Island life

Days 30, 31, 32 -  Beau Vallon 

Day 30

Today was a day to take it easy after our sometimes challenging travels through Africa. English is spoken by pretty much everyone so the Seychelles was a pretty easy place to be, the only thing we really had to contend with was the heat and humidity, but the evenings were much more pleasant and a good time to sit by the beach for a drink.

M went exploring and walked along the main beach, past a number of resorts and restaurants, then following the road for a while to get to the small town of Bel Ombre with it's historic church.

Day 31

We spent the day driving around the island. The island is quite small, so in total we probably only spent three hours in the car, if that. There were some nice beaches but apart from the capital Victoria there isn't that much development, we drove past a few resorts but overall the island didn't appear too busy, in particular the southern and western areas seemed quite peaceful. There is a rule that no building can be higher than 6 metres, which certainly helps give the place a nice tropical and low-key vibe. 

Day 32

M started the day by exploring the beach in the northerly direction, but had to turn back due to the large boulders blocking the way. We had seen these boulders and rocks all around the island on our drive yesterday.

Up to now we had only driven through the capital of Victoria so we headed in to check it out. There were some tourists around and quite few stalls selling souvenirs, though they generally (as is often the case) were selling pretty much the same stuff. 

 

Now for the beach section of the trip!

Day 29 - Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Beau Vallon (Seychelles) 

The flight from Addis to the Seychelles was easy, what's interesting (to M at least) is that we flew almost directly over Mogadishu, this is probably the closest we will ever get to travelling in Somalia.

After the cool of Addis we were hit with the heat and humidity of the Seychelles as soon as we walked out of the airport. 

We picked up our hire car and drove to Beau Vallon on the northwest coast of the island. This was our first car rental of the trip and fortunately in the Seychelles they drive on the correct (left) side of the road, so it wasn't difficult to navigate the tight turns as we climbed up and over the mountainous centre of the island to the other side.

Our accommodation in Beau Vallon was just across the road from a nice sandy beach and close to restaurant and shops, it looked like a nice place to spend the next four nights.

It looks a bit different

Day 28 - Addis Ababa

This is our second time in Addis and we can't really remember exactly how Addis looked on our earlier trip but it did seem there was a lot more modern and high rise buildings. The area around our hotel was a mixture of new buildings and ramshackle housing. 

It was a nice sunny day and the temperature of around 19C was a welcome change to the heat and humidity in West Africa. It was Sunday so things were very quiet, we took a taxi to the octagonal St. George's Church and listened to a large group singing outside with some nice drumming that reminded us of West Africa. There were many people worshipping outside with their heads pressed to the bricks.

After an afternoon wandering around the area we went to a Yemeni restaurant close to our hotel for a very tasty dinner.

Day 27  - Addis Ababa

Our room overlooks the street and some local bars, the first night the loud music was a bit of a nuisance but was turned off about 3am. For some reason though Sunday night was a shocker, there were drunk people screaming, yelling and banging until they finally turned the music off at 7am. Hotel management were very quick to move us to the other side of the hotel the next morning.

At lunch time we caught a taxi to the Mercado market, the largest market in Africa. It was a very busy market and we were the only non-locals walking around, we were approached a few times by men who wanted to tell us where the spice market and jewellery sections were, one man in particular wouldn't leave us alone until we told him off for following us.

After wandering around for an hour we looked for a taxi to take us back. We found a taxi rank but they were all trying to charge us five times the going rate for cars that were so old it was surprisingly they even ran. Luckily a modern new taxi pulled up so we jumped in and he used an app on his phone as the taximeter and we had a more reasonably priced trip back to the hotel.

We noticed that we were getting tired more quickly than normal after walking or climbing stairs, we worked out that this was the altitude (around 2300m affecting us slightly).

We have a new contender!

Day 26 - Lagos (Nigeria) to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) 

After a slight issue with our Uber who drove past our hotel and then had to reverse 300 meters to pick us up, we made it to what is perhaps the worst airport we've ever been to! 

