Ghana Tour including Wa, Upper West Region

Continuing on the Ghana tour theme, this next tour of Ghana is what could be called “All Over Ghana to the Upper West: Wa and Hippos”. 14 Days minimum. 


A Rough Outline of a Ghana Tour that Includes the Far North-Western Upper West Region


Accra— Cape Coast (Central Region)—one of the beaches past Takoradi—Kumasi (Ashanti Region)—Techiman—Wa—Mole National Park—Tamale—Lake Volta Ferry to Akosombo—Akosombo back to Accra.


This is basically a circuit that can be traveled in either direction. But, travelers may want to start out easy by heading first to Cape Coast rather than the other way around, and that’s how we’ve outlined it here: 


1. Depart Accra and head to Cape Coast, about 3 hours by public transport, depending on traffic. Enjoy Cape Coast for a couple of days. See Cape Coast Castle, take a tour of town, visit other historical monuments, travel to Elmina. Elmina is about 20 minutes from Cape Coast (15 kilometres), west. Visitors are divided about the Castle visits. My preference is Elmina, but Cape Coast Castle has an excellent exhibit. 


2. Travel from Cape Coast to any of the beaches along the coast like Green Turtle or Axim for a day or two. This takes about 3-4 hours on public transport, depending on the traffic, in each direction. 


3. Return to Cape and travel north to Kumasi—which is crazy so be prepared. However, there is a lot to see, particularly from an Ashanti history point of view. Visit the Cultural Centre and the museum. Perhaps visit the Kejetia Market in the centre of town for a truly shocking market experience.


4. From Kumasi travel to Techiman, 3 hours north, and stay at Operation Hand in Hand in Nkoranza for a day. It’s one of the most inspiring places in Ghana—an orphanage on sprawling, Eden-like grounds for mentally handicapped children who produce some of the most beautiful beaded products I’ve seen in Ghana. You can interact or just hang out. 


5. From Techiman you can travel directly to Wa, which is the capital of the Upper West Region and the jumping off point to visit the Hippo Sanctuary. However, right now, during the rainy season, is not the best time to visit as hippos are hidden by vegetation and extremely hard to see. If you want to see them specifically, wait until October or later when everything dries out and they are more visible. 


6. From Wa travel via bus to Mole National Park where you can spend a couple of days looking at elepehants, wart hogs, monkeys, baboons, and other animals and birds. I have read of a few people unable to see elephants at this time, but most report seeing them—as I also did during an August, rainy season visit—it was awesome. 


7. Head to Tamale from Mole and then catch a tro to Makongo from where you can catch the Lake Volta Ferry all the way down the lake to Akosombo in the Eastern Region. This can take a day or two, depending on various issues like lake water levels and how many stops the captain makes. 


8. Stay at Akosombo on the River Volta—Aylo’s Bay is my fave—and then head back to Accra, an hour away by trotro. 


This tour of Ghana was based on one of the maps in our Ghana guide which shows this route around Ghana.


Let us know if you have any experience traveling these routes and what you’d suggest others to look out for. 


Thanks for reading!

21 Day Tour of Ghana Route Plan

Here is a suggested route for an all-over tour around Ghana that would take about 21 days at an average pace. This allows you to cover some of the major highlights of Ghana. 

Accra—(Eastern Region) Akosombo—(Volta) Fume, Wli, Kpando—Ferry across Lake Volta to Afram Plains, Donkorkrom—Nkawkaw, Kumasi (Ashanti Region)—Nkoranza (Brong Ahafo)—Tamale (Northern)—Mole—Bolgatanga (Upper East Region)—Cape Coast (Central Region)—Green Turtle or Axim Beach (Western Region)—Nzulezo Stilt Village (Western Region)—back to Accra. 

Elmina, Central Region

1. From Accra, head north to Akosombo Bridge. Visit the bead makers at Agomanya market and hang out by the Volta river in Akosombo.

2. Head on to Fume, half way along the highway from Akosombo heading towards Hohoe. Stay at Mountain Paradise Lodge for a few nights and enjoy complete peace and quiet.

3. Head on to Wli via Hohoe from Fume. Wli is where Ghana’s largest waterfalls are located and one of most visitor’s favourite stops. You can climb to the upper falls which is on the border with Togo. In fact, there  is a border crossing at the end of the main road in Wli where you could cross to Togo if that’s your plan.

