Dearest Gentle Readers,

January has been quite the relaxing and adventurous month. Christmas break ended on the 8th of January, and it was very nice to see everyone at the office again.

I went on leave about two days later because my aunt, grandma and great aunt came all the way from Germany to visit me. We planned to tour Ghana for 11 days and learn about the rich culture and meet some new people.

My family arrived in the evening of the 10th of January. Sadly, their suitcases didn’t arrive with them, so we stayed in Accra a day longer and hoped that the suitcases would arrive a day later. They didn’t…. We had to start the tour, so we just went to a shop and got some t-shirts and other clothes for my family. My aunt, Karin, then said that the good thing about the situation is that we are traveling very light.

We passed Teshie and Ada for some sightseeing before stopping at our hotel in Ho. Teshie is a coastal town where fishing is the main source of income. We had a boat tour and saw some beautiful islands. After the boat tour, we had some fresh coconut water. It was so good and refreshing. Ada is another coastal town; we stopped there for some lunch and fresh fruit.

The next day we stayed in Ho and explored the town a little before heading to the Wli Waterfalls. After a short hike through the forest, where I saw some wild pineapple for the first time, we reached the waterfall. The water was very cold, but it was beautiful. After the waterfalls we went to a monkey sanctuary where we could feed the moneys some bananas. My grandma, Heide, and my great aunt, Ilse, were a little scared of feeding the monkeys because as soon as you pull out a banana they jump on you.

We then continued to Akosombo, a town by the lake, and spent the night there before continuing our journey to Kumasi. In Kumasi we visited the Ashanti Palace Museum to learn about the history of their royal family and the impact of colonialism. We then went to a place where traditional weaving was still practiced. We saw ow the weavers weaved traditional Kente and learned that every Kente pattern tells a story. They also had a cocoa farm next door, so we learned about cocoa farming as well. We even got to try some fresh cocoa. The farmer cut open a cocoa bean and let us try the flesh. I was so yummy and surprisingly sweet.

The day after that we went to Mole National Park, where we spent two days. We did some safaris and saw a lot of monkeys. However, monkeys are not all we saw. We also saw elephants, antelopes, crocodiles, birds, wild hogs, and lots of insects.

After the National Park, we headed to Elmina and Cape Coast. On our way we stopped at “Assin Manso Slave River”, which was the place where the slaves had their last bath before they were sent to the castles to be sold. The castles at Cape Coast and Elmina were the two places where the slaves were brought to be sold. The castles were horrible, even just hearing about what happened there is just so heartbreaking. The worst thing about it was that they didn’t just pay with money when buying slaves… These people were downgraded so much that the merchants even paid with cloth and other “worthless” objects.

Kankum National Park was the last stop on our itinerary. They had a very long canopy walk in the middle of a huge forest. The walk up the hill to get there was the hardest part of the journey, but once there the views were breathtaking. It was so much fun and exhilarating.

We returned to Accra, and they met my host family the next day, before flying back to Germany in the evening. Karin and I went to the lost and found area of the airport to pick up their suitcases. We then brought them straight to check in for the flight back.

I’d say that this was a very memorable experience, my family also enjoyed themselves very much. The only complaint I got was that the food was too spicy.  (;

I am looking forward to my next adventure….

Yɛbɛhyia bio