The international departures check in didn't feel like it had any air con, or lights, we thought there might have been a power cut but no-one would answer our queries. We had our passports checked by one person, then told to join another queue a few metres away for the same thing to happen, no explanation of why there were so many checks. Eventually we made it to the actual check in counter, we received our boarding passed and our luggage was tagged, but we weren't confident we'd ever see it again!

Immigration was also different steps at different booths, we were consistently asked if we were citizens or here on business, it seems they didn't see many tourists. At the baggage check before passport control they opened K's hand luggage and took out a ceramic mug and very fragile pot that she'd bought in Benin, they said ceramics weren't allowed and they would have to be checked in, as apparently they could be broken and used as a weapon! After some protesting we were allowed to continue providing M took the mug in his hand luggage. However before we could proceed M was then pulled aside and asked if he'd completed a customs declaration for travelling with cash, he explained he didn't work in Nigeria and only used credit card. 

The airport was old, grotty and dark and not much fun to wait in, so we were happy to board a modern Ethiopian Airlines plane and say goodbye to Nigeria, though of course we weren't allowed to board without one more baggage check, where they opened up our hand luggage and searched through it.

We landed at Addis Ababa quite late Ethiopian time, but luckily our hotel had free pickup so at least the final part of our day went smoothly.

Are we the only tourists in town?

Day 25 - Lagos 

Last full day in Lagos and we hadn't arranged any tours or other tourist activities. Lagos didn't seem "set up" for tourists, there was nothing at the hotel about things to see and do, so we decided to have an easy day and stick to the local area.

We walked to a very modern, French bakery/cafe for lunch. On the way we were hassled by beggars, as well as a couple of children, and we did notice that there were no other westerners walking around. When we reached the cafe it was nothing like what we'd seen so far, it was very modern and full of expats. The food and drinks were nice but also quite expensive, even by Australian standards.  

We decided to Uber it back to the hotel after a quick trip to a supermarket across from the cafe, after that it was drinks and a very nice dinner at the rooftop bar.

 

Arts and crafts and poverty

Day 24 - Lagos 

Lagos' grey, smoggy sky keeps the heat down but the fumes are thick and feel very unhealthy.

We took an uber to the Nike Art Gallery which has nothing to do with the shoe company but is the name of a famous Nigerian artist. The gallery is over 4 floors and has 24,000 pieces of art that are all for sale. The variety, styles and vividness of the paintings as well as the large sculptures made from recycled materials were stunning. 

Another Uber took us down shocking roads that were barely driveable to the Lekki Arts and Crafts market. There were stalls of souvenirs of wooden carvings, weaving and paintings, it was quiet so most of the stallholders tried to get us to look in their shop.

We ordered another Uber to take us back to the hotel, but to avoid the terrible roads around the market we decided to walk the few hundred metres to the main road first. This took us through a small local area, many of the buildings were in very poor condition, and there were small stalls selling food and other essentials.

We're not finished with West Africa just yet!

Day 23 - Accra (Ghana) to Lagos (Nigeria)

Our Africa World Airlines flight from Accra to Lagos was only an hour or so, and we could see how densely populated Lagos was as we landed, it was also quite grey and overcast, different to Accra.

Disembarking at Lagos airport saw us suddenly dropped into a tipping culture like no other we had come across when the custom's official asked for a tip to check our paperwork! We had no cash at this point so it was easy to say no.

We bought a sim card at the airport which was a very time consuming process, by the time that was sorted we were pleased we'd asked our hotel to arrange a pickup as we had to run the gauntlet of so many men trying to help us with our bags.

We were staying on Victoria Island, the more upmarket part of Lagos. Our hotel was very nice, but we were surprised to see that we had a record player in our room. The hotel had a lovely rooftop bar which meant we had a nice gentle start to our Lagos stay. 

