Spent a very full week going down to Accra with Mel and getting to see a bit more of the scenery along the way.
I had to go down to Accra to pick up my passport and I thought I would also accompany Mel down to catch her flights. We set of on the first Metro Mass bus out of Wa on Monday morning. We alighted in Techiman and got a Taxi out to the village of Nkoranza which is a small village about 30 minutes north east of Techiman. Here we stayed in the nicest guesthouse I have stayed in here in Ghana. It is called Hand in Hand Community. It is a facility for mentally and physically disabled children; it is run by a few Dutch expats and houses around 75 children. The children live here, and it is only one of two facilities of its kind in the country. There has also been built a special school nearby. To help fund the facility the children make beads and cloth and, they have build a few guests houses. The guest houses are small little round buildings with a room for the toilet and shower joined to the bedroom. This room has no roof though, quite nice to shower with the stars.
The reason we came to Nkoranza was to visit two attractions nearby. The first is Kintampo Falls. We took a Tro-Tro first thing in the morning to Kintampo, a city about two and a half hours north. We got a taxi out to the falls, only 5 km away. The falls were nice, again vary tropical and you got to see the top of the falls by going down a different path. The best part was upstream from the falls and it was where the water poured out from underground through holes in the rocks. They are nice, but they are not as good as Boti Falls in my opinion.
One the way back from the falls we stopped at the second attraction. The Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary which house Columbus and Mona monkeys. Like Paga and its crocodiles the monkeys are considered sacred here and are not harmed or eaten (they are in other parts) and are buried when they die, there is a monkey graveyard and anything. The monkeys are playful and are all over the place. The live in a forest sanctuary and the trees there are very impressive, it’s the first forest I have been in here and it was cool and peaceful. The whole place was great, and I highly recommend it.
The next day we headed down to Accra. We spent a couple days getting some errands done. I got my passport and considered Visas for Togo and Benin. Mel had to work on getting a background check from the police here to take home. We also both did a bit of Christmas shopping. My Mum is going to Australia for December, so Mel was able to take presents for them and post them in Aus, cheaper and quicker.
The week was great, and it ended far too soon. I got along well with Mel and had tons of laughs. She, like me, loves to travel and has a great sense of adventure and loves to ride her moto. I am quite sad that she has left because I’m pretty sure we would get to cover a lot of Ghana and the surrounding countries. It was hard to say goodbye to her at the airport. A lot of my life in Wa had become built around her and it’s like a large part of my life is leaving with her.
After Mel left I went to Jude and Mike’s apartment. It was good to catch up with them and I spent the weekend chatting and drinking. We had a great BBQ on Saturday night out on their balcony and on Sunday we watched the Liverpool – Arsenal game alongside the Accra Hearts of Oak – Kumasi Kotoko on a couple of TVs in a makeshift theatre in an ally.
To get home on to Wa on a Sunday is more of a challenge than I thought. I had to take an overnight bus to Techiman, spend 4 hours in the Techiman Tro station at 2am and then get a Tro to Wa. Mission of a journey but it’s all done, and I am home in Wa.
It was a fun filled week and I am sorry it is over. Safe Travels Mel and I hope you get home ok and settle in. Miss ya.
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