Ghana has about 300 miles of Atlantic coastline and one of its biggest industries is fishing. I chose a town called Kokrobite which is close to Accra since it was easy to get to by Tro Tro (little private buses that form the bulk of the transport system in Ghana). I figured I could move on from there and see some more of the coast. While I thought I was going to a sleepy fishing village, what I actually found was a big international party that, as far as I tell, has been going on for a decade. Some of the people I met included lots of young Ghanaian Lebanese (people from Lebanon run a lot of business in Ghana), extremely attractive flight attendants (mainly from Emirates Airlines, which is based in Dubai and is quickly becoming the largest airline in the world), a few Peace Corp volunteers, a German girl who works for the U.N. peace keeping mission in Ivory Coast (who knew there was peace to be kept in Ivory Coast?) a Swedish student studying African politics, an Australian who runs "safaris without animals" and a few guys from Nigeria, one of whom was pretty brilliant. Not to mention all the local Rastafarians (which is a pretty big religion in Africa, although I suspect it came from Jamaica rather than Ethiopia). If I ever call off the search for the real Ghana, you know where to find me. It was a really good time.
Below are some pictures I took of the beach. Note that taking pictures on the beach is inadvisable because the local thugs seem to make a bit of cottage industry of robbing tourists of ANYTHING they bring to the beach. Not that is a good excuse, but the area around the beach (and the fishermen themselves) are poor poor poor and the tourists are pretty well off. I was told by locals that many of the signs directing unsuspecting tourists to beach "resorts" are, in fact, rues to entrap tourists into a compromising place and rob them. Anna, the German U.N. employee who works in Ivory Coast (one of the most dangerous counties in the world at the moment) was robbed of her camera. I was paranoid of having the same thing happening to me, but I could not resist, so I took some pictures and hoped my tough looks scared off the local thugs. It worked! Here is a picture of a boat coming in and people going to buy some fresh sea food.
In all honestly, as much fun as I had, it was not guilt free. Hanging out with expats and attractive flight attendants is not what I came to Ghana to do, after all. But it seems to be the opportunity that has presented itself. I might visit some of the Peace Corp volunteers at their placements, so that might be a way to see the "real Ghana." But who am I to say that an all night party on the beach with local Rastas is not the real Ghana?
1 comment:
Jesse... have no guilt my jewish friend. You are there. You cant help what you happen to run into. If its a bunch of hot flight attendants and rastas, so be it! Thats your chosen path (lucky bastard). Keep on exploring and doing whatever you are doing... it sounds good to me!
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