I am back in Ghana after a long rejuvenating visit at home. This is our last year in Ghana and I hope to fill it with as many experiences as possible and to share them with you, so watch this space!

I am told that British diplomats are taught to ask “How is the development in the north?” whenever there was an uncomfortable pause in a conversation at a cocktail party or official event. They are told that this works in almost every developing country as very often the north is less developed than the south.

After a few days in Arusha, we embarked on our safari. The first stop was Lake Manyara. This park was beautiful, resplendent with baboons, giraffes, impala, elephants, zebras and more. There were even vervet monkeys with bright blue bottoms. Giraffe sitting on the banks of Lake Manyara   We felt as if we were living an episode of National Geographic. We…

I clearly recall two of the fears that I had as a child; being attacked by killer bees and being placed in a situation where I had to eat unusual and unappetizing food. The seeds of both of these fears were planted by movies, the second one after I watched Indiana Jones being presented with a bowl of live, writhing…

One of my first posts was about the vendors on the streets of Accra. As I am writing this, the streets of Accra are no longer littered with vendors wending their way between cars selling everything under the sun. The government began enforcing the ban on street vending, successfully clearing the streets of hawkers. They have left a considerable void…

On the second leg of our April trip to Tanzania, we left Zanzibar and flew to Arusha, the safari capital of Tanzania. We were immediately relieved by the temperature in Arusha. The city, which has grown from a town to city in a relatively short period of time, is 1400 meters above sea level and the days are pleasantly cool.…

Jambo! I finally made it to East Africa! Since I read the comment “you visit East Africa for the animals and West Africa for the people”, I have been yearning to visit the eastern shore of the continent. Ghana has its own charms, but the only large animals native to the country are elephants at the Mole National Park which…

It is March, the Harmattan is over and Ghana is hot!!! I know we complained about the Harmattan and the dust and allergies and so on, but the dust brought with it cooler temperatures, especially in the evenings. The hot weather brings instead a high demand for drinking water. Enter the “sachet water”.

If one had to place women, children and men on a ladder of importance in Ghana, it would be exactly in that order. Women at the lowest rung, children above them, pregnant women might fit in above the kids and the men on the top.

I love going to bazaars in Ghana. Basically each bazaar is a collection of 30 – 40 vendors selling all sorts of wares – beads, furniture, clothes, artwork, books, craft, jewelery, the works. It is normally in the open air; each vendor with a table, under a canopy. There is often music, entertainment and games for children. The result is…