Chasing After Jess

With my eyes full of tears after leaving Mercy Ships, I boarded the plane from Sierra Leone bound for Ghana – another country in West Africa, not knowing what a jam packed three days I was about to have.

After getting past the stress of getting my Ghanaian Visa in my passport only days before leaving Australia, I began getting excited for what was to come in this country.

Ghana has a rich history, from the ancient empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, to the colonial era and the struggle for independence – this country has seen it all. Today, Ghana is known for it’s welcoming people, diverse landscapes and vibrant traditions.

The busyness of life really got in the way of me planning for this short but significant portion of my time in Africa. The main reason I decided to travel solo to Ghana in the first place was to meet one of my sponsor children, Bless – but I will be writing a whole post for that day alone! I found myself arriving in Ghana with very little idea at all of what to do.

Lucky enough for me I met George, a taxi driver who acted as my personal tour guide after I got into the taxi at the airport and asked him to “Show me Ghana”. Little did I know I would get to spend the day with one of the kindest humans, with an infectious smile and laugh! George is 69-years-old and has been driving taxis and working at the airport for 40 years. He told me some incredible stories of what he has seen and done in his time, and told me many things about Ghana itself. I cannot recommend him enough – and if anyone does need a kind, knowledgeable and reliable driver in Ghana I am happy to give you his WhatsApp!

Hotel:

We started off by dropping my bags at my hotel, Labadi Beach Hotel. I booked this hotel based on it looking very appealing, but after booking saw some of the reviews and say I have to agree with them – it is not worth the money. It was a good hotel, but for $300 USD a night I would have expected more.

Things I liked:

– Resort like feel

– Great pool area

– I badly stained a white top after check out, and they washed and dried it for me complimentary.

Things I didn’t like:

– The room was noisy, I could hear people in the corridor until late at night (I also saw this in a review)

– The bed was very hard

– The plugs next to the bed didn’t work (I saw this in a review too)

– The bath wouldn’t fill because of the plug (I also saw this in a review)

– The room didn’t feel completely clean. When I first walked in there was a dirty tissue on the counter which the concierge cleared for me..

With all this being said – it was not a bad hotel! It was a good stay, it was just not what I would consider value for money for $300 USD. But the resort and pools were great, and it was very safe.

Anyway – back to my day with George and what we got up to as apart of his tour of Ghana for me!

Here are some of the things we got up to around Accra:

• The National Museum of Ghana: The museum shows a diverse collection of artefacts, including traditional crafts, archaeological finds and ethnographic exhibits. There are exhibits on the Ashanti Kingdom, Colonial history, and the countries pre-colonial civilisations.
• Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park & Mausoleum: This was a tribute to Ghana’s first President, who was a key figure in the struggle for independence. It stands as a symbol of Nkrumah’s legacy and his vision for a united and prosperous Africa
  

• Africa Market: Perfect for souvenirs and some Ghanaian style clothing!
• Shoprite Supermarket, Osu: Haha – hardly an attraction but I was just so happy to see a large super market again after two months in Sierra Leone.
• Independence Square: A large, and beautiful monument in the middle of the highway! I don’t know how the miscommunication went so wrong, but I paid a man at the bottom for what I thought was a tour of a museum? We went up the top of the monument and he offered to take a photo of me. We spent 15 minutes getting every angle and obviously confused, I said “Okay will we go through the museum now?” And he was like “What museum?” There was no museum lol.

• Aburi Botanical Gardens: I loved this part of the day! About an hour out of Accra is the Aburi Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful green landscapes, with lots of different trees and a nice place to sit and relax. My favourite part was my tour guide Marshall. He was so incredibly wise, and had so many analogies.
  
  For example; he was telling me about this tree that grows ‘pot’ like holders full of nuts. He was explaining how monkeys are so greedy and stupid when it comes to food, that they stick their heads inside the pots, and fill their mouths with nuts and as a result their heads get stuck. He said if they spat the nuts out they would be able to pull their heads out, but they are so greedy that monkeys die with their heads stuck in the pot.
  
  With this, he gave the life advice ‘if you eat alone, you die alone’, and said ‘even if you don’t have much, share with others and never ‘eat’ alone, when you give to others, then you have people around when things go wrong, but if you ‘eat’ alone and then you get ‘stuck’, you have no one help you out.
  

On that note, he also gave the most incredible life advice/analysis of this tree artwork! I am trying to upload the video, but internet while travelling is not great. I hope to add the video when I get the opportunity of good reliable internet haha!

While at the botanical gardens, I saw a man walking around with a GUN! This obviously panicked me, and I asked the guide ‘why does that man have a gun?’ He said ‘oh no it’s a game!’, the man with the gun came over and explained to me I pay 20 cedes to play, and the aim is to shoot 10 bottles off the stand that was ahead of me.

I said “So what do I get if I shoot all 10 bottles?”

He said “Ummm nothing”

So obviously I said “count me in!!”

So a big THANK YOU to George, for showing me around, and sharing a piece of his country and story with me. There is no way I would have seen and done as much with only 1.5 days free to explore if it wasn’t for him!

Jess x