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| Duration: |
13 Day Safari |
| Location: |
Ghana
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| Category: |
Exploration |
| Tour Code:: |
TAA904 |
| Price: |
€ 2300 ( 6-9 travellers) |
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Travel Recap: |
| Day 1 |
Arrive in Accra, Ghana off your international flight. Where you will be met by your local hosts and transferred to your hotel for overnight.
Overnight: Accra Novotel or similar |
| Day 2 |
Accra, the capital of Ghana, has maintained its unique identity despite the fast paced development currently underway in this intriguing African city. Our first visit of the day is to people specialized in building fantasy coffins. These handcraft-coffins are in shape of: fruits, animals, fish, cars, airplanes and only limit is the intended occupant's imagination. Started in Africa, these flamboyant coffin designs are collected and exposed in museums. On the agenda is also a visit to the National Museum, one of the first works of independent Ghana. The idea inspiring the Museum is to relate Ghana art to the rest of the continent and to prove the existence of an African history as part of general history of the humanity.
We end our day exploring the old quarter of James Town, inhabited by the autochthonous population known as the Ga.
The botanical garden of Aburi, which was founded by the British during their colonial rule. Strolling the pavilions, exploring the colonial style buildings, walking among the gigantic trees and winding paths lost in the mist of the forest, one gets a feeling of being in a lost world.
Overnight: Hotel Little Acre [B] |
| Day 3 |
Krobo region is famous around the world for beads. Here they are produced and used for cults and esthetic purpose. We will visit may factories which specialize in bad making and will follow the process from beginning to end. We reach Akossombo, where we find the largest manmade lake in the world, with a shoreline measuring almost 5,000 km, we will visit the dam. Free time for a walk along the bank of the lake. You'll enjoy the views.
Overnight: Senche Resort or similar [B] |
| Day 4 |
Visit to a traditional Ashanti houses, recently renovated and famous for their unique decorations. These houses played an import role in the history and culture of the Ashanti people.
In the afternoon we will join a typical funeral. Everybody is dressed in his or her traditional dresses: large red or black cloth is worn like a toga. The chiefs arrive in the shade of their large umbrellas surrounded by their court. The tam tam announces the dances, rich in erotic symbolism and gestures.
Overnight: Hotel Sir Max [B] |
| Day 5 |
Kumasi is the historical and spiritual capital of the old Ashanti Kingdom. The Ashanti people were one of the most powerful nations in Africa until the end of the 19th century, when the British annexed the Ashanti country to their Gold Coast colony. The honor offered today to the Asantehene (=King) is the best evidence of the past splendor and strength of Ashanti. Today with nearly one million inhabitants, Kumasi is a sprawling city with a fantastic central market, one of the biggest in Africa. Every kind of Ashanti craft (leather goods, pottery, kente cloth) is found here, along with just about every kind of tropical fruit and vegetable.
On the agenda is a visit to the Ashanti Cultural Center, which has a rich collection of Ashanti artifacts housed in a wonderful reproduction of a Ashanti house and to the Museum of the Royal Palace.
If the right time of the year; you will attend the Akwasidae Festival at the Royal Palace. There are certain days each year, on the Ashanti calendar, set aside for a celebration at the Royal Palace. This ceremony is called Akwasidae. During the celebration, the King is seated under a spectacular umbrella of colorful, draped cloth and is adorned in vivid cloth and massive gold jewelry which is centuries old (the Ashanti gold jewelry and masks are considered masterpieces of African art). In front of the King, a narrow passage is formed, made of dignitaries, of various functions: ritual sword bearers, guards armed with muskets, knife bearers responsible for carrying out executions, carriers of beautiful fans made of ostrich feathers. Seated at the side of the King are the Ashanti elders and the advisors under the authority of the Royal Speaker, holding in his hands, the symbols of power covered in gold. The ceremony is made up of a procession of the royal court attendants who bring forth gifts, storytellers who recite the history of the Ashanti Kings, drummers, and trumpeters playing horns of ivory. Corpulent dancers dressed in vivid, red costumes, perform an erotic dance. The queen mother then will join the ceremony accompanied by her attendants.
This traditional ceremony takes place in one of the last African Kingdoms to have kept its ancient rituals alive. We will live the splendor, the flavor, and the atmosphere of the grand monarchs of the forests of yesteryear.
Overnight: Hotel Premier Palace [B]
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| Day 6 |
Today you will visit the beautiful, ancient, clay mosque of Larabanga; built in Sudanese style. This mosque is considered the oldest in Ghana, dating back to around the 15th Century.
