Ghana and Frankfurt 2004 - Akwaaba!
Although not by design, this was by far the most ill-planned trip
that I've ever taken. I literally did not know where I was going to go
in Ghana until I read my four-year-old Ghana guidebook while flying there.
Sometimes we go on holiday for leisure, exoticism, culture, to "de-countrify" ourselves, to experience something new. And while these are all superb reasons for travel, this trip was about escape.
Traveling grabs you by the ears and demands that you live in the present. It's one of my favorite aspects of traveling. And with the people here being so incredibly warm and friendly, Ghana was excellent therapy.
For this trip I went solo, although I was actually rarely alone, meeting many locals and traveling for one or two days with German, Ghanaian or Dutch people. I traveled first to the beautiful Volta Region, then up to north to Mole National Park for their wild elephants and Larabanga for its ancient and mysterious mud-and-stick mosque, and then back down through Kintampo, Techiman, and through the Ashanti Region. I then headed to the far west coastal area to visit the Nzulezo stilt village, then slowly east along the gorgeous Atlantic coast, stopping at palm-fringed beach resorts, backpacker hangouts, and the chilling slave dungeons of Elmina, Cape Coast, and Apam.
After one month in Ghana, I flew to Frankfurt, Germany for several days of exploration around the Land of My Birth.
Follow the tro-tro...
Bonus: Three pages of additional pictures in Germany with Karsten's digital camera.
