How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Very warm, very friendly and very effecient. In a country where there is no sense of urgency he made things happen.  

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

"1. Take along gifts for the poor of the villages - clothes you do not wear any more, sandals, pens, a football even.
2. Try the plantain chips sold by roadside vendors - better than normal crisps.
3. Relax and go with the flow."

 

After visiting Ghana for 6 years we finally took this tour to see more of the country than the south coast where we usually go.  It was interesting to see the contrast between the developed south and the more rural north.  Tourism in Ghana has a long way to go as most places in the north are not geared up for dealing with western tourists.  One highlight was visiting the crocodile ponds in Paga near the northern border.  All my Ghanaian friends wanted to see photos of us sitting on a live crocodile.  The food was interesting, when it arrived.  We didn't realise a sandwich and chips would turn into a 2-course meal.  The sandwich came first and was long gone before a place of chips appeared.  It got to be standard practice to order our evening meal when we checked into the hotel and hope that it would be ready by 7.30 when the group came back for dinner.  Yao our guide was fantastic and gave us lots of useful background information and was great at getting restaurant and hotel staff in gear to serve us.  This is definitely not a tour for novice travellers and in some parts of the north our comfort breaks were 'bush stops'.  The main highway from Bolgatanga to Wa is nothing but a single dirt track and we had a lot of what Yao called 'African massage' riding on rough dirt roads.  Our bus got stuck in the mud at Lake Bosumtwi and we had a great hour of entertainment watching the hotel staff and local villagers try and dig it out and get it up the hill.  A worthwhile trip, just don't expect a lot and you'll be surprised by what happens. (GN - 14th October 2011)

The Kingdom of the Ashanti, a wonderful trip to Ghana in West Africa, a rich and vibrant culture and a naturally beautiful country.  Our trip took us from Accra on the Atlantic coast to Bolgatanga in the far north close to the border with Burkina Faso, on the way visiting Kumasi the capital of the Ashanti Kingdom. 

In Adanwomasi we watched the local men weave the colourful cloth proudly worn by the Ashanti people.  In the market place a shopkeeper wanted to sell us a piece of the cloth telling us it was very useful for carring your baby.  I asked how the baby stayed in place without falling out, she quickly disappeared and returned moments later with a "borrowed" baby and effortlessly swung it on her back wraped the cloth around the baby and tucked it up neatly - "easy", she proudly said !  One of those memorable moments that stay with you long after the trip is over. 

Fast food takes on a new meaning when we stopped for lunch by the side of the road for deep fried yams but we did not try the barbecued bats !  The history of the slave trade gave us much to think about, overall a varied trip of culture, history, National Parks and rainforests. Ghana is well worth a visit, an excellent trip ! (GN -October 2008)