Day 48… Friday 19th May
Another breakfast with a view, this one overlooking Cape Coast and joined by two friendly kittens. Found a print shop to get copies of the Benin visa required for the boarder crossing. Walked in the blazing heat around the town with no pavements and tuktuks / drainage gaps were a challenge. Tried to find somewhere that does Brown Card insurance with no success. Unfortunately it expires today and the only options is an office in Accra open on Monday. Lets hope we don’t get stopped by the Police (heavy rains will be a blessing!). Perhaps they won’t ask or notice the expiry date, or they may even take pity on us and no fine is issued. Took a tour around Cape Coast Castle, a much larger version of Fort San Sebastian with 400 years of slave trading history. The church next door were playing lively music all evening. Apparently this is part of a funeral and goes on for 5 days. Quite a noisy evening with several guests checking in late after the funeral and staff rushing around.
Allen’s perspective
Insurance was our biggest problem headache. When we purchased our original ECOWAS Brown Card at the Senegalese border we only had enough cash to cover for 1 month. This was set to expire on 19th May… today! This insurance provides basic cover for if we are in an accident, and is technically required by all ECOWAS countries, but rarely checked.
The insurance is usually easy to get, at a border or somewhere in the country you’re in. So, we went wandering. Having found a local insurance company which specifically covers cars we went in and had a chat with the lady there. A couple of phone calls later she said that unfortunately they could only issue to Ghanaian nationals. Along the road we went to another firm and they said no, although the security guard directed us over to the local DVLA, which matched advice on Facebook. Right next door to the DVLA was a large national insurance company, but after speaking to them they also said no.
At this point I’m getting a bit annoyed since no one can provide any helpful direction except for saying no. In a huff we drive around to the DVLA office and a friendly chap comes over to us. He knows the manager of the insurance company we just went to and turns out they are at a meeting just there. He promises to point them in our direction. We only had to wait a little while for the manager, Ivy, to come and have a chat with us. It seems that indeed no one can sell it to us but recommends we go to the Brown Card Ghana office in Accra. That means driving without insurance… I’m a tad nervous now.