4. Take the adventurous route and cross Lake Volta from the eastern shore at Kpando, about twenty minutes from Hohoe, after you leave Wli.

5. Cross Lake Volta on a ferry to Agordeke and Donkorkrom in the centre of the Afram Plains. Stay over night.

6. Next day head towards Kumasi by crossing the south-west arm of Lake Volta at Ekye in a motorized canoe, and land at Adowso on the other side.

7. From Adowso, catch a trotro that will be waiting over the hills to Nkawkaw, a major stop between Accra and Kumasi, then travel on to Kumasi—about 2 hours from there.

8. Hang out in Kumasi for a few days.

9. Head on up to Techiman, about 3 hours away, and stay at Operation Hand in Hand in Nkoranza, a Dutch-run orphanage and gorgeous grounds in which to spend a day or two.

10. Or, go straight to Tamale, the capital of the northern region. To get to Mole National Park without your own vehicle it’s almost compulsory to go to Tamale first. From there you catch a Metro Mass Bus departing at 2 pm (though virtually never on time) to Mole and arrive late that night—it takes about 4 hours.

11. Hang out at Mole for a couple of days and watch the elephants splashing around and baby warthogs snorting away. (By the way, did anyone notice that Hogwarts (Wizards) is Warthogs switched?)

12. Return to Tamale the same way as arriving, but on a 4 am Metro Mass (you get the feeling the hotel doesn’t want you to warm your bed for too long).

13. From Tamale, take a trip to Bolgatanga, the capital of the Upper East Region, and visit the basket makers, smock makers, Sirigu Arts and Pottery, about 30 minutes out of town. You could also head up to Navrongo and Paga—crocodiles—easily for a day from Bolga.

14. If you really want to be adventurous, you could head to Wa from Bolga, but via Tamale, unfortunately, especially now as the rainy season has begun and the roads are worse than ever. However, hippos are notoriously hard to spot in the rainy season so it’s probably best heading to Wa when the rains finish, sometime from October onwards.

15. Scoot back down to Cape Coast from Bolga directly on the STC—takes about 18 hours (25 Cedis)—or from Tamale on the STC (22.50 Cedis). Hang out in Cape Coast or Elmina for a few days.

16. Head west from Cape Coast, stopping at any of the sites or beaches along the way like Green Turtle Resort, Axim Beach Hotel, and on to Nzulezo where the village on stilts is located in the Amansuri Wetlands, in Ghana’s far west bordering The Ivory Coast.

Nzulezo Stilt Village, Western Region

Let us know if you have any experience traveling these routes and what you’d suggest others to look out for.

Thanks for reading!

Online Resources for Visiting Ghana

A couple of excellent online forums to find out about travel in Ghana, or life in Ghana, are:

Internations.org

Internations works on trust and they verify your credentials before being allowed to access the site fully. You can meet plenty of expats and get up-to-date details about living in Ghana, particularly Accra. They have an active expat community that attends regular meet-ups too. A good way to meet people when you first arrive in Ghana.

"InterNations is a community of trust and confidence, present in 230 cities worldwide. Data security and privacy are of major importance. Therefore membership is invitation-only:
You need to be invited to become a member"

and Lonely Planet's "Thorntree" forum.
This is geared towards short-term travelers and is essentially a place to find the most difficult to get information that may not be available anywhere else online. Many current and former travelers lurk around the forums and are ready to offer advice and answer questions from fellow travelers. When visiting Italy I developed my entire itinerary around the feedback on the forums. It was brilliant. I've read loads relating to Ghana there and the advice is helpful and mostly accurate.

This image was taken at Axim Beach Hotel, Axim, one of the best beaches and hotels in Ghana--with prices for all budgets. 

Ghana Currency Explained

If you're traveling in Ghana, this will help prevent serious nervous breakdown as you straddle the old and new Ghana Cedi divide still alive at street-side vendors and markets across Ghana.

One new Ghana Cedi is equivalent to ten thousand old Ghana Cedis. So, 1=10,000. And just as 100 cents makes one dollar, 100 pesewas makes one new Ghana Cedi.

However, prior to July 2007, pesewas were not in circulation. Any value less than 10,000 Cedis (1 new Ghana Cedi) was expressed in “thousands” of Cedis.

