“Wow mom, you can tell you love mountains,” my son said as we approached the second-to-last destination of our mini roadtrip in Ghana. And indeed I do. Even though there are beautiful beaches and northern Ghana has a lot to offer for travelers, my favorite is the beautiful green mountains with sometimes amazing carved sand/rock walls.
It’s been a long time since we’ve been on vacation. Traveling is somewhat difficult when you run a guesthouse and the past few years have certainly not been easy thanks to the pandemic. But grandpa and grandma were with us again for the first time in over 2 years and we decided to make the last week of their stay special! In this blog you will find a report of the one-week road trip in Ghana that we experienced as a family.
THE FIRST STOP 2 HOURS AWAY FROM MOON&STAR GUESTHOUSE
The first stop was at an all-time favorite. Our beloved hide out in the area; The beautiful lake Bosumtwi. We had lunch at Paradise resort along with our driver.
We stayed as always with our friends at Green Ranch. Grandpa and Grandma especially enjoyed the beautiful view from the terrace. The grounds of the Green Ranch are quite steep. The beach is accessed by a nature trail, or in other words you have to scramble a bit. The Green ranch has a sustainable mission and because of that they chose not to clear their beach, but to keep it as natural as possible. They also cook delicious vegetarian meals. Grandpa, for the first time in his life, liked tofu!
The kids got to ride horses with Elodie, the owner and her son. Great fun of course! And before we continued the next morning to destination number 2 of our road trip in Ghana, we took a refreshing dip in the lake.
At 11 o’clock it was time to say goodbye to Elodie and her family. As always, saying goodbye wasn’t much fun, but we were also looking forward to the next destination!
BEAUTIFUL KWAHU SHOULD NOT BE SKIPPED DURING A ROADTRIP IN GHANA!
Last year we already spent a few days with our friends in Kwahu. I wrote a blog about it, so I won’t tell you all about this beautiful mountainous destination again.
Kwame, the founder of Let’s tour Kwahu and initiator of many great projects, has become a friend of our family and ‘Auntie Ama’ also lives in Kwahu. We were eager to introduce grandpa and grandma to them. They stayed in Kwame’s homestay.
In the afternoon Ama and Kwame showed us the community center, where they realized a library and an ICT center. Many of the MentorHer Ghana activities also take place in this community center.
STONE AGE AND EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE
The next day we went from Obomeng to Abetifi. In Abetifi you will find the highest habitable area in the region, maybe even in the whole country. But our goal was the Stone age park. A very special place, created by an extraordinary man with a wonderful vision. Mr. Addo has 10 acres of land that he cares for and is even in the process of taking care of 52 acres of land with the goal of restoring it to its former glory.
But let me start at the beginning… On the land is a cave where archaeologists from Legon University have discovered that people lived there in the Stone Age. This was inspiration for Mr. Addo to start making Stone Age sculptures and scenes. He is in the process of developing a museum in and around the cave. He told us that as a little boy he used to go with his parents to the farm and the children were always allowed to play at the cave. Now you can look down into the valley from the cave, but in those days there were still a lot of very tall trees and they could see the monkeys playing and bouncing around.
As more and more people have started farming the number of trees has decreased tremendously in the last 20 years. Farmers often burn their land before planting anything new and that fire is almost uncontrollable in the dry season. This is why Mr. Addo works so hard to get 52 acres of land in his care.
In addition to the museum, he has created a huge park with many seats, shady trees and there is a biogas toilet. On top of the mountain there is a restaurant where you can eat local dishes like rice balls(omo tuo), Banku and fufu. As with the Moon&Star recipe for peanut soup, the soup is not very spicy.
After a quiet afternoon, we went for dinner at a restaurant in Obomeng to end the beautiful day with a cup of coffee at Auntie Ama’s. On the way back to their homestay with Kwame, grandma and grandpa got into a tropical rain shower, but that didn’t spoil the fun either.
PROCEEDING TO A FAMOUS ATTRACTION IN GHANA; ABURI GARDENS
From Kwahu we drove via Koforidua to the Sweet Mother eco resort. We had a very nice accommodation; the country house. Two separate ensuite double rooms and a private kitchen. For a small additional fee you can cook for yourself. It will probably not surprise you that I was very happy with that. Eating in Ghanaian (continental) restaurants means a lot of rice with chicken dishes. Nothing wrong with that, but not really my favorite. I do have to say that the fire of the gas stove was somewhat high.
The resort has a nice pool, a large compound with many beautiful trees, many (weaver) birds and there is a trampoline. You can understand that the kids had a great time! On the way I got a lot of pain in my arms and a fever; unfortunately malaria. But I immediately started medication and after 2 days of bed rest I could join in the fun again. Among other things we visited the famous Aburi botanical gardens. And although it is a very famous garden, I have never been there in my 21 years in Ghana. I did drive by it more often.
Many people from Accra find the gardens a great day trip. Logical! At about an hour from the city (depends on which side you are staying, of course) you can enjoy beautiful plants, trees, birds and fresh air and space! I certainly found it a beautiful park, but notice that I am also spoiled with where I live ;). In nature, surrounded by fresh air and our own beautiful garden in Moon&Star guesthouse.
In the afternoon I had enough strength left to take a refreshing dip as well, so much fun under a tree full of weaver birds! And the kids have made so much improvement in their swimming skills! Just making sure we keep swimming often enough at home so the progress continues.
THE LAST DAY OF OUR JOURNEY HAS ARRIVED….
All good things come to an end, including our mini roadtrip in Ghana… In the evening grandpa and grandma fly back to the Netherlands after 6 weeks in Ghana and we go back home the next day.
But our last day was still a nice vacation day. We made a stop at Legon Botanical gardens in Accra, where we had a nice picnic and met some more friends. Including Jennifer from Language Cafe Accra, who organizes many activities in Accra. Including a monthly potluck in these botanical gardens, a must when you’re in Accra! The kids had a great time in the playground and a nice break for grandma and grandpa. Waiting for your flight can take a long time….
After our visit to the gardens we continued to Auntie Toon, where we enjoyed a drink and a snack and many cute puppies. And then it was really time for the kids and grandparents to say goodbye to each other. Auntie Toon and I went with them to the airport which, thanks to a little Bolt, was also an adventure.
We can look back on 6 nice weeks together, where we have worked a lot for Banko Women center, there are many games done and of course on this nice vacation week.
THIS MINI ROADTRIP FITS VERY WELL in the itinerary for A roundtrip THROUGH GHANA!
We spent 1 night at lake Bosumtwi, 2 nights in Kwahu and 3 nights at Aburi. Three nights at Aburi because we wanted to relax a bit, but for balance it is also nice to stay at least 2 nights at each destination. You can fit this route into many larger itineraries. For example, think Cape Coast – Kumasi – Mole park – Nkoranza – Moon&Star – Lake Bosumtwi – Kwahu – Aburi – Accra, or vice versa.
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