South East Ghana, then home to Sydney

  Ho, Ghana
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Tuesday 20 Feb Hohoe (Ghana)
We're now in the South East of Ghana, in the Lake Volta region, which is known for its hiking, and waterfalls.
We make a late start, having actually got some sleep in the morning. In spite of a late night loo episode, MP has breakfast, and we head out for another long walk to find a share taxi to the Wli Falls, ending up back in the bus station, where we buy tro-tro tickets, but are bundled into an ordinary taxi, us in front, 4 behind. We set off on a shopping trip around town, including bags and a large roll of corrugated iron hanging out the back hatch. At one of the stops, one of the inboard passengers in the back slams the door on the hand of the outboard passenger. Fortunately, the fit and strength of the window frame was such that he lost a bit of skin, but that was all.
We have a pretty slow trip, and out of town encounter gravel road and broken asphalt. We are proceeding slowly over the transition from gravel to asphalt, and MP had just finished commenting on the way they do this transition, when the car gives a particularly strong lurch, and stops, and the back of the car drops - we have lost a rear wheel!

30. The 3- wheeled cab, going to Wli Falls

We can see the fugitive wheel in the gutter beside us! We are fortunate it happened at walking pace - hate to think what would have happened if we'd been going fast. Just what we don't need at the end of our trip - we're getting to the stage that we don't want to take any more chances.
The driver doesn't look like he hasn't seen this sort of thing before, and gets out the jack. MP takes a walk back along the road, and finds a brake spring, the bearing, the lock washer and the axle nut spread over 100 metres. No sign of a cotter pin, may never have had one.
DP has a bad case of the giggles, insists MP take photos, then we watch while they get a log to put under to raise the car a bit further. About now a yellow school bus stops. One of the passengers gets in, and gestures for us to join him. This bus has a load of timber planks down the aisle, but is in pretty good condition, probably the best we have used in Ghana. Gets along pretty well - glad we weren't doing this sort of pace when the wheel came off. They drop us in the next town, and won't take money. Our fellow passenger directs us to the T-intersection at the end of town, where there is a shade tree and benches for passengers going to Wli. People waiting seem to already have the wheel story on the jungle telegraph, so MP shows them the photo of the taxi, sans wheel. The first taxi going past has room for us, takes us the 5 km to Wli township. 5 km is a long way in a car, glad we didn't have to walk. Once again, no money needed, part of the service.
Walk 500m to the park office, seeing and photographing the upper falls on the way. Pay 65k each, plus 5 for the camera. We are not unhappy to pay for our visit, but are surprised at the low standard of the facilities, considering the revenue coming in. Buy a cold coke, talk briefly with some Americans, who are here as part of an Adopt-a-Village programme. A man and his teenage son, and a woman who has been told by Jesus to come here, but is thinking maybe the Lord should have told her to go to Sydney and join Hillsong. We don't need a guide, once we have the start of the track pointed out, and have an easy walk along a well-made track up the valley. There are bananas, papayas, oil palms and cocoa trees near the village, with remnant rainforest trees and scrubby lower storey trees further in.
The valley turns into a steep-sided gorge, pretty bare of trees, but quite green where it looks like regrowth after a recent fire. The stream is quite pretty, with a good flow of clear, slightly tea stained water over a gravel bed. The bridges over the stream have seen the odd termite, but are still sound. As we get closer to the falls, we can see thousands of bats hanging from the cliffs, on the vegetation, or bare rock.

33. Bats, Wli Falls

There is a collection of run-down facilities near the falls, a couple of broken bridges where the stream exits the base pool, and broken benches and tables. The falls themselves are pretty impressive, with sufficient flow to produce a strong down flow of breeze and spray.

