Still in Ghana. After a little over a week in the northern towns of Bolgatranga, Paga, Bongo & Tongo, and Navarongo I started to move south, back to Tamale and through the Ashanti region again, but taking different roads past different towns. This time I found a very comfortable bus for the long dusty trip to Tamale in the shape of a used city bus. I have no idea where it came from, but it was from someplace where they drive on the right hand side of the road because the steering wheel was located in the wrong place for Ghana (they drive on the left in most of the former British colonies in Africa). It was a ridiculous vehicle for long distance. Transit buses in north American cities are designed to maximize ridership by making most passengers stand for their short journey, but Bolga to Tamale is nearly four hours of drudgery and most people had to stand. I got a seat, and so did another lucky few dozen but everyone else suffered.

In Tamale I enjoyed beers on the roof of the Giddipass in the evening again, then set off south the next day. My goal was Nikoranza in the Brong-Ahafo region in west-central Ghana. It took a few days to get there, traveling through a series of largely scruffy and benign little towns: Yapei, Buipe, Kintampo, and Techiman. Techiman is memorable though, as I had possibly the worst, chewiest, nastiest piece of rubbery chicken leg I’ve ever had there. I bought it at a roadside stall and it came with plain rice smothered in both mayonnaise and ketchup, the scabby leg bobbing unconvincingly in a pile of sauce.

I stayed for three nights at the “Hand in Hand” guesthouse on the outskirts of Nikoranza near the tidy town hospital. It’s primarilly an orphanage, where nearly 100 children with disabilities are taken care of after having mostly been abandoned by their families and communities. I met a few Dutch volunteers there, but mostly it was staffed by friendly and interesting locals. I booked into a very rustic but extremely atmospheric little bungalow and spent the next few days wandering around the lush countryside.

Brong-Ahafo is a major center of cocoa production (one of Ghana’s main exports), and everywhere along the roads you can see large wooden drying racks covered in cocoa beans. The villages are fantastically picturesque, and I walked through most of them covering long distances through forests and along dirt farming roads. There was decent food in the Nikoranza (sort of) and the locals were exceptionally friendly and chatty, even for Ghana. I felt rested and happy to be in Ghana, being so well inserted into the off-the-beaten path.

I spent nearly a week in the region, making walks and day trips to nearby towns and villages, returning each evening to the Hand in Hand and a number of other scruffy hotels in the area. It was a wonderful time in a beautiful part of the country.

Stay tuned!