Taking a vacation to Ghana?

Question

I was wondering if anyone has taken a vacation there or anyone who lives there can tell me about the tourism there.

I have always wanted to visit Africa ever since I was a little kid. There is this girl I have met online that I really like from Ghana, she want me to visit her in Ghana. This is a perfect excuse for me to take that vacation to Africa that I always wanted.

I was worried about the food and drinking water there? What foods should you stay away from? Do they have bottled water I can buy? How are the hotels? How much should I spend a night on a room in Ghana? How are the restroom facilities?

What about the crime rate in Ghana? Is Ghana a safe country to visit? I read online there has been an increase of thefts by gunpoint or knives. I am worried about my safety if I go there.

If anyone visited there, how much was the total cost? Flight, room & board, food, spending money, etc?

Answer 1

I'll try to answer your points as best I can but first a word of caution.

Ghanaians are wonderful people but it is a very poor country and most dream about emigrating to the UK or US. Please be aware that whilst the girl in Ghana will be genuine in her friendship she may also be driven by other motives as well. During my time in Ghana I have met dozens of girls wanting me to bring them back to the UK.

Now to the points you mentioned...

FOOD
Ghanaian food is very different to Western food, it is quite hot and spicy and is an acquired taste. The traditional meal is soup or stew served with a staple such as kenkey, banku, fufu or TZ. Rice is a popular accompaniement and many of the soups and stews are fish or meat based - often goat, chicken or guinea fowl. There's a very good article about Ghanaian Food here... http://sarah-in-ghana.blogspot.com/2006/08/really-eating-like-ghanaian.html

There's no food you really need stay away from but you do need to make sure that anything you eat raw (fruit, veg) is washed in drinkable water (not tap water). The locals are quite happy to use tap water but you'll need to be a bit careful. Restaurants and the like are extremely accommodating and for example, if you ask them to wash your salad in bottled or boiled water they will happily do so.

By Western standards Ghanaians tend to overcook food. As an example, chicken or fowl will be cooked until dry and almost black. Because of this pretty much any hot food will be safe to eat but watch out for sea food and especially shellfish (not common) - ensure they're well cooked and / or thoroughly washed.

DRINKING WATER
Don't drink the tap water. Bottled and bagged water is available absolutely everywhere - shops, bars, restaurants, gas stations and innumerable streetside vendors. If you're staying in towns and villages it won't be a problem. If you're staying in remote areas water may have to be drawn from a well, in many places rainwater is collected in butts and buckets and is used for washing. If you are in a remote place buy packs of bottled water and bear in mind that you'll need a lot, we were each getting through about 6 litres a day just for drinking.

HOTELS
In the tourist areas such as parts of Accra and Cape Coast there are some excellent hotels. These are very westernised and you could quite easily be in an American or European hotel.

Outside the tourist areas there are far fewer hotels but there are many guest houses - very basic and often just a few rooms.

All hotels and guest houses are very relaxed, you can come and go as you please, arrive when you want, leave when you want and do pretty much anything you want (within reason).

ROOM RATES
Vary greatly depending where you stay. In the better western style hotels you'll pay $100 to $200 a night, in the smaller ones about $50 to $100 a night. In the guest houses between $2 and $10 a night. Many rooms in guest houses don't have air con, some don't even have a ceiling fan, check these things when booking in.

RESTROOMS
To put it mildly, they leave a little to be desired. If you need a restroom then use one in one of the better restaurants or hotels (they'll let you use them even if you're not a guest). You'll find public toilets in market areas, bus stations etc which you pay a nominal fee to use (2 or 300 cedis - about 2 or 3 cents). You can find them easily enough by following the smell, the less said about them the better. Take your own toilet tissue.

CRIME RATE / SAFETY / GUN CRIME
The crime rate is low and almost all Ghanaians are very trustworthy and respectable people. There are instances of armed gangs, particularly from Nigeria and Cote D'Ivoire, holding people up at gunpoint. This is most likely to happen on quiet roads out of town. It's not a big problem but do try to avoid travelling on lonely roads late at night. If you do have to travel then try not to travel alone and don't stop if you're waved down or anything. The problems, where they do exist, are mainly in and around Accra and to a lesser extent the other cities such as Kumasi.

For long distance journeys it's a good idea to use the STC (long distance coaches), they connect the major cities and as far as I'm aware, have never been targetted by armed gangs.

If you're a white person you'll stand out a mile in Ghana, away from the tourist spots whites are very rare. You'll attract a lot of attention and people will want to talk to you, feed you, accommodate you and so on. This is genuine, you don't need to be suspicious. Also if you're white, the prices of everything will double so negotiate hard with street vendors, taxi drivers etc.

TOTAL COST
Flights - I've only ever flown to and from cities in Europe. Amsterdam to Accra $950 return (KLM), Accra to London $600 return (Ghana International Airways), London to Accra return $1,600 (British Airways). There is a US carrier that specialises in flights to Ghana, I think they're in the east of the country. Never used them but apparantly they're good and reasonably priced.

Room and Board - as above.

Food - Large variation in prices, you can get a traditional Ghanaian dish for $1 or $2 in a basic restaurant. A standard restaurant with a western menu could be about $10 a head, in the more expensive hotels and restaurant about $30. Food from the shops is very cheap, maybe about a quarter of the price in the US. There are some exceptions, coffee for example is more expensive.

Transport - Fuel prices are comparable with the US and if you take a taxi or bus most of your fare covers the fuel so the prices are very reasonable - about $0.50 a mile in a taxi, $20 by bus from one end of the country to the other. The cheapest transport is by far the tro tro at about $0.05 a mile, a mini bus in which people are squashed 5 abreast, most look like they're break down at any moment http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&q=%22tro+tro%22

Shopping in general - You can get pretty much anything you want and usually at a fraction of the cost in the US or Europe. Take the minimum amount of stuff you need and buy things over there which you can bring back with you. Things I bought over there included a mountain bike for $60 as opposed to $500 in the US, a cell-phone for $60 as opposed to $300, shirts for $3 instead of $45.

Spending money - As much or as little as you want to spend. You could get by on a few dollars a day things are that cheap. One interesting thing you'll probably come across is that you'll be charged higher admission prices because you're a foreigner but all the same, admission costs aren't all that much. If you budgeted $50 a day for spending money you'd be quite OK.

As far as currency goes - there are very very few banks where you can exchange travellers cheques, credit and debit cards are only really accepted in the westernised places. There are some ATM's but only in the major towns and cities. The amount you can exchange / withdraw from banks is limited. It's very much a cash economy but you'll have no trouble exchanging dollar bills into cedis (the local currency). There are Forex bureau all over the place and many streetside exchange shops which will give you a good rate - equal to, if not better then the banks. Avoid exchanging money on a Friday or Saturday night when the rates aren't as favourable.