I was awake early from a fitful nights sleep. As some where close by had been playing loud music most of the night. As I was in no rush, I had a slow and relaxed breakfast before packing up and driving into town to find the Ghana embassy. Using the map on the Lonely Planet I soon found my way there, and arrived bang on 09:00. I went to the gate, collected the forms and then went inside their compound to fill them in. Laboriously filling in all four copies of the same detailed form for a multi entry visa. I then returned to the gate office, handed over the forms, photo’s and 36,000 CFA. I was then told to return at 13:00 on Monday to collect it. I then headed back into the town centre and returned to the internet café I had found the day before. I then spent two hours sorting e-mail and checking up on other overlanders websites to see where they all where. The point of this was to see if anyone would be around Ghana the same time as me, and therefore then contact them to see if they were intending to drive down the west coast. Unfortunately for me, either people had been and gone, or were intending to ship to South Africa. I then returned to the OK Inn and spent the rest of the afternoon working on website diary updates, while sipping beer in the hotel bar. For dinner I decided that I would go out and explore the local area and see what street food I could find. I didn’t have to go far because of the truck stop outside the hotel. Which always means that there is plenty of food stalls around to cater to all the passing trade. I used the old trick of see which one the locals were going to, and on approaching it found it to have a good choice of dishes. I ordered up a plate of rice with chicken and tomato sauce, and sat on one of the wooden benches provided and tucked in. After dinner I took a wander along the main road, nosing at the stalls along the way and stopping to pick up a couple of things. By this time it was dark and so I returned to hotel and set up the tent, it was not long after that I went to bed, as I was still tired from the lack of sleep the night before.
I woke early but stayed lazing in bed until 7. I then walked down the road to a bakery I had spotted the night before, to get fresh bread for breakfast. After breakfast I cracked on with a list of little jobs that needed to be done, like reattached the rear reflectors, which had worked their way loose with all the vibration on the recent pistes. I was then told by the manager that I would have to move the Landy further away from the hotel, as I had selected a closer location to be under the hotel lights the night before. Lazily I decided not to close down the roof tent before moving the Landy, as I thought all the trees along the path I would take where high enough to miss it, I was wrong. During the move I staged the tent on a low branch and ripped a small hole in the flysheet. I then spent the next hour or so stitching up and patching the hole, whilst mumbling to my self about how stupid I had been . I then set up a shaded area along side the Landy using my poncho and poles and settled down and read for a couple of hours. During this time one the so-called mechanics from the truck stop came over and offered his services. I didn’t have any work I needed doing (not that I would let him touch the Landy anyway) but asked him if he knew of somewhere I could get a replacement switch. As the one I used to turn the fan for the fridge on and off had fractured and fallen to peaces with all the vibration. After explaining the exact type of switch I was looking for he said he would return with the part. Sceptically I waved him goodbye, but to my surprise, long time later he returned with a switch that was a near perfect match for the one that had broken. I am sure I paid an inflated price for it, but it did save me having to trawl all the car part places look for it. By this time it was around 16:00 and I locked the Landy up and went for a swim in the pool, showered and then went to the bar and continued to read while sipping a beer. The beer at the hotel bar was very overpriced, but I figured that I would still by one beer each day to keep the management happy as I was camping and using their facilities for free. That’s where I spent the evening, only popping out to make and eat dinner, before returning to the bar, keeping one eye on the football and the other on my book.
I woke, and like the day before walked to the nearby bakery to get fresh bread for breakfast. On the way there I found a shop that sold cheap soldering irons. I bought one, as I knew I would need it to fit the replacement switch I had bought the day before. I then returned to the OK Inn, had breakfast, washed a pile of cloths and got stuck into fitting the new switch. All it all it took around an hour to fit, but at least it was one less little problem. I had some lunch and spent the afternoon reading before again taking advantage of the hotels swimming pool and eating dinner. I then spent the evening relaxing in the hotel bar working on website stuff and drinking Fanta, as I had taken my anti malarial medicine. After returning to the Landy and climbing into the roof tent, I lay with my head out of the door watching an impressive lighting storm come my way. When the rain arrived I closed up the door and fell asleep listening to the rain on the tent.
