John in Ghana: A trip to Kpando and Koforidua (with photos)

Last weekend (April 12-14) I traveled to Kpando, which is on the eastern shore of Lake Volta and to Kofridua, which is in the hill area between Lake Volta and Accra. We made visits to a monkey sanctuary and to Boti Falls.

My ride to Kpando is quite illustrative of many quirks when traveling in Ghana. I went to a station in Accra to find a tro-tro (mini-bus) to Kpando. I board the tro-tro shortly after 9am and then sit for another hour, because tro-tro’s do not leave until they are full. This is a general rule. There is no such thing as a tro-tro schedule. It’s all about getting enough fares paid. Some will leave after a critical mass of passengers are met and then hope to pick up more fares along the way. For local travel, the tro-tro’s fill rather quickly, but Kpando is not a major route.

Shortly after we leave, the driver gets into an argument on the phone. Without my speaking Twi, I can tell the conversation is about money and how much the driver will be paid. Fifteen minutes from the station, the driver turns around to go back and finish the argument. More time is wasted and we finally get underway at 10:30am.

We drive for two hours or more, making excellent progress because it is the weekend and traffic is light – until we get to the Volta River. Lake Volta is a massive lake formed by a large hydro-electric dam and the tro-tro must cross the river below the dam. There is one bridge in the area and it is having major repair work. We drive to a ferry crossing about 2 miles down river from the bridge. We enter a town where the ferry crosses and quickly come to a stop in the road and at least 20 women with trays of food on their heads are jostling to get to our windows. They have water sachets, plantain chips, doughnuts (fried balls of sweet dough), hard boiled eggs that get sliced and slathered with hot sauce, kebabs of cockles (meat from mussles or snails?) and other kebabs of meat I cannot identify, banku (a warmed mushy ball of a fermented dough made with maize, which is like cornmeal and is a favorite food of most Ghanaians), grilled or smoke fish of all sizes, bags of red grilled shrimp with very long antennas, loaves of bread, a variety of drinks (some come in baggies and seem quite mysterious and dangerous), and more.

After about 15 minutes of sitting still and people what they like, the tro-tro has moved only a few yards. It’s become clear that we are in line for the ferry and the doors are opened for people to get out of the tro-tro. Men step out and openly pee into the drainage ditches at the side of the road and women go behind buildings. I have been on tro-tro’s and fancy buses that suddenly pull over to the side of the road so the driver can walk to the passenger side and whiz into a ditch. This usually prompts a few more men to do the same. Women are more circumspect and try to find some cover, or they simply walk further away before they squat. Where cars often line up in the road, such as at toll booths, there may be a concrete enclosure that serves as a women’s urinal. No one is concerned about the men.

As a case in point, I went to a local bar near my home one night to watch a football match and brought the 9 year old boy who lives with me. All of a sudden, he jumps up and runs out the bar. I’m sitting wondering where he went when he returns. He tells me he had to go the toilet, which means he walked out to the street and peed into the drainage ditch on the side of the road. He never considered using the bathroom at the bar.

Anyway, once out of the tro-tro, we can see that the line of cars is huge. After about 100 yards, it turns into a parking lot/bus station that leads about 200 yards up a hill, makes a long u-turn and then heads back to the road and then heads another 200 yards down the road to the ferry. There are a few hundred cars ahead of us. My heart sinks as I realize this will be an all day affair. I go back to grab my camera, and then go check out the scene. Lots of people are milling about and there is an open market of stalls and hawkers to service the line of cars, trucks and buses. Tents are set up in an open field, that I never got to, but I think it was where they offered beer and other drinks.

I walk down to the river and see that there are two ferry boats that look just like the ones that shuttle cars to and from Shelter Island. There is one landing on each side, so neither can start until the both are ready to go. Vehicles pay at a toll booth and people can walk on for free. There is a crowd of people around the ferry and its taking 20 to 30 minutes to load each time and more to unload. My heart sinks further as the wait seems endless. It’s easy to meet and talk to people milling about, and after about 90 minutes, I decide to go back and sit in the tro-tro for a while. To my shock, the tro-tro is about 20 cars from the ferry. Somehow, it jumped the line, but I do not ask any questions, for fear it will put us back in line. The ferry ride is mobbed with people. People are selling everything, again, including photos of the ferries. My first thought was that is a foolish business for a hawker, but then two people in my tro-tro purchased photos.

Traffic is clear on the other side and we are now heading into the Volta region. Soon the paved road is pocked with craters like the moon and we are traversing the road like a skier to avoid the biggest holes. There comes a point where one lane is paved and the other is dirt and cars try to stay on the pavement for as long as possible before pulling off to avoid another. Driving on dirt raises a cloud of dust and at times it’s a bit scary with reduced vision. The ride is incredibly bumpy with people leaning into each other as the car swerves from side to side. With all this, people try to doze off while sitting up on a bench seat. We arrived about 4pm, 7 hours after I got into the tro-tro in Accra. A distance that would have taken about 2 hours if I was back home.

Kpando is a sizeable town in the hills that line the eastern shore of Lake Volta. There is not a single restaurant in town. All eating is from roadside stands. I buy groundnut (peanut) soup with pieces of chicken and banku. The soup is poured into a baggie and the banku comes pre-bagged. No utensils or napkins are provided, as this is a food that is traditionally eaten by hand (banku gets dipped into the soup – spicy) and then you wash your hands.

The next day we have egg sandwiches and bananas on the street and then get taxis to the monkey sanctuary. It’s a 30 minute ride on dirt roads through forests, open land and farm fields. We arrive at a very small village. The local forest has become a monkey preserve where the locals work to maintain the monkeys and their habitat and in return they get people coming to visit and paying for the pleasure. We purchase a big bag of bananas and a guide takes us on a walk into the forest. He makes loud kissing sounds as he walks, similar to how street sellers and taxi drivers in Accra try to get people’s attention. We meet a small group of about 10 monkeys first and take time to feed and take their pictures. We then walk a while and meet up with a large group of 30 or more monkeys. They are Mona Monkeys, small, skinny and agile tree climbers and jumpers. We are told to hold the banana’s firmly to force the monkeys to peel the banana in our hand and then remove the flesh. Sometimes, they jump on us to get to the monkeys. A couple climbed on me. They do not stay long. It feels like the hands of a small child.

After our time at the sanctuary, we head back to Kpando where most people head back to Accra to be able to be at work on Monday morning. Four of us decide to travel to Koforidua and return to Accra on Monday night.

We find the tro-tro to Koforidua and sit for an hour again waiting for it to fill up. I buy lunch from the heads of woman through the car window, a “doughnut” and three oranges. The oranges have had the rinds peeled off and the seller cuts the very top slice off so you can squeeze all the juice into your mouth, Certain mangos that are too stringy to eat are eaten in the same manner. We through the squeezed oranges on the ground and a little herd of goats roaming the tro-tro lot eats them.

The ride to Koforidua is beautiful. We have to cross the ferry again, but this time the tro-tro drops us off, so we can cross as walk-ons, and he refunds us 1.5 cedi's each to cover the cost of a cab to finish this leg of the trip. In a second tro-tro we drive across rolling hills of farm fields with long views of lush green valleys. Koforidua sits on top of some hills and is a pleasant small city. The next morning we find a tro-tro to Boti falls, about a 45 minute ride into the hills. The falls are the first place that appears set up for tourists. The falls are in a small gorge and a set of concrete stairs has been made leading down to the falls. We are the only people here. We go for a swim, enjoy the scenery and take a walk behind the falls. We then make the ride back to Accra.

And now for the photos (please enlarge for full effect):