April brought the school holidays so this gave me and Nick the chance to do some travelling.  We set off on Easter Monday, taking the overnight bus down to Kumasi, approximately 6 hours away.  Unfortunately, we were delayed somewhat as the bus just stopped at the side of the road for an hour.  We later found out that there were armed robbers further up the road waiting for any passing buses and the driver had been warned, so we waited until dawn to continue the journey.

When we arrived in Kumasi , we met a Ghanaian friend of ours who took us down to a gold-mining town, where we were allowed down the mine.  It is huge, going down miles into the ground.  We were shown around a part of the mine which had lots of space, and was cool and dry. We later found out from talking to the workers that the places they actually work are nothing like what we were shown.  They are dark, cramped, hot and they work knee-deep in water . 

After a couple more days in Kumasi, we moved on to Cape Coast. This is a very scenic city, right on the coast.  As you can imagine, Nick and I took full advantage of the sun, sea and sand!  Whilst in Cape Coast , we visited its Castle, which was built by the British and used as a place to store slaves and ship them off back to Europe.  The Castle Museum was excellent and really put into perspective how badly the people of Africa were treated; it showed how slaves were sold just like cattle and rice, auctioned off to the highest bidder.  We also saw the slave dungeons, which were absolutely atrocious. You could even see the nail marks where people had clawed away at the walls.

We also took a daytrip to Kakum National Park. This is where we went on a treetop walkway, 50 feet up in the canopy, giving us some breathtaking views of the rainforest and the surrounding area.  After the canopy walkway, we took a guided tour of the forest, where we saw some animals, including a viper and we were shown the medicinal uses of certain trees.

After Cape Coast, we moved onto Bisua, and Green Turtle Beach resort.  This  was a secluded beach, with nothing but Palm trees and sand for miles around.  We seemed to form a strange little group of friends there which included:  two South African women, two Slovenian men, a German, an American and an Alsatian called Mayo!  We had a brilliant time and were very sorry to leave for Accra.

When we arrived in Accra , the first thing we did was get a taxi to the supermarket, as we haven't been in one for four months.  When we got there, everyone was staring at us as we proceeded to run around the supermarket, squealing with delight as we saw Haribo, Snickers, cheese, ice cream and every other item of food we had been craving up in Wa!  Unfortunately, it was all too expensive for us and we had to make do with a couple of chocolate bars and a bag of Haribo.  Accra is very expensive, with prices similar to that in England, but is like nowhere else in Ghana simply for the fact it is like any other major city in the World, with everything you would need.

But, to be honest, we were so happy to return 'home' to Wa after our travels, as all the people are so much friendlier and do not try to hassle you for money which seemed to happen a lot down south.   It is a shame, but is almost definitely caused by tourists who do not know the value of things in Ghana and the people recognise this and try to take advantage of them.

We only have eight more weeks in Wa now, and the time seems to have flown by so quickly.   Hopefully, we can make the most of our short time left and return home feeling we have taken as much out of the experience as possible.