Today’s 10 pesewas was 1000 Ghana Cedis and 'thousand' is still quoted on the streets for items of this value, such as sachets of purified water sold in plastic bags. It is quite common to hear items still quoted as 'five thousand' instead of today’s 50 pesewas, or 'ten thousand' instead of today’s 1 new Ghana Cedi"

Image from Wikipedia.

Coastal Highlights Tour of Ghana

Coastal Highlights Tour of Ghana


Minimum 9 days


Continuing on the Ghana tour theme (we did the All Over Ghana 21 day tour and 7 Day Essential Ghana tours already), this next tour of Ghana is what could be called “Coastal Highlights” of Ghana. If you want to feel the crunch of sand between your toes for 9 days, then this is the tour for you.


This is the tour that takes you west from Accra to Cape Coast, then past the best beaches in the Central and Western Regions, and then back to Accra again. You can mix and match this tour with any of the other Ghana tours mentioned. 

If you just want to chill on beaches, then this is it.

Accra— Cape Coast (Central Region)—Elmina—Kosa/Brenu—Green Turtle/Busua/Butre—Axim—Nzulezo/Beyin—Accra


1. Drive west from Accra to Cape Coast which takes about 3 hours, depending on traffic.


2. Hang out in Cape Coast for a day and visit the Cape Coast Castle.


3. Head on to Elmina where you can visit Elmina Castle or tour around town, and then onto either Brenu Beach or Ko-sa Beach Resort, situated off the same junction, 20 minutes past Elmina.


4. From there, head on past Takoradi to Agona Junction, and then decide whether you want Green Turtle Beach Resort (eco), Busua Beach (variety of lodges including Alaska for backpackers and African Rainbow—classy) or Butre Beach (Ellis Hideout).


5. From here, head on to Axim Beach Hotel, in Axim. There you can laze on one of Ghana’s most beautiful beaches and enjoy the truly stunning atmosphere and perhaps walk into town and visit Fort San Antonio.


6. Head to Nzulezo Stilt Village, the village in the Amansuri wetlands, accessible only by canoe, about an hour from Axim. You can even stay at Beyin Beach Resort, a grass-roots eco-lodge right by Nzulezo stilt village.


7. If that’s too exhausting, just stay put at your favourite beach for a week!


This tour of Ghana was based on one of the maps in our Ghana guide which shows this route around Ghana.

Let us know if you have any experience traveling these routes and what you’d suggest others to look out for.


Thanks for reading!

Essential Ghana Tour: 7 Days

If you only have seven days in Ghana, this will cover the essentials.

Where does this Ghana adventure take you?

Accra— Cape Coast (Central Region)—Kumasi (Ashanti Region)—Lake Bosumtwi (Ashanti Region)—Accra

This is basically a circuit that can be traveled in either direction. The trip to Lake Bosumtwi is optional, time allowing.

1. Depart Accra and head to Cape Coast, about 3 hours by public transport, depending on traffic. Enjoy Cape Coast for a couple of days. See Cape Coast Castle, take a tour of town, visit other historical monuments, travel to Elmina. Elmina is about 20 minutes from Cape Coast (15 kilometres), west. Visitors are divided about the Castle visits. My preference is Elmina, but Cape Coast Castle has an excellent exhibit.

2. Travel from Cape Coast to Kumasi. This takes about 3-4 hours on public transport, depending on the traffic. Kumasi is crazy so be prepared. Crazy, chaotic, hectic, dirty. However, there is a lot to see, particularly from an Ashanti history point of view. Visit the Cultural Centre and the museum there, hang out in the sprawling grounds. Perhaps visit the Kejetia Market in the centre of town for a truly shocking market experience.

3. Travel to Lake Bosumtwi for a day or overnight. It is the other extreme of Kumasi: tranquil, clean and relaxing. Walk around Lake Bosumtwi or paddle on the lake. It’s definitely worth the one hour trip to the lake if time permits.

4. Travel from Kumasi to Accra. It takes about 4-6 hours depending on the traffic.

This tour of Ghana was based on one of the maps in our Ghana guide which shows this route around Ghana.

Let us know if you have any experience traveling these routes and what you’d suggest others to look out for.

Thanks for reading!

