Blog: Drifting along the Gold Coast

(originally appeared on ContinentalDrifters.ca)

Accra, Ghana.

Well, here we are, alive and well (as if you expected it to be any different). We’ve been here in Accra for a couple days now, and we’re just starting to settle in; all the more reason for our restless feet to make our next set of plans. A week and a half ago we were in Benin, and sort of out of left field (as far as our long term planning was concerned) we were forced to choose between east or west: Nigeria-Cameroon or Togo-Ghana. For our trip to continue, with my recently filled passport, we had to make it to one of the Canadian Embassy’s (either in Younde, Cameroon or here in Accra) and its pretty obvious which direction we decided upon. Once we figure out our options for passport renewal, we’ll have a couple weeks to spend backpacking around Ghana to keep us occupied – most likely spent on one of the many beaches that scatter the southern coast – and then make the big plan from there.

The big plan. Our original itinerary had us arriving in Cape Town for Christmas, so every sort of “plan” that we had developed for travel after the bus had revolved around that destination. It turns out Accra is a bit of a dead end as far as overland travel in this part of Africa. Its a great stand alone destination, or starting point for travel throughout West Africa (even to go overland to Morocco, the opposite of what we just completed), but for us, Ghana represents a dead end. Cote d’Ivore to the West, Benin/Togo to the East and Burkina Faso to the north.

Plans are for the weak anyways. So are guide books. I recently ripped out the Lonely Planet Africa pages pertaining to the two regions we just left – West and North Africa – and gave them to Kelvin, someone we met here in Accra, who would love to travel the same route we just did, overland to Spain. He asked us to explain it. We did him one better. Im pretty sure whatever we do it will have all the makings for one of the best adventures ever, and all i really need is a map and my passport, so nothing is out of the realm of possibilty. Until then, enjoy all of the back content that we have compiled over the last seven and a half weeks as we try to catch up, and we should have hatched our latest brain child by the time we catch up. Wish us luck.