End of Tour!

Day 22 - Anomabo to Accra

On paper Anomabo to Accra doesn't look that far, about 124 km, however as we neared Accra the traffic got busier, while the roads got worse. It looked like they'd decided to upgrade the roads, but rather than do it a section at a time, they were trying to do it all at once! There was no asphalt, no lines, blockages and detours, it had become quite tedious.

We visited Independence Square (also known as Black Star Square) and the Independence Arch, before visiting a carpenter who builds custom made coffins, usually related to a persons' profession or interests. He'd just finished a sewing machine, and there were many others on display, such as a mobile phone, cigarette, shoe, lion and football. (Having a coffin as a cigarette doesn't really gel with the fact that we have not seen one person in West Africa smoking, as like in Sri Lanka smoking outside is illegal and it's really noticeable).

We stopped in Jamestown, the original settlement that grew to become Accra, and descending into a hole in the ground that was the original slave holding area.  

After a final group lunch we were taken to our hotel (the same one we'd stayed at in Accra before starting the tour) and everyone said their goodbyes, as some people were flying out that afternoon, or staying in different hotels.

Overall we are glad we did the tour, the group was small and everyone interacted well, and we feel that many of the places we visited and things we did would not have been possible if we'd tried to do it on our own. 

Are we good natured?

Day 21 - Kumasi to Elmina to Anomabo

We drove from Kumasi to the fishing town of Elmina, with an impromptu road side stop to witness a small operation that produced palm oil for cooking. It was a multi step and very manual process, requiring the nuts to be removed, then cooked, and pressed to extract the oil. 

We arrived in Elmina around noon so had lunch before we walked over the bridge past all the fishing boats (not in use as today was a day off for fishermen) to St George’s Castle, the oldest European building in Africa which was once used as a holding centre for slaves. 

The guide explained to us the horrific conditions and deplorable treatment of the slaves before they were taken to the ships bound for the Caribbean and other destinations. Inside visitors had left flowers and wreaths in remembrance of the people who had suffered there. 

After the castle we walked around the old quarter of the town to see the unique Posuban shrines, made by the traditional ‘asafo’ societies which were once responsible for local defence. 

Our overnight stay was in beach bungalows where the ocean breeze was very welcoming after the stifling heat of the day. It was the last night of the tour and after a few drinks by the sea and a nice dinner, one member of the group gave an impromptu speech thanking our guide, as well as giving out "awards", where we were dubbed "the good natured Aussies"!

Hail to the king, baby

Day 20 - Kumasi

Today is the Akwasidae festival, a celebration of Ashanti traditions and rituals. The ceremony is centred around the Ashanti king and nobles who attend in full traditional dress, including ornate gold jewellery, surrounded by elders and advisors. 

We started with a tour of the old Ashanti king's palace, which is now a museum. It included some interesting objects from days gone by, such as the first wireless radio in Ghana, and the refrigerator from the 1950s that was still working, as well as lots of gold artefacts (Ghana was previously known as the Gold Coast).

There was still some time before the Akwasidae festival would start, so we spent a short time walking through the Kumasi market. This one was very busy and covered quite a large area.

It was a short walk from there to the site of the king's festival. The festival is held every 42 days, but this one was a special one because it was the first festival of the year. It was also good for us because it was being held around the same time as the Voudon Festival in Benin, it's quite rare for the two festivals to occur so close together. 

We were given great seats to see the various chiefs and their entourages arrive as we were half way between the street entrance and the main entrance to the arena. It was an incredible experience with guns being discharged regularly (firing blanks fortunately), at the beginning we were jumping in shock but before too long we were used to it. There were so many chiefs with their offsiders carrying massive ornate umbrellas and accompanied by their own drummers. The explosion of vivid colours, music, dancing and joy was spectacular. 

