Almost every trip starts in Accra and then runs west along the coast road to Cape Coast and Elmina, where the castles sit above working fishing harbours and the canopy walkway at Kakum is an hour inland. Kumasi, up in the forest belt, is the Asante capital and the reason to leave the coast: a royal court, the craft villages around it, and the largest single market in West Africa. East of Accra the Volta region has the lake, the hills and the country’s tallest waterfall. The north travels like a different country, and Mole National Park beyond Tamale is where the elephants are. Come between November and March and you get the dry season.
2 Ghana city guides
Fun fact
Ghana was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from colonial rule, on 6 March 1957. It took its name from the medieval Ghana Empire, which sat several hundred kilometres to the northwest of the modern border.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realityThe coast is the southern edge of it. Behind that sits the forest belt and Kumasi, then savanna, then the far north around Tamale, which reads as a different country in language, food and religion. Lake Volta runs down the middle of the map and takes a day to cross.
The realityGhana is where people start for a reason. English is official, the coastal road is well served, STC and VIP coaches keep a timetable, and PassionAir and Africa World Airlines fly Accra to Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi.
The realityIt is not, and nobody here wants it to be. Ghanaian jollof is built on aromatic rice cooked in the stew itself, which is a different dish from the Nigerian version rather than a worse one. Ordering it is how you start a conversation.
The realityKumasi is the seat of the Asante kingdom, with its own court at Manhyia, its own craft villages and the largest single market in West Africa. Skipping it for the beach is the most common Ghana mistake.
The realityCape Coast and Elmina are pilgrimage sites, and the dungeon tours are not a light hour. The Year of Return in 2019 brought the diaspora back in numbers and the country has been rebuilding around that ever since.
Cultural notes that actually help
- The right hand does the giving, the receiving and the eating. Passing money or food with the left reads as rude, even from a visitor who clearly did not mean it.
- Greet before you ask for anything. A handshake and a "good morning" come first, and in a group you work along the line from your right.
- Ghanaian day names are real names, not nicknames. Kwame is a Saturday-born boy, Ama a Saturday-born girl, and Kwame Nkrumah was named for the day he arrived.
- Ask before photographing people, and put the camera away in the dungeons at Cape Coast and Elmina unless your guide says otherwise.
- Sunday belongs to church across most of the south, and the north keeps Friday prayers. Neither is the morning to expect a busy office or a quick errand.
- The handshake often ends in a finger snap. Let the other person lead it and follow through; refusing the hand is the only wrong move.
- Chiefs still hold real authority. Entering a palace or a village properly means going through the chief’s elders, which is what a local guide is actually for.
Famous Ghanaian faces
Kwame Nkrumah
Kofi Annan
Yaa Asantewaa
Jerry John Rawlings
Azumah Nelson
Abedi Pele
Michael Essien
Asamoah Gyan
Marcel Desailly
Mohammed Kudus
Ama Ata Aidoo
Ayi Kwei Armah
Efua Sutherland
El Anatsui
Ibrahim Mahama
Sarkodie
Stonebwoy
Amaarae
Black Sherif
Must-try Ghanaian food
Jollof rice
Rice simmered in a tomato, onion and pepper base until it takes the colour of the stew. The argument with Nigeria over it is never going to end.
Waakye
Rice and beans cooked with dried millet leaves, which turn the whole plate red-brown. Breakfast food, piled with egg, gari, spaghetti and shito.
Kenkey
Fermented maize dough steamed in a husk and sold as a ball, eaten with fried fish and as much shito as you can take.
Omo tuo
Rice pressed into balls and served sitting in soup. Sunday food across the south.
Tuo zaafi
The northern staple: a soft maize or millet swallow eaten with a green ayoyo leaf soup.
Sobolo
Hibiscus steeped with ginger and pineapple and drunk cold. The national soft drink in all but name.
Red red
Black-eyed peas stewed in palm oil, with fried plantain alongside. The everyday lunch, and the one that happens to be vegetarian.
Fufu with light soup
Cassava and plantain pounded to a smooth, elastic dough, torn by hand and dipped in a clear pepper broth with goat or fish.
Banku and tilapia
Fermented maize and cassava dough, sour and dense, served with a whole grilled tilapia and a bowl of ground pepper.
Groundnut soup
Peanut ground into a thick soup with chicken or goat, and usually met with fufu or rice balls rather than a spoon.
Palm nut soup
Palm fruit pounded and boiled into a deep orange soup, often with smoked fish and crab in it.
Kelewele
Ripe plantain diced, tossed in ginger, chilli and spice and deep-fried. Evening food, sold hot by the bag.
Chichinga
Skewered meat rubbed in a dry peanut and pepper mix and grilled over charcoal. Ghana’s answer to suya.
Shito
The black pepper sauce that rides on everything: dried fish and shrimp, ginger, garlic and chilli cooked down in oil.
Bofrot
Fried dough balls, sweet and slightly chewy, sold warm from a glass case at the roadside.