31. Wli Falls, near Hohoe, Eastern Ghana

Through MP using his tongue to click, or by sheer chance, the bats are spooked, and leave the cliffs in a dense cloud. Fail to take a photo, as we figure we can do it again. There is a pile of shotgun shells on the ground, indicating people either scare, or eat the bats. Later told that people from Togo stand at the top of the cliff with nets, then fire shots to frighten the bats, and thrown the nets over them when they take to the air.
MP finds it too cool for a swim, but DP goes in while MP climbs the side of the mountain to get better photos, but has to make a quick sprint down the valley to find an acceptable point to use as a loo. The swim keeps DP cool all day. Take more photos, including a collection of butterflies on what is either a salt lick, or a deposit of edible clay.

32. Butterflies, Wli Falls

We talk to a young American who is on his second visit, having done the upper falls walk yesterday, with his German friend, who is currently missing in action. Because he paid dearly yesterday, he refused to pay today, and just bypassed the ticket sellers. His friend, who eventually turns up, was not so lucky, got his passport number taken, and had to pay again. We borrow his Bradt Guide for more information on the Coast, as an alternative to staying in Accra, as MP is a bit spooked by stories of all accommodation in Accra being booked out because of the Ghana 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Quite a few tourists turn up, including the Americans called by God, a Polish girl on her own, and a couple of girls we end up sharing a taxi with. Some locals also turn up with crates of soft drinks, but they are only cooling them in the creek, so we aren't tempted. Back at the village, the transport situation looks grim for a while, but a tro-tro and a taxi turn up, We have 6 for the taxi, so get an instant start for a quicker trip back than our outward saga, and are dropped off at our street. DP heads for the internet, MP back to the hotel because of his delicate condition. Finds all our gear has been transferred to the A/C room. Because DP has been a long time, walks back to find the problem is just slow internet.
We have another ordinary meal, MP going the bland route, with macaroni cheese, but, as we are talking to the Australians, he ends up having two big beers, while DP gets into the Smirnoff Ice. We exchange emails, and give them the Mali sim card and swap "Inhaling the Mahatma" for "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen". We then borrow their Nokia charger and adaptor, returning it late in the night. We have a better night's sleep with the A/C, but don't have the advantage of a TV for white noise, and get a hard time from the squeaking gate. Decide we don't want another night here. MP still has crook guts and a headache. Hopes it is the beer, and not malaria.
Wednesday 21 Feb Hohoe - Ho
Another long haul to the bus station. Find the Ho tro-tro half full, so surprised when we are told to get in, and leave shortly after with only 3 per seat. This, and the high quality of the vehicle, is a shock to the system. Make a quick trip to Ho, through a confusing series of turnoffs and mountain ridge crossings. Ho is supposed to be a transport hub, yet is a long way off the direct route to Accra. We have passengers come and go, but the tro-tro never gets full as we know it. The 42,000 cedi fare is collected when we turn off the main road, - not sure why this is done, rather than having tickets from the start. This is some kind of complex scam, no doubt.
The landscape on the way into Ho is quite green, but not lush, with dry season deciduous trees on the ridges. It is a long, skinny town, with the Chances hotel (recommended by John and Helen) outside the north end, and our selected hotel, Freedom, right at the South end, past the main market, where the tro-tro terminates. When we ask the driver where we can find the hotel, he puts us in a taxi, for a short ride to the end of town.
The hotel looks pretty flash, and we book into a $US40 air conditioned room, with cable TV in English, with a laminated programme, but the actual channels available bear no resemblance to it.
The cable TV epitomises Ghana for us - 1. the promise - 10 Channels - including two movie channels, BBC, and African movies
2. the reality - 8 channels - three showing sport, two with non-stop religion (one the "God" channel), one movie channel, and two music clip channels.
Settle in to veg out. Over the next few days we watch Cold Creek Manor, Something about Mary, 2Fast 2Furious, something about Paris with Jack Nicholson and Dianne Keaton, and sundry other crap movies, but at least they are in English. We decide to put off our bank visit to tomorrow, as, if the worst happens, we can use Visa. The hotel restaurant is OK, but pretty gloomy, the rooftop bar is deserted. There are some foreigners, mostly religious or NGO types, plus middle class Ghanaians.
The bed is pretty good, and the A/C, fan combination works, so we decide to stay a while.
Thursday 22 Feb Ho
We make a late start, having found a watchable early movie, Have our complimentary breakfast of tea, egg, sweet bread toast, butter and jam, and set off to walk right across town to the bank.
We've mentioned before how seriously the Ghanaians take their Christianity, but to give you some idea, during the walk Dianne took the time to write down all the names of business which had some religious connotation (this doesn't include references to Churches or religious organisations)
Unless God Fashion, Heaven Helps Fashion Home, The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not Perish, Great, Great Jehovah, Christian Optical Centre, Simple Understanding Enterprise, Happy Yourself, Mary Magdalene Comm Centre, Fear God Electrical Store, Still More Hope Enterprise, Grace and Glory Business Centre, God is Great, The Lord is my Might and Salvation, God Dey Ent, Thank You Jesus Enterprise, Christ Resurrection Enterprise, God is Able Enterprise, Kingdom Photos, God's Time, Phone Paradise, Bless Photos, Jesus the King Saloon, The Voice of God Recording Library.
