Day 44… Monday 15th May
Sat enjoying the beach views with a coffee. Set off along the coastal road with a 2 and half hour drive. Very heavy rain storm started and we pulled over as visibility was poor combined with bad potholes. The bonus was hardly any vehicles on the road and the villages were deserted of the usual hustle and bustle of market stalls, people, cattle and vehicle all jostling for space. The vehicles we came across were driving very slowly which made a nice change. Passed several newly constructed warehouse buildings available for rent. The Ghanaian fashion is vibrant and colourful and the people are friendly, cheerful and wave a lot. Google maps does on occasion let us down as we followed a convoluted route to our lodge for the night on a very uneven road. Finally found our accommodation which was not where it was meant to be. Staff very friendly and welcoming. Usual scenario of the being the only guests so very attentive service. The bar overlooked the sea and a sea defence was being constructed. Favourite Ghanaian beers so far are ABC, Eagle and Club. E-visa sorted for Benin. Very easy process and visa issued within 2 hours. Many gigantic insects – I have remained remarkedly calm. Plenty of local wildlife including monkeys, lizards, goats, butterflies and many birds.
Allen’s perspective
Driving along some of these roads is an adventure at the best of times, navigating the potholes, people, cars, etc, but add the deluge of African rain into the mix makes it quite fun / challenging. Much more to come over the coming weeks!
Add to the mix that we are using a couple of different mapping apps on our phones to find places. Since we’re mostly on the beaten track Google Maps has worked superbly, but… when you get into towns and villages or onto dirt tracks like at Ankasa it is either flawed or missing data. The main app which has proven invaluable is OsmAnd (https://osmand.net/). It has many more of the tracks and dirt roads, and is still able to provide offline map caching and trip routing. Let’s hope it helps us get our way across the border from Nigeria into Cameroon… It’s well travelled but not even Google has that route mapped out.