Are you planning a trip or interested in visiting Ghana? Check out the ultimate travel guide for how we spent 10 days in Ghana.

 

In November (Thanksgiving to be exact) I had the life- changing experience of spending 10 days in Accra, Ghana in West Africa.

Why 10 days in Accra, Ghana?

Ghana is a beautiful country that sits on the coast of West Africa.

My dad is a native Ghanaian. After I graduated from High School, he made the choice to move back home. Now that I am an adult, I can totally see why. My dad is what I consider to be a successful entrepreneur in Accra, so just visiting and seeing all that he has built has inspired me beyond what I even imagined. With this being the home of my father, of course I felt a piece of me was missing out on the unknown. So a trip to Ghana was inevitable. Plus, 2019 was declared as the Year of Return, which commemorated the 400th anniversary of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the arrival of African slaves in America. So this was an important year for our travel to this beautiful country.

Once there, I felt like so many parts of me were connected to that place. Its a feeling that is hard to describe.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

We flew using Ethiopian Airways, from Atlanta to DC, DC to Ethiopia, Ethiopia to Accra. Long flight, yes! Worth it? Yes. If and when we make this trip again, we would look for a more straight threw option. It exists, but sometimes it’s not the most cost effective. We got a really good deal on our flight ($850 per person), while a more straight through option would have been $1250 plus.

But did I mention how tired we were after flying?

Some 23 hours later (we had a couple of layovers, remember?), we arrived to Accra’s Kotoka Airport, which apparently is a relatively new airport.

When we arrived, my son latched on to my dad asap. My dad had never seen Julius in person, so it was so sweet seeing them together. Plus I can see where my son gets his stature from.

What is Accra, Ghana like?

I was asked by people if I would have internet, indoor running water, what the infrastructure is like, etc. We did experience a couple of blackouts which I guess was more common a few years back, but hasn’t happened in a while. Well it happened while we were there for approx two hours at a time. It wasn’t so bad to be honest.

The roads which are off the main paths are a little beat-up, but I guess its pretty common. People definitely did not let the roads stop them from going where they needed to.

But overall, Accra is just like any other big city. The traffic is ridiculous, people are constantly beeping their horns and there are folks everywhere.

But I will say some of the houses are gorgeous! This is my dads house as an example. All of the homes are built with stone blocks and cement. No wood framing.

Here is another that was available for rent.

Of course not all of the houses were like these. Some were less extravagant.

Experiencing the Culture during our 10 days Ghana:

The Cape Coast Slave Castle

As you can imagine, Ghana is rich in culture. After all,The Cape Coast, which is about three hours outside of Accra is the home of four Slave Castles where African males and females were help captive until they were shipped off across the Atlantic to various coastal islands, and cities and sold into slavery. This is known as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Touring this was beyond anything that I could ever express in words.

This was the male slave dungeon.

In this dungeon, there were around 2000 men kept inside each chamber until they were ready to be shipped across the Atlantic. I can’t even imagine.

Kwame Nkrumah Memorial and Museum

Kwame Nkrumah was Ghana’s first Prime Minister and President from 1951-1956. I enjoyed learning about his history at this museum.

Independence Square

Independence Square is a area built to celebrate Ghana’s independence.

Dodowa Falls

Ghana is home to several beautiful waterfalls. The one we visited was in a town about an hour outside of Accra called Dodowa. It was a beautiful hidden gem.

Kokobrite Beach

We spent a day at the a beach resort in Kokobrite. The waves in the Atlantic were brutal but it was the perfect day.

We were even enjoyed some local meat being grilled alongside the beach. It was really good.

Art Center Market

This market was full of textiles, decor items, purses, accessories and pretty much anything you can imagine. Overwhelmed doesn’t even begin to explain and negotiating in the market was fun.I spent my first round of money really fast. Going to the market was definitely an experience. The currency in Ghana is called Cedi, so every $5 USD translates to around 28 Ghana Cedi. I found items at the market to range from around 5 Ghana Cedi for a keychain, to more than 500 Ghana Cedi for larger more decorative items. Of course, all pricing is negotiable. In Ghana, the USD goes far.

We also spent time in Osu which is more of bustling, posh, touristy side of town where a lot of the popular  and spent time up in the mountain city of Abura.

If we weren’t doing all of the touristy stuff, we were taking in the local scenery. The roadside markets and vendors were very common.

If we weren’t being shown around by my dad or my friend that lives there, we spent plenty of time using Uber, which was a convenient and unexpected way of getting around.

So that sums up our trip. I am forever connected to Ghana and plan to make another trip in the future.

If you want to see what other’s experienced while visiting this beautiful country, check out this post here. I read it prior to my trip and got even more excited! For more of my past travel chronicles, click here and here.

Does Ghana seem like a place you would want to visit? Have you ever been forever connected to a place that you visited? Let me know below.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time!