All this took a bit of writing, so it was a slow trip.
Another point that has surfaced in discussions about Ghana is the friendliness of the people. Have just recently read a long discussion on the Lonely Planet website about this topic, we found we had to agree with those who had spent a lot of time here, and had come to the conclusion that the people are very friendly, but quite often with the hope of benefiting from that friendship. We've had dozens of conversations all over Ghana, with the exact identical wording - Hello, do you like Ghana, I want to be your friend, can we exchange email addresses (or phone numbers, mailing address etc). The fact that the wording is identical all over the country makes us suspect that it is being taught in schools. Can't work out what people expect to get from this "friendship" from someone they've spoken to for a few minutes.
Ho is an interesting enough town, but has deep road gutters which also serve as sewers, with occasional overpowering stenches. The creek through the centre of town has boulders scattered in its bed, may have been quite pretty in its time, but now is an open sewer, with pitch black water, and an evil smell. There is a major T intersection where the creek crosses the road, at the bottom of a long hill, and the safety rails have been knocked flat, doubtless by a vehicle with no brakes. This could have happened in the last 10 minutes, or 10 years.
We have no problem cashing travellers' cheques at the bank. Posters on the wall indicate they will lend to anyone for anything, so TC's shouldn't be a problem. Had intended to get a taxi back, but today is one of the rare days when it has not been stinking hot, so decide to walk back as well. On the way back, we take a photo of a typical display outside a rice vendor's shop, with rice from countries such as Thailand, Pakistan, Mali, even the USA, and not misdirected aid. Must be some strange pricing policies to allow it to compete with Ghana rice!
Have another slow internet session at Blessings Internet, then back for a swim in the afternoon, and talk to two English girls who have just arrived from near the Burkina border via Accra, in 20 hours. We can't internet from the hotel, as they are reconfiguring it. We have a short blackout before they fire up the generator - one advantage of a flash hotel. We watch movies, then MP to sleep, while DP hangs in to watch a totally crap movie till late. We still haven't had a look at the large market, maybe we will tomorrow.
Friday 23 Feb Ho
We decide to stay another day if there is a room available.
. Talk to the English girls, who are on their way to Hohoe, borrow their phone charger, and talk for some time to a South African communication technician who is trying to chat them up. He is an ex-Super 12 rugby player, has spent a lot of time in trouble spots, including Iraq. He tells us that his company, the RSA telecom, has financed all the new football stadiums in Ghana (the one in Tamale will cost US$220 million) because they own the African football competition. He doesn't like or trust Nigerians, reckons that the rot set in in RSA in 1994. Will probably try to emigrate to Australia.
Have another swim, then down town to the internet and a look at the large market. The market is big, but really has nothing new, so buy some bananas and return to the hotel There is another blackout, but the generator kicks in. We have another round of chips and sautéed vegetables, which have become our staple diet, then try for red-red with plantain, but there is no plantain, in spite of the market just up the road having a stack of it. Have to settle for rice with it. Watch movies till midnight, including "In Her Shoes".
Saturday 24 Feb Ho - Akosombe
DP wakes with cramps and pain in her ribs, which she assumes was from way she was sleeping. Needs an hour of massage to improve it to where she can walk with it. OK after that.
Down to breakfast, where there is no jam for the toast, as they've run out. As the toast is about an inch thick, brown on one side only, and was toasted some time in the last three hours, this is a bigger inconvenience than it sounds. The African approach to service is really wearing us down. Staff in the hotels seem to always congregate in fours and fives, where they sit around talking, and ignoring the few customers they have. Staff in this hotel exceed guest numbers by a broad margin, yet no-one has foreseen that the jam will run out, or has done anything about it when it has.
It's a similar situation with drinks at the pool bar. When we first arrived, they only had a couple of types of soft drinks, as the others had run out. Two days later they still haven't replenished them, although there are plenty in the other bars. We just bypass them now, and go direct to the drink dispenser in the reception area ourselves.
The Telecom blokes have to leave breakfast early when they get a phone call saying their Ghanaian driver is in gaol. They pay the requisite bribe to get him out, but the last time we saw them they were refusing to pay to get the car out, considering the functioning of the telecommunications system was a good bargaining tool.
At the tro-tro station there is a new Hyundai van waiting three quarters full, and we suck on yogos while we wait. There are four western girls in the back, and MP suggests a whip-around for the spare seats, but it fills before this is necessary. The driver is really nursing the vehicle, so we have a slow, smooth trip, a fair way back the way we came to pick up the road south. There is a passport check on the main road, and the girls have been told they don't need their passports, so haven't got them. A bit of a delay, then they get the OK. There are big crowds at weddings in a couple of towns. Then we are dropped at the roundabout just past the Volta bridge at Atimpoku. Hole up at the Adomi Hotel at the roundabout,

