akan gold wealth brought in the Europeans – the Portuguese in
the 15th century, the Dutch in 1598, not to be left behind, by mid
17th century they were joined by the English, Danes, and Swedes etc.
The Portuguese and the Dutch withdrew and the British established a
protectorate naming it the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874, over a part of the
country. Along with gold, the Europeans were also trading in slaves.
The Gold Coast got merged with
British (earlier German) Togoland by a UN sponsored plebiscite in 1956 and was
renamed Ghana. Ghana got independence from the UK in March 1957 and thus became
the first sub-Saharan African nation to do so. The name Ghana was chosen after
the ancient Empire of Ghana which had extended, about 500 miles, over much of West
Africa.
The Flag and Emblem:
Ghana has a red, green and gold
flag with a black star in the centre. The red represents the blood spilled to
get independence, the gold, the mineral riches of the country, the green
symbolises the rich agriculture and the black star is symbolic of African
emancipation.
The Geography
Ghana is located on the Gulf of
Guinea, very close to the Equator, giving it a warm climate. It lies between
latitudes 4 deg and 12 deg north and longitudes 4 deg W and 2 deg E. Perhaps this puts Ghana closest to the
geographical centre of the world! The Prime Meridian passes through the country
putting it in the same time zone as UK. It covers an area of 238,500 km. It has 2 main
seasons, the wet and the dry seasons. We visited it during the dry season and
found our friend very apprehensive of bush-fires. At this time Ghana
experiences the Harmattan, which is a dry and dusty West African trade wind. We
were much fascinated by little whirlwinds forming in the dust and one huge one
while we were at the Mole National Park. We awakened from our afternoon siesta hearing
the noise on the hotel roof and rushed to the window and saw this huge
whirlwind moving across the ground.
Ghana is divided into 10
administrative regions subdivided into 170 districts.Kumasi is the capital of the region of
Ashanti where we stayed. Accra is the capital of Ghana and falls under the
region Greater Accra and is also the regional capital.
The Economy
Ghana, a middle income country,
has more than twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West
Africa. It is one of the world’s top producers of gold and the second largest
producer in Africa after South Africa. Apart from gold Ghana produces cocoa,
crude oil, natural gas, timber, electricity, diamond, bauxite and manganese.
After 55 years of independence Ghana, however, remains a developing nation. The
Akosombo Dam which was built on the Volta River in 1965 by Osagyefo Dr Kwame
Nkrumah provides hydro-electricity for Ghana and its neighbouring countries.
Tourism is growing in Ghana
because of its economic and political stability and as English is widely spoken
here and is its official language. In many ways Ghana is like India.
Everybody in Ghana speaks at
least a smattering of English. Even the tiny tots who followed me around whenever
we stepped out of the house or came and swung on Arvind’s gate would say ‘O Bruni
give me my toffee’ (Bruni meaning a ‘foreigner’). Its another thing that most of them lisped 'balooney' instead of 'bruni'.
Adorable!
Hard bargaining for a toffee!
Every village in Ghana has a
school, a football field and a chapel. The villages are clean with no garbage
lying around or open drains.
Religion
Ghana is primarily a Christian
country. As per the 2000 census 68.8% people were Christians, 15.9% Muslims,
traditional religion was practiced by 8.5% and 6.1% were atheists.
Interestingly, as of 2009 there were about 10,000 African Hindus in Ghana and
there is a Hindu Monastery headed by Swami Ghanananda Saraswati.
Arts and Crafts
Textiles are a very important
part of the Ghanaian culture. Different colour weaves and different symbols in
the design mean different things. Kente is
the most famous of all Ghanaian cloth. Kente (derived from kenten meaning
basket) is an Akan ceremonial cloth hand-woven on a horizontal treadle loom
traditionally by men of the Ewe and Ashanti tribes.
A horizontal treadle loom
The Ewe belong to the Volta
region which falls in the path of the Great Migration therefore their designs
consist of animal and human motifs, whereas, the Ashanti designs are geometric.
4 inches wide strips are sewn together into larger pieces of cloth. These come
in various sizes and designs and are worn during very important religious and
social occasions; earlier it was only worn by kings. The designs tell stories
and recount history. The initial kente weavers used raffia fibres to weave
cloth making it look like a basket (kenten), hence the name. We went to the
Bonwire village which is considered the heart of Kente to see the original
Kente. The Kente is woven in thin strips, (a few of which we bought for 15 Gh
cedis each ie. about Rs 450/- each, bargained down from 20 Gh cedis), and sewn
together to make larger pieces. It is very expensive material and was earlier
worn only by the royalty, now of course it is more common, though we did not see
people generally wearing Kente. The shopkeeper let me and Rajeev wear a whole
piece so we could get the ‘royal’ feel and called Rajeev “Big Chief”.
Kente strips
"The making of the Big Chief"
Adinkara on the other hand, a textile design unique to Ghana, is
seen to be commonly worn. Symbols are carved onto a piece of gourd which is
then dipped in a black tar like substance and stamped on the woven cotton
cloth. The designs have meaning and traditionally were stamped on black cloth
by men and worn to funerals. Now Adinkara comes in cloth of many colors but the
designs are always in black and they are also worn on many occasions. It is
much cheaper than Kente. One usually sees people wearing Adinkara material on
the weekends which are funeral days. We visited the Adinkara craft village but
I didn’t have the heart to spend 100 Ghana cedis (Rs 3000) for the material, so
instead I bought a pair of uncomfortable slippers, which I will never wear, for 25 Gh cedis.