After a couple of hours the King arrived in a car, we could tell it was the king as a mass of people converged on the car. The king exited and was transferred to a chair (he supposedly is not allowed to walk on the ground), then he was carried through to the main area where all of the other chiefs were. There was a huge throng trying to get a glimpse of the king, M managed to get close enough for a photo, but it was very packed and everyone else of course was trying to do the same thing. 

That's him

Once the King had passed through it was time to leave, but on returning to the car park we found that our vans had been blocked in. We waited for a while but eventually decided that lunch was more important, so we flagged down taxis to get to Ike's Café and Grill, which was by a small lake and very popular with the locals. The highlight of the lunch was probably when we had to provide instructions from Google to the chef so he could make a cheese and tomato sandwich!

We ended the day back at the same hotel as the previous night.

I feel like we shouldn't be here ...

Day 19 - Techiman to Kumasi 

Driving south towards Kumasi we stopped to visit a cocoa planation, and learnt about the industry in Ghana. Ghana is the second highest cocoa exporter in the world, the highest is Côte d'Ivoire to the west. Cocoa grows well here without the need for additional irrigation, and the government subsidises the industry by providing loans and support like free advice and cheap agricultural products. We were also shown a cashew tree, with it's juicy fruit and the single cashew nut at the top.

The roads were getting busier, and we appeared to be entering the more densely populated part of the country, and the massive roadworks in Kumasi didn't help, we were caught in a traffic jam as we reached the outskirts of town. To make matters worse, the aircon in our van had stopped working, all we could do was open the windows to get a flow of warm air.

Kumasi was (and still is) the capital of the Ashanti kingdom. The Ashanti king is still revered by the people, and also has an influence on politics in Ghana. We visited the Ashanti cultural centre, where we were given a guided tour of the exhibits and learnt about the war with the British and the exile of the royal family to the Seychelles.

A replacement van arrived which took us to our lunch stop. There had been some grumblings by others in the group about the quality of the accommodation we'd experienced so when we arrived at a very up market restaurant and given free champagne we wondered whether this was an attempt to appease the group!

After lunch we were taken to an Ashanti funeral - it was quite a strange experience! We weren't told anything about who had died (though there was a big board with three people's photos at the front of the open area), but we did find out he'd already been buried and this was the celebration of his life.

The family were dressed in red and others dressed in black, we'd been pre-warned about the dress code, so K was wearing black and M did his best with a red shirt. We were warmly welcomed with smiles and handshakes, and as we walked past the seated onlookers to get to our own seats we smiled and waved at everyone as we had been told this was the correct etiquette. We sat down and were offered cold water, then we watched the proceedings for a while. Others would walk past and wave to us, we would wave back. Music was playing, but every now and then a heavily distorted announcement was made of the donations that had been made, who by and how much. Our guide had given a donation on our behalf, so we guess at some point it was read out but we couldn't really understand what was being said.  

As we stood up to leave a number of the women from the family came up to us and asked us to dance with them, we did our best with this (while cringing internally of course), and were finally able to leave. Overall it was quite a weird but also very interesting experience. 

Our guide later told us that the money that was donated could be used for a number of things, firstly the celebration we'd attended could be quite expensive. In addition, the money could be used to service any debts the deceased owed, or to help other family members who had financial issues.  

  

Monkey business

Day 18 - Tamale - Boabeng-Fiema – Techiman

An earlier start than usual as there was a lot of driving today but our guide did well to break it up with some short visits along the way.

We stopped at a local material shop where we could see the women sitting out the front weaving. The cloth is made in narrow lengths of about 30cm or so wide. Around the back of the shop was the local water well, installed by an NGO, where the local women gather each day to collect their daily supply.

Next we visited a small village of the nomadic Fulani people. Only women and children in brightly coloured clothing could be seen, as the men were out tending their herds of cattle. The children were happy to see us, the women also didn't seem to mind, happily posing for photos.

