I’m home now after six months on the road, four and half months of which I spent in West and East Africa. One conclusion: fast, reliable internet access is hard to come by. I’d planned on blogging as I traveled but that wasn’t possible, so I’m going to start posting blog entries now, after the fact. Fasten your seat belts!

The first stop on the trip was Ghana. I’ve not met a single traveler who’s spent time in Ghana and hasn’t enjoyed it; and for good reason, it’s a wonderful place with friendly people and plenty of interesting things to see. English is widely spoken and because Ghana has been politically stable for so long the infrastructure and basic services are in a reasonable state. It’s more underdeveloped than I was expecting – happily! – but there were far fewer travellers on the road than I thought I’d see (read: essentially none). It was a perfect place to ease myself into African travel.

The capital Accra was chaotic and crowded as expected, but colourful and exciting with its teeming markets and endless roads and alleys to explore. I got a lot of looks, most people smiled and said hello and were curious about me and wanted to know what I was doing there.

After a few days in the capital I caught a minibus from Accra’s busy Tudu station to the town of Ada Foah, a little over 100 kilometers east. The journey took a little over two hours, the first hour of which was spent fighting through Accra traffic and the endless sprawl of the suburbs and mucky industrial parks. When we eventually left the main highway onto a secondary road there was much less traffic and the passing scenery turned green and rural.

Ada Foah is located on the southern coast, east of Accra in the Volta region at the place where the Volta river empties into the Gulf of Guinea. There’s a lot of activity near the estuary, fishing boats and small villages. I spent three days exploring the region, walking along the beach and into the villages north of town.

Evenings were spent sitting outside in the humidity on cheap plastic chairs at the “Sarah Baby Pub” drinking beer with locals. Sarah herself served. The electricity went out every night for about two hours so Sarah set out candles.

After Ada Foah I headed north following the Volta river to the cities of Ho and Hohoe. Ho is the regional capital, and fairly organized and prosperous (relatively speaking). Hohoe is much less developed and far more provincial in feel, with dirt roads running through town instead of the asphalt ones in Ho.

The hotel where I was staying in Ho had a TV in the lobby and I sat with two of the young guys who looked after the rooms watching the returns from the US presidential election. Most people I talked with in Ghana loved President Trump, telling me he was strong and uncompromising. I pointed out that those two qualities are worryingly similar to those of many African leaders, but I didn’t point it out too loudly.

Heading farther north I stayed for a night in the small transit town of Atimpoku, a rather dull and nondescript place except for its dramatic location beside the Volta. There’s an old metal bridge that spans the river, and in the evening I walked to the middle and watched the faint oil lamps on the fishermen’s boats bobbing in the black water below while I ate a portion of Indomie instant noodles bought from a street vendor (instant ramen-style noodles cooked and pan fried in a liberal amount of reused vegetable oil with an egg, onion and chilies)

Ghanians from the Volta region seemed to me to be very proud of their district and culture. It happened several times that I’d meet people in other regions of the country who were originally from Volta and they were always enthusiastic and pleased that I’d spent time there. It was a good start to the trip.