HO HO HO and Ho Hoe

1/2/3/4 April 2011

HO and the Volta Region

Easy trip north east to Ho and I spend the afternoon out at a small village, Kpetoe Agotime, renowned throughout Ghana for its quality Kente weaving. It is all very laid back there with a large ‘factory’ of fine, young men weaving away all day! I purchase a small strip, wander about the village and then await another tro tro back to Ho. Tonight there is ‘friendly’ soccer match between Ghana and England, being televised at 6.30. So just for fun I head to a great bar upstairs that catches all the breezes, to watch the match over dinner. England score in the first half and Ghana’s defence work hard all night. Then 5 minutes before the match ends, Ghana’s hero Asamoah Gyane scores an equaliser goal and the bar goes wild – you can hear the shouts and car horns all around town, so happy that they didn’t lose the match! Next day I set off for the Avatime Hills and another small village, Amedzofe to stay for a few days at the Akofa Guesthouse. I‘ve heard it’s nice there and nice is an understatement (Terry I think some of our retirement should be spent here in Amedzofe). At an altitude of 600m it’s cheap, green, and cool at night and villagers couldn’t care less as you wander about. Often the sight of this foreigner is enough to make some small children cry if you go near them! It was originally settled by German missionaries who planted a cross on Mt Gemi, the highest hill here. The guesthouse I’m staying in is perched on the side of a mountain, with access to the kitchen and Georgina here cooks great meals (if a little pricey). But the Chop bar also does simple meals for ½ cedi! It’s getting hard to move on from here, but days are marching on and a quick trip back to Ho to change tro tros to get up to Ho Hoe to visit the Wli waterfalls is the order of the day! Nice easy trips both back to Ho, then onto Ho Hoe – although each trip reminds me why tro tros have such a high road accident rate here. BUT they DON’T break down. I tried the Grand Hotel in Ho Hoe, who are waiting for someone to check out – alas they decided to stay on, so I moved on out to Wli and get a simple ‘homestay’ room. It’s an easy 45 minute walk out to the falls to reach a spectacular sight of the highest falls in West Africa. It is a beautiful sight, cool and luxuriant but then some locals decide for some entertainment they will make a heap of noise to rouse up the bats that reside in the cliffs about the falls. Thousands of bats are not a pretty sight. Chat to some Finnish nurses doing their practical placements in Tamale and after an hour of lazing about with feet dangling in the very cold water I head back to have my evening beer at the Waterfall Lodge – they have a great set up in a beautiful garden with fab views of the upper falls and surrounding hills. Bliss! The sun sets so time to share my cedis around with dinner at the other hotel in town. The thunder and lightening are advancing, and as I pass my homestay Rose calls to me, “the rain is coming”. But I make it to the Water Heights hotel where they are busy clearing the outside verandah in anticipation of the rain. One group gets moved inside, but I ask to stay outside because I just love the spectacle of the warm, heavy storms (from the security of shelter). Good dinner, chat to another group working in Accra and recommend The Lodge to them even if just to see the garden and view from their ingenious chairs there.

Next morning I wander about the two villages either ends of the T junction here, even walking as far as the Togo border, all of 500m away. I contemplated crossing here but I’ve ascertained that transport to Kpalime may be difficult on the other side. So I settle for heading back to Ho where there are easy connections. I try visiting the ‘traditional’ or ‘fetish’ shrine here but at 10 cedis they can keep it to themselves as I’m heading to the home of voodoo next week. Back to Ho that day and the Fiave is full but she takes me to the Lord Hotel which is even better and has a great cheap restaurant as well. One last parcel to post through Ghana’s wonderful and reliable postal service then off to Togo. When taking everything out for customs, the girl exclaims “Ghana Girl Guides” – I ask her if she is a Guide “Yes, I am a Ranger”. From then I got great service, with a smile so Go Girl Guides!

FACT: The Akofa guesthouse at Amedzofe has lots of louvre windows catching the gorgeous FACT: The Amedzofe guesthouse had walls of louvre windows for the wonderful view and breeze. I tied up the curtains each day to open up the view and one evening when I untied them, Georgina expressed surprise at how easy it had been done. It looks so nice she said… I do wonder sometimes about how much thinking goes on here. If you like something wouldn’t you examine it to see how it had been done?? Apparently not here in Ghana..