Mountains and Monkeys, Waterfalls and Weavers

There's no getting around it: Ghana is a bloody hot and sunny place. Even a brief time in the open leaves most visitors exhausted. In addition to having little canopy left, Accra is stiflingly humid and sends expats to their air-conditioned offices and pools (or for volunteers and students, to a cold bucket shower and a fan). Northern Ghana has none of the humidity, but during the day, the sun is even more oppressive.

Thank God for the Volta Region. The area of the country East of the artificial Lake Volta features highlands that experience a lot of moisture and humidity, but the nights are blessedly cool as the wind and clouds blow through. The region is also the homeland of the Ewe people, who are known for their friendliness.

All of this makes for an excellent long weekend from Accra. Mr. and Mrs. O convinced a recently-arrived and adventurous family to join them to visit a hilltop getaway of which Mr. O had fond memories but was not sure of the condition of the place. However, the group was lured by tales of waterfalls and monkeys, so they made the trek.

The main bridge to the Volta at Adomi is closed for repairs due to... well, nobody maintaining it.With the emergency ferry experiencing lineups, the group took a dogleg through Sogakope to Ho, with a pleasant lunch and pool break at the scenic Skyplus Hotel.

The view over Ho at the Skyplus Hotel

The road to Biakpa Mountain Paradise Resort was winding, but freshly-paved and a lot of fun - driving on a Ghanaian mountain pass would otherwise not be for the faint of heart. But the drive is worth it: the air up in the mountains is very cool, with clouds passing by and featuring cold, fog-soaked nights and mornings until the sun burns it away.

The "resort" was very basic - and as an isolated former government rest house in the hills, but it had all of the essentials for a very reasonable price. It also had a few interesting bells and whistles added over the years by its entrepreneurial owner: The kids (and Mr. O) immediately took to the trampoline and the enclosures for rabbits and turtles.

The group decided to go for a guided waterfall hike, which went down a valley path through cocoa fields and dense bush. It also featured some not-so-family-friendly features, including rope paths down steep hills and a full-on rappel down a rock face to get to the waterfall. Having made it so close, the families decided to cheat death and do the rappel, with Little Miss tied to Mr. O with a large cloth and under explicit instructions to hold on for her dear life. Quite simply: it was probably one of the worst parenting decisions ever made by Mr. and Mrs. O.

Just a Sunday walk in the woods.

However, the payoff was huge: a beautiful waterfall and pool for swimming after a long hike in the humid bush.

Worth the journey.

The group also went for a day trip to the nearby villages of Tafi Atome and Tafi Abuipe, which are known for their monkey sanctuary and traditional kente weaving respectively. In the case of Tafi Atome, the area had a local nuisance of monkeys (which were a convenient food source), until someone got the idea to develop an eco-tourism project in the early 1990s. Since then, the village has been an attraction, which has been a boon to an otherwise remote and quiet community. Finding the monkeys was easy enough: a five-minute walk into the forest, where the guide called to the area troop, who came for the bananas the group brought. Hold out a half-opened banana and they'll be hopping up in no time.

New friends at Tafi Atome

While colourful kente cloth is most well-known in the Ashanti Region, the Ewes of the Volta Region have also been producing it for hundreds of years. Another community tourist scheme, a visit to the village is relaxed and a great cultural experience, as visitors are encouraged and can watch it being weaved by traditional loom.

Weaving kente at Tafi Abuipe

The workshop

The aforementioned bridge closure has greatly discouraged tourists from visiting the Volta Region, which has affected local operators, but it is still very much worth the journey, both for the cool mountain air in the oppressive heat of the dry season as well as the warm people. Ghana is known (somewhat suspiciously) as the friendliest place in Africa, but Volta is known (quite accurately) as the friendliest place in Ghana.