34. Hotel and Volta Bridge, Atimpoku

but DP doesn't like the poky rooms. Have a drink, and talk to the pleasant manager, who tells us which way to the more flash Continental Hotel, just up the river. MP holds the fort while DP takes a walk to check it out. It is 2-star, and looks really nice, so we book in, for 561,000 cedi, more than double last night's hotel. Watch a bit of Days of Thunder, take a swim, check out the caged monkeys, and crocodiles, put the valuables in the safe, and then head off to see Akosombo dam.
It costs 2x 4000 to the Akosombo taxi station, where we find out how the system works. Our first offer was 50k to the dam in a taxi, but someone else offered to take us to the Ghana Bank, where the tour office is located, to buy a tour for 25k each, charter a car for 50k, and off you go. A taxi a couple of hundred metres to the bank of Ghana cost 2x5k, but at least it put us in the right place, as there was no indication as to where the office was, or if it was open.
We filled in forms, had a quick look at photos and diagrams of the dam, then headed off with our lady guide to the dam. Having cleared security, our car drove us to the dam wall, and parked in the shade. We walked over the penstock for the turbines, and onto the dam wall proper, to get the description and history from our guide, took photos, and then walked back. It is a rock fill dam, with a centre rock outcrop, and an intake channel excavated from rock. The dam stretches north for 402 kms. The dam wall isn't terribly long, or high, and the current water level is dead low, with only two of the 6 turbines operating, and still sucking air into the inlets.