After your visit to the mosque continue to Mole Park. Animals that inhabit the park include elephant, antelope, buffalo, monkeys and hippopotamus.
Overnight: Local Hotel [B] |
| Day 7 |
Today you will spend the day on walking safari in Mole Park. The park is full of interesting and mysterious geologic formations. These include numerous pinnacles formed from enormous rocks and disposed with an incredible regularity throughout the park. It is as if someone played with these huge stones. Local people consider these vestiges as the ancient domiciles of the gods. There also exists a deep fissure on the side of the highest mountain hosting an oracle. One goes there on a pilgrimage, but in order to enter, it is necessary to be accompanied by holy men who come to practice rites and perform sacrifices. Every good thing can be satisfied by the oracle of Tongo. Under the spiritual protection of the oracle, the Talensi live there as a united clan. The typical fortified home, which can accommodate up to 60 people, is built with mud and wood. It resembles a labyrinth surrounded by walls, which can be entered through only one door. The narrow passageways, the small stairways, the covered hallways, the rooms in the shape of eggs, and the terraces, form a harmonious ensemble of great beauty.
Overnight: Sandgardens Hotel or similar [B] |
| Day 8 |
Travel to the Gurunsi villages and meet the Gurunsi people who live in colorfully decorated fortified houses. The Gurunsi society is organized around gender: In this society the men are in charge of building, while the women are in charge of painting and decorating the home. Homes are constructed by layering clay over support pillars and arches. The walls and terraces are waterproofed by spreading zebu dung. Over the zebu dung the woman paint amazingly intricate frescoes, sometimes in black and white, other times in red and white, which flow over the homes and slope down to the surrounding walls. These beautifully patterned designs are an excellent example of African art and architecture merging into a fluid masterpiece of style and substance. One cannot truly appreciate the intense beauty of these works of art without seeing them first hand.
Overnight: Upland Hotel [B] |
| Day 9 |
Today, we spend time discovering the Lobi, their architecture, and the ever-present signs of their animist beliefs. Their houses, small fortress of mud protected by a wall erected without openings, are built around a huge granary. The head of the family is the only authority, responsible for every thing. He is in charge of the shrines and of the wooden statues essential to the practice of the cult of the ancestors, which is a very important part of the Lobi way of life. All the elders compose the council managing the daily problems of the village.
Overnight: Upland Hotel [B] |
| Day 10 |
Change environments as you travel from the savannah to the forest; from baobabs to tall green trees. Also the people are different; from the populations which have left centuries ago the hearth of Sahel, to the Akan living in the forest. We follow the ancient caravan way, by which peoples, items, Gods moved. Gold dust and cola nuts were brought from the forest and exchanged with salt, cloth and spices coming from the north. Some times people established settlements on the way. This meeting of cultures has resulted in mosques showing marks of Sudanese architecture.
Overnight: Hotel Sir Max [B] |
| Day 11 |
Travel to the Cape Coast and visit the Cape Coast castle, which was built by the Swedish in 1653. From 1657 to 1664 it changed hands many times. In the castles storied history it was conquered by the Danes, Fanti (a local tribe), Swedes and finally the British. At present, it hosts an informative museum on the slave trade.
Overnight: Anomabu Beach Resort [B] |
| Day 12 |
Today we visit Elmina castle and old city. Including the Asafo shrines and Posubans, the Dutch cemetery, the first Catholic Mission and see how salt was traditionally produced. Elmina Castle is the oldest permanent building in Africa. The Portuguese built the castle in the 15th century. At different times in the castle's checkered past it has been used to trade gold, ivory, and slaves. Outside the castle, there is a wonderful fishing village complete with a harbor full of large colorful fishing canoes. Every day these canoes are piloted by the skilled fisherman who confronts the strong ocean for their livelihood.
The alleys in the old town have a lively atmosphere, harkening back to a time when Elmina was a wild colonial town. In the old town we turn out attention to the Posuban. The Posuban are the shrines of the -Asafo companies'. It is at these shrines the warriors used to place their offerings on the large colorful statues.
Overnight: Anomabu Beach Resort [B] |
| Day 13 |
Some miles north of the coast, in the middle of a rainforest, we find Kakum National Park. At the park we have a wonderful opportunity to discover the forest from above because Kakum has a canopy walk suspended high into the trees. The Kakum ropewalk is the longest and highest suspended rope bridge in the world. Walking between one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty feet in the air, we have an incredible view of the rain forest. At this height, instead of revealing their trunks, the trees offer us a breathtaking view of the canopy. From this height the trees look as if they are trying to grasp the sun and sky above. Return to your hotel where a dayroom awaits you. Evening tranfser to the airport for onward arrangements. |
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