I woke, and took my now usual walk to get bread for breakfast. I had a relaxed breakfast and slowly packed up my gear. I then drove into town, along the way filling up with fuel, and went to the internet café. There I sent the updates I had finished for the site, sorted e-mail and checked the news for Africa and the UK on the BBC website. By the time I had done that and completed some fruit shopping, it was time to go and pick up the Ghana visa. It didn’t take me long to get there, but on talking to the bloke in the gate office, I was told to return at 15:00 to pick it up. There was a delay in issuing it, because there was some Ghanaian official in town they had to look after. Frustrated, I returned to the Landy and sat in a side street and read my way through the two hour wait. At 15:00 I returned to the office and this time was able to pick up my passport with the Ghana visa inside. I wasted no time and jumped straight into the Landy and headed south out of Ouaga and for the border with Ghana. I put my foot down and two hours later found myself at the border. I wasted no time in finding and working my way round the Burkina Faso Police and customs Offices, getting my passport and Carnet stamped, before changing a small amount of English pounds into Cedi (Ghanaian money). Fortunately the border posts are close together and it was a short drive to the Ghana border post. I arrived just in time and was one of the last people to get through before they closed for the day. It was just after 18:30 when all the formalities were complete. I had a quick look around Paga the border village I was now in and decided to push onto Bolgatanga. This being nearest town, as I figured I would have a better choice of places to stay the night. By the time I arrived it was dark, and I slowly drove along the main road eyeing up all the signs I could spot. On the southern outskirts of town I found a place I could camp at called the Royal Hotel. As there was the hint of rain in the air I put up the roof tent straight away and got something to eat. I then jumped in the roof tent moments before it started to rain and quickly fell asleep to the sound of rain drops hinting the tent.
I woke before 7 and decided to walk into town to get some bread for breakfast. It was not long before I found plenty of shops lining the main road into town. I bought bread and a few other things and decided I would continue into town and have a look around. As I walked along a couple of local lads struck up a conversation with me. I used this to my advantage and got one of them to show me round the various markets and shops. We stopped briefly at the basket market, which Bolga is known for, and had a look and the many colourfully designed baskets. After satisfying my curiosity, I walked back out of town and return to the hotel, with the local bloke tagging along. I then spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon chatting to this local bloke, about all sorts of subjects African and over wise. He was obviously interested in going to England and was fully of questions about working and staying there. Around 17:00 we headed back into town to find a communication centre for me to call home from. It was nice to be able to talk to my parents for around 20mins, but it never feels long enough and you always remember more questions you meant to ask after you put the phone down. I then started walking back toward the hotel, but decided to stop for dinner at one of the restaurants along the roadside. I selected one of the local dishes but ended up not being too impressed with the extremely spicy sauce and the gelatinous dough balls and left most of it. On reaching the hotel, it was not long before I retired to the roof tent to read for an hour or so, before going to sleep.
I woke with the light, had some breakfast and packed up my gear. As I was finishing packing up, the bloke from the day before appeared to see me off. I gave him a lift back into town and then continued on my way heading east out of Bolga. When I reached the village of Tilli, I turned south and followed the piste toward Gambaga. Shortly after a small village called Zongoiri the piste reduced to a trail. On asking some locals in a near by field, I was told that there was no piste for vehicles to Gambaga and that only the trail went there, and that you had to cross the river by canoe. This was contrary to what the map I was using showed, but as I found out through the course of the day this was not the only error on the map. I backtracked my way to the village of Tilli, and continued along the road heading north east to Bawku. There I turned south and followed the piste to Nakpanduri. Along the way I came across a section of road that had collapsed next to a concrete water duct. There were plenty of locals there when I arrived, and it soon became obvious that the remaining area of dirt road was not wide enough for the wheelbase of the Landy. So the locals and I filled in one end of the hole with rocks and earth and bridged the top with thick tree branchs. It was close but the Landy just managed to squeeze across. I continued on my way, crossing the White Voltage river and climbing the escarpment to reach Nakpanduri. Once there I drove on and continued along the piste going south. I drove all of the afternoon passing through Guhiago and arrived at a small town called Yedi by early evening. By this point I was really low on fuel so I filled up at the local Mobil station and then followed signs for a lodge on the edge of town. Once there, I negotiated a price for camping in there compound and set up the tent. By this time it was getting dark, so I ate dinner and jumped into the roof tent and spent the rest of the evening reading before going to sleep.