35. Akosombo dam, low water, 2 turbines

At present the water level is 239.80 metres. Other years when it has been this low or lower have been 1984, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2006. This is the reason for all the rotating 12-hour blackouts. If it gets much lower it won't be able to operate at all. Previous years when the water level has been at or near its highest level (about 276 metres) were 1974, 1975 and 1991.
The guide's knowledge was pretty limited, didn't know there were two dam walls, separated by a rock outcrop. On our way back, took a photo of an obsolete turbine runner, and asked to be dropped at the Volta Hotel, up the hill from the dam.
This is a pretty flash hotel, with a large lounge area and deck overlooking the dam wall, but this was all the view you could get with the haze in the air, and even on a clear day, the view would still not be all that exciting. Get a cold drink and a serve of chips which takes forever, which is normal, according to an expat, but is good when it arrives. DP decides against the internet, 10k for 15 minutes, 6 times normal, a typical 5-star screw-the-customer trick. Take some photos of the dam wall, and the "unfortunately named Dodi Princess", the cruise ferry which goes to Dodi Island -not much use when you can barely see a kilometre, then head down onto the main road to pick up a share taxi.
The taxi which stops has a very well-dressed couple in the back, and an extremely well-dressed driver. They appear to have been to, or are going to, a wedding. The driver offers 5k to the village, "lots of money" to our hotel, so we settle for the village. We are offered 2.5k each, or 10k for the whole taxi, but hold our nerve and the taxi fills fairly quickly, and are dropped off at the hotel in time for late afternoon photos of the hotel, and a swim. The hotel is quite photogenic, with a walkway along the river, and boats tied up. The flagship speedboat, on a trailer in the yard, has no motor, and looks like it has been thus for a long time.
We watch "The Punisher", and wait for the 6pm movie to start. Just as it does, the electricity goes off (we seem to be getting far more blackouts than one every five days!). Out to confirm that the hotel does have a generator, which finally comes on about 6.20pm (if they knew it was going to happen, why couldn't they have the generator ready - this is an expensive hotel) Watch "Evylyn" with interruptions from the staff turning the channels over to what they want, but DP sorts them out, and we finish and go to dinner, almost getting what we select from the menu. There are probably fifty or so rooms at this upmarket hotel, it is Saturday night, but there are only three couples in the whole hotel, but many more staff than this. It can't possibly be making a profit.
Sunday 25 Feb Akosombo - Accra
Problems in the night include an A/C unit which won't shut off, short sheets, emergency loo stops, and staff trying to get into the room at 7am. MP is quite abrupt with them, having had enough of so-called "more-than-one star" service. At breakfast, they have everything, with only one small stuffup.
We get down to the highway about 9, to find the internet is closed, so walk far enough from the roundabout to allow a bus to stop, and start looking hopeful. No luck with the first two tro-tros, but a 4x4 crew cab pickup stops for us. It is a young bloke who is returning from delivering some gear for his boss to Kpandu. Put DP and the bags in the back, MP in the front. The driver doesn't know what is a fair charge for a trip to Accra, so look it up in the guide book and settle for 2x30k, good for us, good for him. He doesn't talk much, but puts on a CD of reasonably pleasant hymns (it is Sunday) and runs it all the way to Accra. He is driving fast, but well, so we settle down to check out the scenery. The road is generally flat and good, with a higher escarpment to the north, and outcrops of limestone to the south. We fairly quickly lose sight of the Volta River, which is quite wide here, backed up from a dam 30km downstream, and move into dry deciduous scrub and fallow cropland. We pass through a wildlife reserve, seeing a couple of baboons on the roadside. We pass the wreck of a tro-tro in the gutter, with the roof completely removed, and are told all 16 people died in it. This has to be the same one Didee, the Danish girl told us about at Cape Coast, belonging to friends of her friend.
