Interesting few days...

So just lost power for more than 24hours in a row!!! It wasn't so bad, but just for the fact that at work I can't actually do anything without a computer, and my laptop had no power either so I couldn't even use that temporarily! And that it seemed only our very tiny corner of Accra lost power for so much longer than anyone else!
We went out in the night to see a concert of this Nigerian guy who took over his Dad's band, very interesting style, lots of old guys on instruments, two young girls dancing/shaking the whole time and this guy in a black and white ensemble dancing round and playing the saxaphone, but fun!!
So while coming back from the concert their were lights on pretty much everywhere, but as we got like to our street, it was still dark!!! Only like 200m away had light.....and it wasn't too bad with no fan to sleep but my fridge wasn't liking being shut off for that long, and then the next day it still wasn't back so potentially another working day of doing not a lot!!!

But it was decided that we would move our computers down the road to the secretary's room as she had power!! So we had a couple of printers, computers and laptops all carted over so we could get our work done!! Definitely very interesting morning, but thankfully the power came back at lunchtime so I didn't have to do that all day!!!

So I think I can forgoe running water most of the time as fine, but having no power is not fun!!!

Being touristy, cultural and of course......the beach!

This weekend I went back along the west coast in the direction of Cape Coast which is a reasonably sized city about 2 hours from Accra.

Luckily we had someone who was driving us, so we were able to go straight to the places we wanted without having to change around tro-tros too often.

Started off with Kakum national park which is where they have probably the most touristy thing in this country, a canopy bridge walkway through the forest. After finally finding it, for a country with no offical signage and much random, it wasn't the easiest to find, but we got there.
There is a very biased pricing system at the park, with Ghanaians getting in for only 1 cedi and us non-Ghanaians having to pay 5 cedis with a student card, which luckily I had! But its definitely a large difference between the prices!! We did however manage to get in the Nigerian and Togo as Ghanaians but it was a bit harder to pass off me and the Brazilian as being black!!

The canopy walk was fun though, and probably worth the money I paid, but it would be better if they made the prices a lot more similar.....

Next we moved on to Elmina, which is a fishing village which is home to the biggest fort in Ghana, and apparently where the most slaves were moved through in the whole world.....as according to our guide. The slave trade in Ghana did last for a long time though so it is possible.

The fort is quite impressive, but of course with places like that which were used for very questionable colonial activities its quite sad. But is does bring a lot of people to the village now.

The next day we also had to go to the beach of course! Along the coast a little from Elmina was a beach resort we could walk to, to get to the beach, which was a little rocky but nice to be able to cool down in some water, it was quite rough though.

The resort also made an attempt at a golf course, and within the golf course is a wooden fenced in area with a 'lake' which contains crocodiles, which after staring at the non-moving water for about 15mins we did finally see the head of a crocodile!

So another nice weekend, next week I have a work thing over the weekend so will be busy, going to be away at a place called Akosombo which is where the dam is for the Volta lake, but probably will be too busy to actually see it......so will have to wait for another time.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/emmajaynedavidson/KakumAndElmina#

Oh and Mum, in the Elmina castle they had some really really nice paintings, which I would really like one of, but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures of them so I can't show you, so you're just going to have to come and see for yourself!!

Ada Foah

So another weekend over and another beach visited, not that I am complaining!

Went to the east for the first time this weekend, heading for Ada Foah which is the point where the Volta River meets the ocean. And so of course a beach, and this time also a fresh water lagoon to swim in also.

Drive was only about 2 hours so not long to get here. Place was very nice although basic as its not really by any running water or electricty, although there were a couple of lights at night time.

So apart from lots of swimming and lying in the sun, we took a walk down the beach for about an hour to where the river meets the ocean, and pretty much it was also the point where all the rubbish seemed to collect! One of the worst things about this country is there absolute disregard for waste collection, plastic is absolutely everywhere.
Luckily after our walk in the sun down the beach, because we really didn't feel like walking back again, there was a boatland of British and Ghanaians from a resort further upstream from and they gave us a ride back with them, so got to see some more of the river from the boat.

Its a large expanse, with lots of islands around from the part I could see, possibly more if you went further. The islands pretty much have nice houses which are I would guess the holiday homes of the Accra rich, they generally have jettys and houses, so it kind of looks a little bit like the Bay of Islands expect not such a big expanse.

So another good weekend trip away, possibly need to go somewhere now that isn't the beach!

Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/emmajaynedavidson/AdaFoah#

More of the beach...

Weekend spent at the beach, on Saturday one of the busier ones near the hotels in Accra which are beachside, so lots of foreigners, so expensive food and entry fee, but relatively clean water and sand.

Then Sunday to Bojo Beach which is in the west, about half an hour with no traffic. Its like it was designed to be a resort, so lanscaping etc etc but it costs to enter because of this, and being from NZ I don't like having to pay to enter beaches, but it was very very nice, with no rubbish at all and shelters from the sun, as it was a hot hot hot day. There was actually none of the normal haze in the sky and so right from early on it was hot and sunny.

One funny thing about the beaches here is when they try and have 'lifeguards'. This is amusing as pretty much every African I have seen try and swim will sink automatically like a lead weight, and generally you don't see them go out much further than their waists in the water because of this. So the lifeguards, not so effective. But they have whistles which they will blow very loudly if they think that you are going out further than what you should be!!

So a relaxing weekend, not going to far, a little bit of sunburn but nothing extreme so all good. Next weekend going to Ada Foah, so somewhere to the east this time, its where the Volta river meets the ocean. But may be slightly needing a change from beaches sometime soon......but then again probably not!!

Oh and photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com/emmajaynedavidson/20090201BojoBeach#