Adinkara cloth
Adinkara cloth with symbols
Slippers I bought never to be worn!
Stool Carving is a very important craft to the Ashanti. They
believe that the stool is the receptacle of the soul. Chiefs are enstooled rather
than enthroned and when they die their stools are kept in shrines with much fan
fare. In daily life stools are used
extensively instead of chairs and range from simple to the highly decorative. Legend has it that a Golden Stool descended from heaven for the first Ashantehene (king), Osei Tutu and the Ashanti have fought a number of wars to preserve this stool.
Typical Ashante stool with the Gye Nyame symbol
Traditionally Basket Weaving was a craft followed by
men of the FraFra tribe of Northern Ghana, especially in the city of
Bolgatanga. Now basket weaving has more modern designs and is also being
undertaken by women to supplement their family income.
Bead making is a craft followed by the men using wood-burning
kilns. I bought a necklace made of terracotta beads because the salesman, who did not have a mirror, suggested Rajeev take a picture of me wearing it and show me - he deserved a sale for quick thinking!
The Wood Craft of Ghana is quite unique. The Accra Craft Market mesmerized me and I ended up buying a lot of stuff. The sales people in their distinct Ghana style can really convince you to over shoot your budget.
We bought these two masks depicting the "Gye Nyame" symbol and the "Bosumchwe Lake" (named after an antelope which was saved by the Lake-God)
Check out this video of Baros playing two stringed dried gourds filled with seeds called the Televi Shaker, while he raps, most of which he makes up impromptu. Needless to say I bought them!
Cities visited
Aburi
On arrival we stayed overnight in
Accra, capital of Ghana, at a place 30 km out of the city on a hill top, called
Aburi. Away from the hubbub of the city it is a quiet and scenic place. There
was a nice and interesting place called Hillsbury which was full as it was the
weekend so we stayed in a little place called Sweet Africa. It had a large room
overlooking the valley and we had the most gorgeous view of the rising sun the
next morning. We had our first encounter with some African birds and had a
great time seeing and clicking them. Before driving off to Kumasi we spent some
time at the Botanical Garden which has been in existence since 1890.
Enroute we halted for lunch at an
eatery called Linda Dor. Great food and the fried wedge plantains they served
was something to die for.
Hillsbury Resort
Aburi street
Eggplant, avocados, mangoes and pineapples
Scenic cottages of Aburi
View-point - 'Sweet Africa'
Rajeev and Arvind discovered some innovative weights made of cans filled with concrete!
Really tall Palm trees in the Botanical garden
A Ceiba tree trunk!
Totem tree
Hollow tree
Inside the hollow tree
Kumasi
The nearest city to Krobo, where
we stayed was Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti region. Located near Lake
Bosomtwe, it is popularly known as “The Garden City” or “The Heart Beat” of
Ghana because it has so many species of flowers and plants. It is a royal city
as the King of Ghana resides there, of course since Independence the King’s
role is only symbolic. It is here that Okomfo Anokye had received the Golden
Stool from the heavens, which embodies the soul of the Ashanti people. It is
the second largest city of Ghana after the capital Accra, with a population of about
15,17,000.
The main square
The biggest mosque of Kumasi
The King's Palace
Our favorite eating place in Kumasi
Kumasi has been a major gold
mining area. Its major exports are teak and cocoa. 50% of the timber industry
of Ghana is here employing about 4000 people.
No trip to Ghana can be completed without a visit to the beautiful Cape Coast. The history of Ghana can be traced from the Cape Coast. Its about 3 hours drive from Kumasi after you have managed to beat the city traffic, for us it was an additional couple of hours to Kumasi. The drive was very pleasant except we missed a vital diversion which added an hour to our driving time. But on the flip side we passed through the gold mining town of Obuasi.
Pra River. dredging here will give you gold nuggets!
In Cape Coast we stayed in this lovely place called the Hans Botel, which is a nature lover's and bird watcher's paradise. The pictures below will tell you why.
The colourful restaurant
Having breakfast while the weaver birds are busy making their nests around you - my kind of heaven!
The boat type restaurant earning it the classification Botel!
Funny Instruction on the swimming pool
The most endearing weaver birds weaving nests at an arm's distance
A Jacana
The Weavers
The ubiquitous, colourful Agama lizards
Fearless and bold - and everywhere!
The less colourful female Agama
That's Big Brother!
While at Cape Coast we visited the famous or should I say infamous Elmina Castle (covered in a separate, detailed article on this blog) and the Kakum National Park.
The Equatorial Rainforest
Accra
We caught our return flight from Accra, the capital city of Ghana and spent a couple of days there again. Accra is a big and a beautiful city near the coast.The drive upto Accra, like in most parts of Ghana, was beautiful.
The 'bush-meat' always marred the beauty for me
While at Accra we stayed at a small but pretty hotel peculiarly called the 'Golden Lemon Guest House'.
They took their name seriously!
Breakfast on the house
A Mall has lately opened in Accra which attracts a lot of crowd in the evenings.
Colours of Africa
Independence Square where the celebrations for the 56th anniversary of Ghana's Independence was underway
The Sports Stadium
The Craft Market
We had a wonderful time while in Ghana - exploring the history, geography and culture of a nation. We came away feeling just a little sad because the wonderful people of such a beautiful country so richly endowed by nature, deserve more. As an Indian I could appreciate the wisdom of the founding father of my own country, Mahatma Gandhi, who had laid so much stress on 'self-reliance'. Links:
