Ghana: Kantaka & Kakum National Rain Forest

How do I begin to recap this trip?! I already started on my Instagram page but as much as I’d like to post a million and one pictures there, I just can’t clog up people’s feeds. Here, I can do pretty much whatever I want. And to be honest, I want to be able to look at this trip with ease anytime I choose, so I will recap and share a million and one pictures of our trip to Ghana here.

I actually was suppose to go to Ghana with Sean in 2016. But everything happened with my health and my doctor advised against me taking the flight to Ghana as I was just recovering from surgery and a DVT in my left leg. It was so great that this time around my health was not even a concern. Time is an amazing thing.

OK, I’ll start with everything you need to do in order to travel to Ghana. Obviously, you need a passport. But you also need a yellow fever vaccine (I got mine in 2002 so I didn’t need it again) and visas to go to Ghana. Once you have that you’re good to go! We were given prescriptions for malaria tablets (which we took daily) and our doctor highly recommended bug spray with deet. We got bug spray with 40% deet and I did not get one mosquito bite. Sean hated the smell of it so he was not as great with using the spray so he got a few bites but nothing major. I will say that I am so glad to not be using that spray right now, it’s just so strong and smells unpleasant.

When you’re in Ghana you can’t drink the water so you have to make sure that you have bottled water that is sealed. Do not drink any water from a bottle that is not sealed. Sean made tea one morning and boiled water and thought he was good to go. Nope he wasn’t. I kept on asking him why he didn’t boil the bottled water since we had plenty … he said he hadn’t thought of it. Ha, lesson learned.

We flew into Accra from Washington DC. When we arrived my dad, his brother and his friend picked us up at the airport. My dad already planned for us to tour Kantaka which is a car manufacturer in Ghana. This is huge for Ghana and I hope that one day I’ll be able to see cars made in Ghana (with the black star on the back) on the road in the USA. A lot of what they're making is by hand but you’d never guess.

There was also a farm close by that we were able to see tons of chickens, turkeys, ostriches, goats, peacocks and best of all ZEBRAS! That was such a delight. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car (not sure why I did that to be honest) so I took a lot of video which you will be able to see in my Ghana highlights on my Instagram page. Here are a few pictures I did take with my phone but they really do it no justice at all!

My dad and Sean just loved checking out the cars. This one is called a motor-limousine and was just so cool.

Afterwards we were quite tired and hungry. My uncle drove us about an hour away to Oburi, Ghana to my aunt’s house where she had a big dinner waiting for us. It was so delicious. I had jollof to my heart’s content.

After dinner, my dad dropped us off at a hotel to spend a night. I wish I could remember the name of the hotel but it’s not in a touristy area. We had no cedis (Ghanaian currency) at that time so we basically had to stay in the hotel and not roam. Not the worst thing since we were exhausted but we like to explore. We needed a shower bad so Sean took a shower first and well, he ended up using all the water! Man, talk about things that we don’t worry about in the states. He didn’t just use up all the hot water, he used up all the water. I should have warned him that he needed to not have the water run while he is showering (bad habit that he has at home) but I forgot to. I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Let’s just say that I wasn’t the happiest camper. But I slept good that night which was perfect because we were going to have a long day of exploring the following day.

The next morning we did get water (it was cold but refreshing because of the weather) and I was able to take a proper shower. Best way to begin the day :).

We had breakfast at the restaurant connected to the hotel that consisted of an omelet, African bread (the best bread in the world!) and tea. I’ve decided that I want to be a tea person now. Shortly after we ate, my dad picked us up to drive us to Kakum National Rain Forest to do the canopy walk.

This wasn’t my first time doing the canopy walk but I felt like it was my first. Still as anxious as ever to do it. I tried to look down a few times and just decided against it because I seriously can’t handle it, haha. I walked slowly with my eyes straightforward while Sean and my dad cracked jokes. We were assured that no one has ever fallen and that many safety precautions are taken and that it is pretty much impossible to fall but ya know … the mind still plays tricks on you. The hike is about 20 minutes and then you get to the canopy. Overall, I had a really great time and Sean was even able to capture me smiling a few times. The thing is that once you reach the end you feel so good that you did it. I survived the canopy walk for the second time. Here are a ton of pictures.

Waiting to do the hike up to the canopy walk.
My dad is on the left of me, my uncle (dad's brother) is on the right of me and one of my dad's
closest friends on the far right of me.





Akwaaba means Welcome!











Here we go!











My dad :) While I was shaking walking the canopy he was all jokes and smiles.







I did it! All smiles and sweat :)



The person responsible for 90% of the pics above because I didn't trust myself to walk the canopy with my heavy camera.
He did amazing :)



Hiking down we stopped for raw honey and coconuts. Yum!
I have to tell you, the fruits in Ghana are out of this world. After you've had it it's very hard to come back home and have fruits. I love, love pineapples but they do not compare here and I can't even buy them at home right now.











After the canopy walk we drove to the Cape Coast Castle.
But since this post is already quite long, I’ll continue in a future post.