I woke, had breakfast, packed away and left Yedi around 08:00. I continued along the piste south all morning passing through Bambila, Jambo and Dapa until I reached Kadjebi. From early morning it was threatening to rain and by late morning it was chucking it down. During which I had to reduce my speed to a crawl, one because the visibility was poor, but also so I could pick my way round the large puddles and trenches being cut into the piste by the rain. On a couple of occasions I had to pass through deep puddles and patches of thick sticky mud. Shortly before Kadjebi the piste changed into a tarmac road, and at the next junction after Kadjebi I turned west and follwed the road to the edge of Lake Volta, and the town of Worawora. I then followed the main road along the edge of the lake heading south, passing through Kpando and on to a village near the Akosombo Dam called Senchi. I pushed on this far, as I had information on a nice place to stay called Aylos Bay and wanted to stop some where for a couple of days. I soon found the place, introduced myself and parked the Landy. After a look around it indeed lived up to the good review and had great views of the bridge and river. By this time it was early evening, and I was tired from the long drive. So I decided to eat dinner in the restaurant and sit watching the football for the evening. As the game started three other brits appeared, one bloke called Jason and two women who were over on holiday to visit him and Ghana. So we watched England get kicked out of Euro 2004 on penalties, and chatted the night way. It turned out that Jason was working for the Ghana education department fitting computer systems in their schools. The two women had just finished their medical degrees at Liver Pool Uni and were on holiday for two weeks before returning to England to start work.
I woke, had breakfast and got stuck into a mountain of washing. It took ages to washing the mattress covers and even longer for them to dry. That took up all the morning, and I spent the afternoon checking over the Landy and adjusting the winch propshaft, as it was banging against the exhaust on tick over. I then went for a nice swim in the river and had a shower, before making and eating dinner. I then went to the bar to watch the football. Not long after I sat down a Dutch lady turned up looking for somewhere to get dinner. We soon got chatting and Marianna had been doing research in The Gambia for a few months and now was travelling around West Africa before returning home to Holland. It was late by the time we finished chatting, and I crawled into the roof tent and quickly fell asleep listening to the river side night noises of frogs and crickets.
After eating breakfast, I walked down the road to Senchi and wandered around the road side stalls doing shopping. I then returned to Aylos Bay and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon adding to and adjusting the electrics of the Landy. I fitted an override switch for the spotlights. As before they would always come on with the high beam of the normal headlights. I then had a late and relaxed lunch before just chilling out for a bit. I then went for a swim across the river and back. It turned out to be further than it looked and I was really tired when I reached the shore. It didn’t help that I hadn’t swam for quite some time. I then got a shower and was pottering round doing odd jobs when a Dutch guy came over and said hi. He had seen the Landy and had put two and two together. He was called Bas and it turned out that they (him and Ellie) were the other Dutch couple Emiel and Mirjam had left to meet. So we had heard of each other through them on many an occasion. I was soon introduced to Ellie and we had dinner together in the bar, during which Marianna turned up and we spent the evening chatting and watching the football. As the Netherlands were playing and who eventually won by a nail-biting penalty shoot out.
The evening before Bas, Ellie, Marianna and me had decided we would go on the boat trip to Dodi island. The boat left from just behind the Volta Dam from a floating jetty. The three of us took a taxi there and Marianna met us on the boat. By the time the boat left, it was really full, with plenty of local and white tourists. The view from the boat was great, and you could see the green rolling hills on either side of the lake all the way along. On the way to the island we had lunch on the boat, you even had a choice between a couple of different dishes and the food was good. Just as we finished lunch we reached the island. We went for a short walk around, but the whole time was pestered by kids and adults asking for money and presents. As it turned out there was nothing even of interest to see on the island. So we soon returned to the boat and not long after the boat left for the return leg back towards the dam. It was late afternoon by the time we got off the boat, and we all took a taxi back to Aylos Bay. Where we sat chatting and having a beer. We said goodbye to Marianna, as she was leaving for Ouagadougou the next day to catch a flight home. The three of us just spent the evening chatting in the bar, while keeping an eye on the football, before going to bed.