The last section of the route is on a dual carriageway toll road. We don't know who the driver works for, but he doesn't pay tolls, or stop at police roadblocks. We are going fast now, but not as fast as some, and there is no speedometer to check, but the kilometres aren't counting down too quickly. We are now in the familiar sprawl of Accra, recognising some of the landmarks. We have decided to opt for the Adabraka area, as it has a good internet, and some reasonable hotels, although the guide book doesn't seem to like any. We are dropped at Kojo Thompson Road, Adabraka, pay up and part. Find ourselves right outside the Crown Prince Hotel, so decide to have a look. The rooms are cheap enough, and available, so at least we won't have to sleep rough, but it is a real rat house, with scary security notices about expensive shoes and clothes, not just valuables, so decide to keep looking. Further down the street we are contemplating the expensive but pretty grim looking $US88 Niagara, when we see a group of volunteer types across the road, and hail them. They are going to a nearby restaurant, so we go with them, to get a drink, and look at their Bradt Guide.
They are Dutch volunteers, heading for Akosombo for a banana project, and one of them is a young man who has an American accent. He has a Jericocuara tee shirt from Brazil, so we have some common ground. We get a list of mid-range hotels from the guide, find that most of them are in Osu, and MP predicts they will be full, but the Pink Hostel, which reads OK, is nearby, so DP gives it a ring.
We get a start at 460k for an A/C double, and take a taxi for 20k. The driver doesn't know where the hostel is, and can't, or won't follow the map. Rather than take the simple, but longer route, he cuts through the back streets, getting close, but with still no idea, as street signs are pretty scarce, but we have seen some landmarks. DP gets him to call the hotel for instructions, but he really doesn't want to know. Finally, a bystander who knows the hostel gets in the car with us, and guides us about 6 blocks to the right address. MP tries to thank our guide, but he is busy pissing against the wall. Decides to pay him 10k instead, and tell the taxi driver to take him back home.
The hostel is well kept, but deserted. Have to wait about an hour to get into our room, which is small, but neat, and most things work, but the power is off. When we get power, we watch the end of Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail, then head out for the internet. BusyNet is a high tech cyber café, with a centralised server system, and rows of monitors and keyboards. The only way to use USB keys is through an admin computer, which takes a while. The system sort-of works, but MP gets 2.2 hours instead of the 1 he paid for. We upload photos fairly quickly, in spite of the too-smart cyber café software, and flickering ads in the margins.
Outside, we briefly see the English girls from Ho, but can't make contact, head back just on dark via the restaurant at the Paloma Hotel, where the menu looks OK, but we don't have enough money with us. Back at the hostel, we have a fair fried rice and Beef Bourguignon, watch Monster in Law, and a very weird, bloodthirsty semi-animated "Sin City", which is meant to be a series of interlinked incidents, but some of the links don't seem to connect. We are definitely ready to go home! With the A/C on, it's pretty cold. Use the doona in the morning.
Monday 26 Feb Accra
DP is late for breakfast, at 9.50, and has to talk the cook into serving her. Doesn't know the cut-off is 9.30, because there are no signs anywhere to show this. We head into town early, walking and trying to interest a share taxi, but we work out we are walking almost as fast as the traffic, and should walk all the way in, and get a taxi back in the heat of the day. We have a hot walk about 4km to the roundabout at Cantonment Rd, being passed on the way by the longroadsouth.com Landrover we first encountered in Mali. This is the main drag of Osu. This looks like a real tourist resort street, with spruikers, t-shirt vendors, all sorts of touts, and hotels and cafes.
Spot a forex office right at the start, and change all our Cfa, except a rather tatty 5000 for cedis, at 18000 for 1000, and are now pretty well placed to see out our time here without needing further change. Further down, we find the juice bar Nourish Lab Smoothy's, where the fruit and yoghurt slushies are every bit as good as the guide book says, even at 25k each.
We walk to the end of the tourist area, are contemplating taking a taxi to look at the coffin workshops, when we spot the Canadian/Australian bloke we met in Kumasi. He is off to India for 4 to 5 weeks, in the Chennai area. We decide against seeing the coffins, and walk back to Frankie's Hotel,