Fufu for Beginners

Fufu transcends regional boundaries in Ghana. Fufu consists of a sticky ball of pounded vegetables in a bowl of one of three main soups.

In the south of Ghana, the fufu tends to be made from boiled and pounded cassava and plantain, whereas in Tamale and further north, fufu is made from pounded yam*. 

After boiling, the vegetables are pounded in a large wooden mortar with a four foot long wooden pole as a pestle. One or two people hold the pole and pound, while one person sits by the bowl and turns the sticky ball. It's a somewhat dangerous and highly skilled ritual that takes place every day across Ghana.

Check out this  YouTube video to learn about pounding fufu in Ghana. 

Would you be brave enough to flip the fufu in the bowl with your hand?

* Unlike the small, orange or purplish vegetable known by most North Americans as yam, Ghanaian yams are white on the inside and brown and woody on the outside. They are approximately 16 to 20 inches long and weigh more than three pounds, on average."

Location Independent: Live and Work Anywhere You Choose

I wrote a story for a blog which doesn't exist anymore, 7 years ago, on living in Ghana.


Here is an excerpt: 

Looking at your blog, it sounds like location independence in Ghana can be somewhat challenging! How do you overcome some of these challenges? What kind of impact does it have on your life and your business?

It depends where you live in Ghana. If you’re in Accra or Kumasi, the largest cities, you have access to more reliable internet and amenities, although they do experience water and power shortages at times.

But I live in the far north where sometimes you feel like the service providers have forgotten you exist. We had terrible internet between January and March this year, such that I had to travel to other cities to do serious online work. Basically, everything slows down.

What I could normally achieve in 5 days might take 10 due to external variables like not having power or internet connectivity when you need them. I’m quite efficient and productive with consistent power and internet, so I find it quite frustrating that my output is sometimes half what it could be.

Sometimes I’m tempted to move to Accra, but we’ve committed to a project here; it’s the poorest area of the country and needs the most help and we’re in a perfect position to do that.

Read more about our project at http://glishfoundation.org

Image by zug55 is of Cape Coast Castle, looking east! I used to work a few minutes walk from there...aaah!

Testimonials: Insider's Guide to Ghana

Here are some testimonials from readers of our Ghana travel guide: Insider's Guide to Ghana, in case you're wondering if it's any good or not.

Your guide has been a great help finding my way around the country so far. I love the little details that you write about, I recognise so much of it when I'm out and about! I have been recommending it to my friends here, and I have been hearing good things from them also. Really, I consider it a must-have if you really want to get to know Ghana in a fun and easy way!

Céline, the Netherlands Wed, Jun 2, 2010 

Preparing for my first visit to Ghana, I found the Insider's Guide very useful and I kept it with me during my visit. It helped me to have a wonderful time and since I came back I have recommended it to several friends. i hope to be returning to Ghana in November and will certainly be taking it with me.

Peter Halliday from the UK. Sat, May 29, 2010

A fresh and original guidebook that entertains as well as informs. The conversational style makes you feel that you're sitting down with Godwin and Gayle as a welcome guest in their home while they pass on all the travel tips and information you could possibly need. Their passion for Ghana and their enthusiasm for opening its vibrant and colourful culture to other travellers is infectious and they share inside knowledge which only someone who lives in a country can provide. Best of all the personal touch extends to free updates and an invitation to contact them with any questions or suggestions you might have. I'm sure I'm going to get a lot more out of my trip to Ghana as a result of reading it.

Catherine, Spain. Sat, May 29, 2010

I was thrilled to hear this guide was available and it has lived up to my expectations. It is current and relevant to my needs and interests. It covers everythign your average guide does, as well as including useful information such as the currency conversions and personal tips from the authors, recommending where to eat, visit, etc.Although the authors worked together, their ideas are listed separately and this helps me to see an idea from the Ghanaian point of view as well as from a visitor's.

It is the best guide book I have ever read and I will refer to it each and everytime I return to Ghana. Thank you Godwin and Gayle! 

Sarah from England Fri, May 28, 2010

Hi Godwin and Gayle,

We had a very good time with your guide. It helped

a lot with timely information while I was in Ghana

with Ghanian friends in Feb. and Mar. 2010. They

also found it useful.

