Beach Rd

27 march to 12 may - slightly less nomadic in takoradi, ghana

(MJ writes) Well, weve been in Takoradi for two months now and weve decided to stop for a bit. As a matter of fact, the nomads have become slightly more stationary. Dont worry we wont be changing the website name to static-afrik, but weve decided to extend our stay in Ghana and stick around for a while.

As weve havent done much updating for a while, and in spite of this stop, were taking the opportunity to tell you about our daily life in Takoradi and our discoveries of life in Ghana.

Were still living in the apartments on Beach Road and are taking advantage of all the comforts that come with it. Not only is the apartment air-conditioned and furnished, but we also (greatly) benefit from cleaning, laundry and security services. Its quite amazing how you get used to such luxury and considering the heat, I cant say Im upset about being so inactive.

However, Mark is being slightly more industrious and is giving a hand to Phil, Sheela and Jan at ITSC - Industrial & Technical Supply Centre. The company provides industrial tools for the mining industry and Mark is discovering a whole new environment. Not much to do with wine and spirits, but hes finding out a lot about gold! (Very good!)

As for me, Ive been taking advantage of this free time to learn to play golf at the Takoradi Sports & Golf Club. My instructor, the very patient Solomon, has mentioned something about me being the next Tiger Woods and, though I dont believe a word of it, Im very encouraged by his compliment and teaching methods. As some of you will know, when I start something new, if I dont good very fast, I dont like it. I can see this will take some time but, for the time being, Im enjoying it. However, playing 18 holes on a hot and dry course is very hard work and I never thought I could sweat so much !

Otherwise, Mark and I think that Ghana may offer some interesting business prospects and, after consideration, weve decided to look a little more closely. Our project is at a very embryonic stage at the moment, but were looking into a little agricultural idea. However, I must leave it at that for now as weve only just starting exploring and hope you will continue to follow...

In the meantime, our stay in Ghana has revealed certain aspects which we consider to be fundamental for an investment project. For example, Ghana is one of the few West African countries to offer political stability and economic dynamism. In fact, we feel that there is a will for things to happen. (Okay, things are a bit slow, but this is Africa after all!)

I must say however, that after a few months of living in Ghana, I still cant get used to carrying so much money around every time we go out. Items and services cost thousands and hundreds of thousands cedi and the biggest note is 20,000 cedi. To give you an idea, the last time I went to the supermarket, the cost of my shopping was ¢620,000 cedi (about 37 GBP, 54 Euro or 76 $ CAD). Needless to say, the stack of bills you need to carry with you takes up pretty much all the space in your pockets! When you go to the bank, you will often see clients coming or going with plastic bags full of notes. Luckily, apart from the occasional corruption and fraud case here and there, crime is low and hold ups are rare. The cost of living is quite low, for example a bottle of Coke costs around ¢2,500 cedi (0.15 GBP, 0.22 Euro or 0.31 $ CAD). However, many products are imported - as Ghana doesnt produce much - and this causes a massive increase on their price. Products we regularly consume in Canada or Europe are certainly luxury items here is an example:

- Butter (250 g) = 17,500 cedi (1.04 GBP, 1.62 Euro, 2.15 $ CAD)

- Cheese (315 g, Edam) et sultana raisins (400 g)= 62,000 cedi (3.68 GBP, 5.40 Euro, 7.60 $ CAD !!)

- Coffee (Luigi Lavazza Expresso 250 g) = 82,000 cedi (£4.87 GBP, 7.13 Euro, 10,00 $ CAD)

- Fresh milk = havent found any in Takoradi yet!

Though we dont always find what were after, fruit and vegetable are varied, affordable and very good. We eat pineapple almost every day (and Ive never eaten such tasty, juicy and sweet fruit) as well as papaya, mango, avocado, etc. The choice of vegetables consists mainly of tomato, lettuce, onions, potato, cabbage, carrots (sometimes hard to find), cauliflower, aubergine, cucumber, etc. As well as all those strange-looking fruit & vegetables which we havent yet tried. Like that prickly melon described as sweet or custard apple... Weve tried that one and arent convinced well buy more. However, since then weve heard that if you purÈe and freeze the fruit, you get very good ice cream.

As for meat and fish, we havent found a good butcher or fisherman, but were working on it!

As for the rest, there is plenty of rice and cassava to be found and traditional Ghanaian dishes - which dont offer much variety - use those ingredients. For example, banku (similar to Malian To) is a dish which consist in rolling a ball of gari (made with cassava) between your fingers and dipping it in spicy tomato and fish sauce or gumbo. Fufu is a spicy fish soup, which you eat with your fingers and most dishes on offer in chop bars are served with either fish or chicken and rice.

So, as weve stopped, weve taken the opportunity to undress the Tshukudu and though our suspension isnt at all designed for the weight loss, weve got a very light and skittish vehicle. Weve stored our equipment - tent, tools, loungers, etc. - at ITSCs offices and have asked our friend Fred - the French mechanic from Marseilles who lives in Takoradi- to give the Landy a complete service.

Were in regular contact with Jamie, Claire, James, Angela, as well as Tom and Jo of Green Turtle Lodge. Our fellow overlander friends Mike and Julia have also decided to stop in Ghana for a bit and are looking for land to build a lodge. Looks like Ghana is inspiring a few of us to invest!

As for the weather, there isnt much variety and the sun shines everyday (damn!). Its extremely hot at the moment (34-36 C) and we find it a bit hot to play golf, not to mention those few people weve spotted who choose not to wear any clothes at all! We are looking forward to the rains; it will be nice to see the vegetation change a bit. The rare thunderstorms weve had so far have been quite impressive, though short-lived. The sun goes down about 6:30 pm and we never wonder what the weather will be like the next day. All in all, so far, life in Ghana is very enjoyable.

Truck

Eclipse of the sun 29 March 2006 at 09:00 a.m

Pocket money

A very tired man in Accra

Too hot !