36. Cantonment Road and Frankie's, Accra

where we check out the restaurant, and share an excellent BLT sandwich with good OJs. Catch a 2x2.5k share taxi back to near Nkrumah Circle, Decide we are close enough, as it is a dodgy area, so repair to the EasyNet café for more internet, then back for more movies on TV. Get the Bold and Beautiful instead.
Head out before dark to get a share taxi to Osu. Settle for a 30k, haggled down to 20k private deal to near Frankie's Hotel. The OJs are not as good, as dictated by Tigra's Law, but the BLT is still excellent, and the Salad Nicoise fair. Get another 20k taxi back, and watch Ellen de Generis make a hash of hosting the Oscars, reading and watching at times.
Tuesday 27 Feb Accra - Airport
Early down to breakfast (before 9.30), after watching Notting Hill, and get organised for our 9.30pm flight. We can't have a late checkout, as they have incoming guests, but can leave the bags, so are out before 12, and off to the Paloma for their 60,000 buffet lunch. There are only 6 people and a kid in the restaurant while we are there. The range of local fare is disappointing, but we get to taste the glugginess of Baku, made from fermented maize meal, and some smoked, or otherwise preserved fish. The OJ was canned, or powdered, and in general, the experience was thoroughly Ghanaian. Down to internet till we get sick of it, and before we cut into our buffer of local money to get to the airport at any cost. DP borrows a Nokia charger from one worker, cons another into using his power point, and we kill half an hour getting some charge into the phone.
Walk back to the hostel, where the security man has said he will get us a taxi. We are surprised he is able to stop one on our street, but it takes a fair bit of haggling to get the price down from 50k to 30. We head out in heavy traffic to Osu, then through the diplomatic area, past a rather flash Australian High Commission, then rat run through the back streets, almost getting sandwiched between a bus and a 4x4 at one intersection. Having come this far through Ghanaian traffic, we are keen on getting out alive, and are relieved to get to departures in one piece. After haggling our man down to 30k, we give him 35, and he seems pleased.
We walk in to find a pretty bare departure lounge, under renovation like half the departure lounges in the world. There is no forex to change our excess cedis, and they certainly don't travel, so we go looking for the arrivals. We are helped by a staff heavy hitter to find a way into arrivals, but are hindered by our bags, so retire to departures to regroup. DP goes on her own, and has to fight for the attention of a bored, disdainful woman forex clerk, but persists in overcoming this last example of Ghanaian employee bad manners, and gets $US12 for her trouble.
The Kenya Airways staff have surfaced in the hall, so we book the bags through to Bangkok, and move through to departures, where DP lashes out on an excellent chicken roll to last us through till we are fed on the plane. The plane is on time, and it is dark when we fly out. We have a wrong seat confrontation with a crippled guy. Try to do the right thing by asking which seat he really wants, but somehow in the mixup, we end up with a chunky African sitting beside MP, taking up all the room on the arm rest, and half the seat back. The meals are ok, but the movie screens are up on the roof, and the promised main feature never arrives. Get to Nairobi with very little sleep, just as dawn is breaking.
Wednesday 28 Feb Nairobi (Kenya)
We stay in transit, having a short, uncomfortable sleep on the cold, hard lino platform in the smoking area outside the Kenya Transit Lounge, the same one we used on the way out. Use the tables in the transit lounge for a while, then head out to get transit visas, for US20 each. Find the girl running the desk helpful, but unable to accept anything but $US. Allows DP to go through with her passport to change a travellers cheque, but she comes up $2 short, and has to go back a second time.
Out in the arrivals, there are plenty of agents offering tours, safaris, hotels, but we settle on a woman with an upstairs office, who offers a variety of programmes, but we narrow it down by deciding it is too cold for swimming, we have seen all the sights except the National Park, where it is too late for a game drive, and the orphanage, and we are unlikely to see anything new, and what we really want is a bed. The upshot is we get a ride into town and back for US$36 (something we said we wouldn't do on our last day, as Nairobi has a reputation for violence), and a room at the three (?) star Ambassadeur hotel, right in the centre of town, for US$45, paid with 69 euros, with the change in Kenyan shillings.
The car is not a regular taxi, and we have a fast and scary ride into town, which has changed a lot in the 18 years since we were here last, but get there OK. The hotel may be 3 star, but it is many years since it was last renovated, with the rooms dark and tired, but most things seem to work. They know we are coming, and we get into the room quickly, and off to bed for a few hours sleep.
After resting we think of having a bath in the large tub, but the water refuses to warm up. A phone enquiry reveals that there is no hot water, but they can heat some, in the hallway with an electric immersion heater, for us. We end up with a deep plastic tray of hot water, from which we can have a sort-of shower, using the tooth glass from the bathroom. We take a quick tub, and head into the streets with a minimum of gear, and the small camera.
Nairobi is a real city, with a real CBD full of people and vehicles, a lot more sophisticated than we remember,