Thanks again,

Don Majors USA Fri, May 28, 201 

We have just released the Fair Market report on prices paid in the straw Bolgatanga basket industry in #Ghana. Click the secure link to the Fair Market Report on Bolga Baskets and it will open up in PDF directly.

We look forward to working together to bring about change in this industry so that the thousands of people involved in making baskets will earn at least the minimum wage in #Ghana from weaving #baskets and other products sold through the central market.

Our research found that NONE of the 120 weavers we interviewed ever received anywhere near a price that met the minimum wage in Ghana when they sold a large market basket in the central market to traders.

The images in this post show scenes from a typical market day in Bolgatanga central market. Here, a woman is attempting to sell 5 baskets. A trader is amassing baskets purchased off the street and around the market. 

The problem

Over several years living in Bolgatanga, basket weavers often commented to us, the authors of this report, that a weaver could not profit from making baskets. We wondered why this was so. What was impeding their profit-making ability?

In our own work in villages we observed that many weavers were illiterate and not in a position to negotiate prices or selling conditions with traders. We wondered what weavers themselves, across the region, would tell us if we gave them a chance to express themselves about these issues.
We wondered what buyers would do if they knew the conditions around the central market in Bolgatanga.

Would buyers be motivated to find a way to ensure the weaver received a fair price?
We wondered if having a clear picture might bring about change for everyone in the supply chain.

Outcome (see p. 89, Conclusion).

After completing this research it is difficult to conclude that selling straw baskets in the central Bolgatanga straw basket market serves straw basket weavers’ interests in any form whatsoever.
If any interests are served, they are those of the middlemen traders, exporters and others in the supply chain who profit.

One thing that is clear from this research is that it is not the straw basket weavers who profit from their work.

Far from helping weavers profit, the prices paid for straw baskets sold in the central Bolgatanga basket market do not cover the cost of a weaver’s time and, thus, do not meet the minimum wage in Ghana.

The middlemen traders, the exporters, the shipping companies, and international buyers profit on the back of the humble basket weaver’s time and skill.

However everyone, including the weavers themselves, could benefit if the straw basket weavers were remunerated for their costs and time.

Whilst this research benchmarked one basket—the round market basket – those who work with baskets and observe prices paid for other styles of baskets in the central market will know that no baskets are fairly remunerated.

Thanks and Gratitude

G-lish Foundation is grateful to the Australian High Commission in Ghana and the Australian Government’s Direct Aid Program for the grant that enabled this work to be undertaken between 2012 and 2013 in the Upper East Region of Ghana. We thank everyone at the Australian High Commission for their faith and support which enabled us to carry out unprecedented work which has the potential to transform many lives in Ghana’s second poorest region.

This work is about a simple basket. The injustice we observed that became this project and now this report is about the people who make it, the end consumer, the people who trade them, and all the people in between.

Ultimately, it’s about choices: how you choose to spend your money. We hope that this work can be broadened to other crafts and communities so that buyers may take action wherever they make a choice about prices paid to artisans.

We would like to thank the 120 weavers from six weaving villages we visited: Dulugu, Tongo-Beu, Gambigigo, Sirigu, Sumburungu and Nyariga. They shared their experiences in great detail. We have over 2400 minutes of recorded interviews in Frafra (translated into English) with the 120 weavers across these six communities. The interviews form part of this report.

We would also like to thank the community leaders of these six communities who allowed us to undertake this work in their communities.

We would like to thank the international buyers who participated in the online survey and provided valuable written information about their experiences buying baskets via the survey and in emails. We would like to thank the few basket producing businesses in Bolgatanga who opened up about their processes, prices and experiences working with weavers and international buyers, and agreed to show us all documentation and systems information.


We would like to thank our colleagues in G-lish Foundation, past and present, whose courage and hard work were crucial in making this happen.  We intend to continue to undertake advocacy for the weavers of Bolgatanga to ensure they receive fair remuneration for their work. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Contact details are at the end of this report if you wish to stay involved in helping bring about economically empowering change for basket weavers in Ghana.

Hashtag: #BasketGood to comment on this in social media.
Twitter: @gaylepescud @godwinyidana1 @G_lishGhana.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GlishFoundationGhana

Message us here with any questions or comment below. In the next two days we will be inviting buyers to a private, locked, online forum in which we'll discuss the issues here in more detail and share experiences in order to better understand and find solutions to the issues.