Planning for Ghana

Tomorrow, we will be in Ghana. I can't believe it, this last week went by much faster than the week before Spain. I spent most of the day figuring out what to do the first two days in Ghana, and I'm quite excited for it. The first day, we will either be going to Cape Coast, which is known for its old slave dungeons and castles, or if we are not able to get a bus to Cape Coast, then we will just be winging it. I'm quite excited because this is the first independent travel I will be doing that takes us out of the port city, and I really wouldn't mind just getting on to the bus and going to a random town for the day. This would be a great way to just get away from the tourist areas and see a different side of Ghana that most people may not be able to see. One thing I do want to try at least once while in Ghana is the Tro-tro, which is like a makeshift bus and is apparently quite the experience to have while in Ghana. Second day, I will be traveling to Anaksa Nature Reserve independently with a few friends. We are particularly excited for this because the reserve is not a tourist hot spot (so it will be a more enthralling experience) and has many species of plants and animals (including forest elephants). A hike there should be a wonderful experience. In general, I don't really have much planned for Ghana, and that seems to be the fun part. Many of my other friends are doing service visits, or tours of the slave trade areas. However after tourist-like travel in Morocco and Spain, I definitely want to travel in Ghana without the travel guide or large group, and go on my own with just a few  others and try to truly experience the culture and atmosphere. Something I learned on my  overnight trips in Spain and Morocco, is that when traveling in large groups, you can't help but feel like a tourist. In such a large group it is easy for you to stand out, and difficult for you to flow into the culture of the area. The cultural pre-port was quite interesting, with one presentation during which one of the professors talked about how to use a squat toilet properly (of course most of the speech people were laughing). Hopefully these independent trips of ours work out, if not we'll see where the road takes us. Thats the best part about this adventure.
-Nimish
September 21, 2010