37. Nairobi from the Ambassadeur

but still scary. We are careful where we walk, but manage to get a good look at the inner city. Find the original thorn tree, now inside a flash coffee shop, the post office, and the original circular high rise building all of which we remember from last time, then have a very filling Wimpy double patty burger with most of our remaining Kenyan shillings. Watch TV in the room for a while, then down at 5.30 to wait for our driver. Turns out to be the same one as in the morning, but is friendlier this afternoon, points out the US embassy bomb site. We take photos of marabou storks in the trees over the main road on the way out, and suffer our final African hassle, with a police roadblock just at the airport entrance.
Kill time in the transit lounge, can't find anything, even chewing gum, for 60 shillings, almost one US dollar. We are pretty shattered by the time we get away at 9.45pm. It is a better plane, with 2-4-2 seating, and individual screens. Again, we don't get the advertised feature, but get a lot of reasonably current movies, including all but the last few minutes of The Departed, Miami Vice, and repeated screenings of The Firm. Get into Bangkok about 11 am, with very little sleep.
Thursday 1st March Bangkok - Sydney
We decide we will try and stay in the hotel at the airport, if we can get our Sunday flight brought forward. We also need a hotel name to put on the immigration forms, particularly the special out-of-Africa health form. We talk to the Thai desk in transit, and are offered a 5pm flight today! This means a third night spent flying, with the prospect of no sleep again, but it solves a lot of logistics problems, so take it, without any surcharge. The Thai staff member says we can get the baggage booked through from this side of customs, as Kenya Airways will just collect it if it is left as a waif on the carousel, but MP is sceptical, so we go through immigration. We find that, contrary to previous advice, we need our health sheet checked, so go back to the nearest health check. There is an Australian youth waiting, so we wait for a while, then notice there is no-one in the office behind. Take the other bloke up with us to the active health check, get stamped through, then back to immigration. At the baggage carousel, can't find our bags, but there are people off our flight also looking. Cannot get any response out of the only worker there, but eventually bags start turning up, and we are able to recover ours, and pass through customs and up to the departure lounge.
We settle down to an uncomfortable rest on metal seats, waiting for our flight to come up on the board, then DP takes a walk and finds a Thai check in for all flights. Get through to the transit area, where we know there are comfortable lounges, and settle down, with the alarm set, to wait for our flight. It is a jumbo, and full of Australians. Seems strange, hearing all the Aussie accents. The plane is fairly old, only has overhead screens. Had a great sunset

38. Sunset on the flight to Sydney

DP takes a sleeping pill, and gets some sleep. Watch Happy Feet, which isn't as good as one might have hoped. It may be better on a large screen. Get into Sydney in the early morning, glad to be home.
General overview of our trip
Mali - we loved it. The people were friendly and honest, the Niger River pinasses and culture were wonderful, the Dogon area was great, and the whole country had great markets. The Sahel-style mud mosques were impressive, and Timbuctou was better than we expected.
Burkina Faso - The name was more exotic than the country. Didn't feel the need to spend a lot of time there
Ghana - Mole National Park was better than expected - loved the elephants, warthogs and baboons. Axim Beach was special. Elmina boat harbour and castle were impressive, as was Cape Coast castle. However found the laziness and attitude of hotel staff hard to take. Found it to be grotty and run-down rather than grotty and exotic like Mali. Probably suffered by being at the end of our trip, rather than the beginning when we were fresh, and the novelty hadn't worn off.
Togo - Just had a quick look at the country, so can't comment on the whole country. However Coco Beach Hotel was a real hotel, a rare novelty in our trip, and Vogan market was world-class.
For anyone interested in planning their own trip, we have excel documents showing costs for each of the countries. The travelpod format doesn't allow us to post them here, but we can email them to anyone who asks.