Lunch was at a fairly busy roadside stop, it had a cheaper local side and a side for "western" food. It was just down the road from the Kintampo waterfall which we had read was worth a look, so we walked there to check it out while our lunch was coming, only to find that you had to pay for a guide and that it would take about 45 minutes, so we ended up giving it a skip.

Later that day we stopped at the monkey forest in Boabeng-Fiema where populations of mona and colobus monkeys live. The locals consider the monkeys to be ancestors so they are sacred and feed them their leftovers at dinner time. They are also buried in a special monkey cemetery when they die.

We were given peanuts to feed them which they took gently from our hands with both of their soft little hands. They keep the peanuts in their cheeks to eat later. They are extremely cute but their squabbling pecking order was very obvious when we were feeding them bananas. Mothers with babies holding on tight and suckling upside down quite fiercely chased away others after their share.

We arrived at our hotel for the night in Techiman, another hard bed and another standard meal of chicken and rice. Here they gave us access to their bar fridge and we paid using an honour system, it actually seemed to work quite well.

How do you know she is a witch?

Day 17 - Sokode (Togo) to Tamale (Ghana)

A long driving day as we cross the border to Ghana. This small northern border had just a couple of buildings yet it still took 90 minutes for us to be processed and allowed to continue.

We stopped for lunch after crossing the border in the town of Zabzugu. We made our way to a local bar to eat our pre-made lunches, the owners seemed very pleased to see this group of foreigners buying drinks, taking photos of us and shaking our hands on the way out.  

Our next stop was at village of the Dagomba ethnic group where the chief welcomes people (almost all women) who have been exiled from their own village after being accused of being witches. The children swamped us as soon as we stepped out of the van and didn't leave us alone until we were back in the van. 

We were taken to meet the chief and were allowed to ask him questions about the witches. Reasons for being accused of witchcraft include the death of someone in the family or suspicion of creating a disease. Many have misunderstood mental health issues and most are elderly women no longer of any use in the village and if their husband has died banishing them enables their land and possessions to pass to the husband's family. 

When a person has been accused they are banished from their own village and they have to go to the chief of the village to be assessed (providing they aren't lynched first). The chief cuts the throat of a chicken, whether it dies on its back or front determines whether she is a witch or not. The "witches" live in their own compound and when we visited were all sombrely sitting in a small area where was some shade, away from the rest of the village. The chief's gesture appears to be a good one but further research indicates that in some cases the women are treated almost as slaves. It was a very sobering visit.

We stopped in Tamale, the third largest city in Ghana, for the night, and were housed in an annex to the main hotel. Our meal that night was very similar to most of the others we'd been having. Throughout the trip it's been omelettes and coffee for breakfast, lunch and dinner are usually a choice between chicken, beef or fish, accompanied by either, rice, french fries, grilled plantain or mixed vegetables. Occasionally there is the offer of pizza or spaghetti, and dessert is sliced fruit.

The unforgettable fire

Day 16 - Kara to Sokode

We're about 250kms from the Bukino Faso border and there is a large military presence, with multiple checkpoints on our drive to visit the Tamberma people.

Every time we think that we've seen enough villages we find that the next village has something unique to show us. The huts in this village are built for defence, and look like miniature castles with two floors. The lower floor is used for sleeping and is dark, with hanging objects that can warn of the approach of strangers, and have arrow slots. The upper level contains a cooking area and a granary, as well as another room area for sleeping. The villages were established hundreds of years ago by people fleeing from the Mossi empire.

Before we left we were treated to some singing and dancing by the women of the village. We were encouraged to join in, a few of our group did, but we declined.

We drove back to Kara for lunch then headed to our hotel in Sokode. After settling in we regrouped around 6pm to drive to a voodoo fire show at a village nearby. 

We arrived in the dark and our bus was immediately surrounded by children trying to get their hands on anything we were carrying, M had to be vigilant about kids trying to take his metal water bottle.

The show started off with some men running burning sticks over their hands, arms, feet, legs and heads. It then progressed to the fire being placed in their mouth and rubbed along their tongues.

