Accra - Not Recommended by Blissful Adventures

Culture shock is a phenomenon rarely experienced by us but Accra, the capital of Ghana, took us by surprise in spite of Sheila’s previous experiences. According to the Travellerspoint Travel Guide Accra is considered one of Africa’s most developed cities where old colonial architecture stands alongside modern resorts, developed to welcome the growing tourist industry. So we took a taxi to visit the colonial buildings, many of which now form part of the Makol market…

Unfortunately we never got into the market’s chaotic parking lot because of congestion, but we had to pay the parking fee anyway to get out of the line up. We did however manage to snap a few photos of the marketers on the fringe of the action…

After our aborted trip to the market we went to Accra’s number one tourist spot, the Nkrumah monument. Here we were enthusiastically waved into a parking space by a dozen shady characters who were aggressively demanding that we should visit their souvenir shops. We fled without visiting the monument and headed for one of the exclusive modern resorts on the beach for lunch – oh dear! Twenty dollars for one club sandwich plus 6% service fee for daring to use a credit card. The food wasn’t great but the restaurant's wildlife was interesting…

When you are paying $500 a night or more for a beach resort you might want to swim in the ocean – but not in Accra where the shore is bordered by thousands of shanties without any sanitation apart from the sea, and the beaches are littered with garbage and old tyres. However, these local fishermen seemed happy enough as they mended their nets…

While all hotel prices are ridiculously expensive in Accra be aware that the price quoted is for single occupancy only, (even if you book a double or suite). A second occupant will cost at least 20% more, not to mention the extra $7.50 for breakfast of a fried egg with dry toast and a cup of Nescafe. Outrageous – but not as bad as the taxi driver who, after failing to get us into the market or Accra’s No1 attraction, demanded $100 US for his services.
We have now left the madness of Accra for the sanity of Sunyani, a delightful small city in central Ghana, but not before the waitress at the airport restaurant in Accra blatantly added 50% to the already expensive bill by falsely claiming that she had inadvertently given us old menus.
Sorry Accra, but if your aim is to attract tourists you need to clean up your streets, clean up your beaches, charge sensible prices, and take some some lessons from Morocco on how to treat guests.