The finale was a man picking up small logs from the fire and biting off chunks of flaming charcoal pieces, placing them in his mouth and between his teeth whilst blowing on them to fan the flames. A couple of times he offered the stick to people in the audience, of course everyone refused. It felt like he was staring into our eyes only, only to discover later that everyone thought the same thing .... spooky!

We were suddenly told that it was over and were rushed back to the vans very hastily, on our way back to the van we were mobbed my kids, M almost losing his water bottle. It left us feeling a bit uncomfortable as the atmosphere was as if something bad was about to go down, but maybe that was just part of the show?

Potters unite!

Day 14 -  Djougou (Benin) to Kara (Togo)

We had a border crossing today so it was an early start. On the way to the border we passed cars overloaded with goods purchased in Niger, we were told that they were driving to Burkina Faso and Mali but because the borders are closed they have to detour through Benin and Togo.

We had been warned that the border crossing would take 2 hours and it did, though at least on each side we were able to sit in a room while we waited. On the Togo side an official placed our passports in piles and then moved them to other piles, continually opening them up flicking through, we got the impression that it might have been his first day on the job. 

We visited two Kabye villages, the first one was a blacksmiths village, where they used primitive tools and techniques. The skills are passed on from father to son, they have no choice in their vocation. In the past the women would climb the mountains to find the rocks containing iron and bring them back to the village, now they use the metal from the broken down Chinese motorbikes.

The second village was a pottery village where K was awed by the makeshift hand wheels and the high quality of their work which they pit fire. Our guide translated between K and the group and they showed their joy at our common interest (and K's purchase of some ceramics) by responding in song and dance.

We made it to our hotel in Kara in good time and it was a pleasant surprise, given our experiences in the north of Benin, We enjoyed the afternoon and evening at our hotel, with the best room we've had so far, getting to know our fellow travellers over drinks by the pool.

I'm glad I'm not a chicken living in West Africa

Day 14 - Dassa-Zoume to Djougou

After a night in the hardest bed in the world M woke early to join the climb to a voodoo temple overlooking the town. The story behind the temple was that when the king died the people took his body to the top of the mountain, however once they reached the top it turned into a snake and disappeared into the forest. The climb wasn't difficult and had good views, along the way we saw the signs of old rituals, including blood and animal bones. At the top we met the priest who had just completed his morning ritual, burning palm oil in a small circle of animal bones.  

After breakfast we journeyed further north, stopping to see the Dankoli fetish, the most important voodoo shrine in Benin. 

It was mounds of chicken feathers, bright orange palm oil and sticks. If you paid to make a wish you were given a pointed stick to hammer into the mound, then you would pour alcohol and palm oil onto it. We were told that the bigger the wish the higher the cost, as you were asking more of the gods so had to compensate them appropriately. More money means bigger wishes, but if you didn't have money you could sacrifice an animal instead. 

We then watched a local make a sacrifice involving slitting the throat of a live chicken and pouring its blood on the mound. As we were leaving a group arrived with a goat, but we were told we would need to pay if we wanted see the sacrifice.

We made it to our hotel early that afternoon, so after check in we continued our tour with a visit to the local market, where we were generally welcomed by the locals with a smile and interest.

After the market we visited a village of the Taneka people, where they live in small compounds of mud brick homes, these people consist of multiple ethnicities who had escaped the slave trade to move to this area. We first had to meet the elderly chief, before touring the village.

The women were arriving home from working on the crops and children were arriving home from school, so by the time we left we had gathered a group of very friendly children who insisted on holding our hands and guiding us around.

Our guide showed us different scars on the locals faces and bodies, and it was explained how this shows a person's ethnic group. Many of the scars are made while still a baby, so most people don't have any memory of the initiation process.

We finished the day in the town of Djougou, and for dinner we "enjoyed" a meal of guinea fowl and rice.