A Thrilling Adventure in Western Ghana – 11 Days

Today marks the beginning of your wonderful experience in the motherland. Your first full day in Ghana, after a sumptuous buffet breakfast at your hotel, we set off for the tour of Accra and its vicinity, passing through the economic and administrative districts.

• Visit W.E.B. DuBois Center honoring the life of one of the most prominent Pan-Africanists who chose to live and work in Ghana.
• Independence Square where you will see the enclosed flame of African liberation, which was lit by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1961.
• The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park is the final resting place of Ghana’s first president. Set in attractive gardens, there is an adjoining museum, which contains photos, artifacts, and insight into Dr. Nkrumah’s life.
• Just adjoining the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum is the famous global market place- the Accra Arts & Crafts Centre. How about trying out your bargaining skills at the largest open market in Accra whiles you shop for some stunning authentic African wear, arts and crafts as souvenirs for family and friends back home?. Shop for goods from Ghana and West Africa, including fabrics with various materials, designs, colors, and textures.
• Visit the Woodin Shop, GTP & PRINTEX shops on Oxford Street as well for authentic African Fabric for your custom-made clothing.

This evening, a seamstress will be at your hotel to take measurements for custom-made African clothing. Dinner at the hotel.

Optional: Hair expertly braided at selected Saloon on Oxford Street (own expense).

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel

After a well deserving breakfast and check out, we depart to Kumasi, the seat of the Ashanti Empire, where legend is still evident today. The Ashanti forms the biggest Akan ethnic group in Ghana. For centuries they were the rulers in this region because of their well-organized society.

Lunch/snacks & rest stops on the way.

Upon arrival in Kumasi in the late afternoon, we will visit the National Cultural Center, which features the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum and various studios of brass makers, potters, and batik makers. The Prempeh II Jubilee Museum, named for the former Asantehene (ruler of the Ashanti people). Exhibits include a replica of the famed Golden Stool, which is believed to have descended from the sky and is the spiritual symbol of the Ashanti people. Check into your hotel for dinner and overnight.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Lancaster, Kumasi

Today, you will visit the craft communities in Kumasi's surrounding verdant countryside after breakfast. Our first artisan village will be Adanwomase, where we can observe how the renowned Kente cloth is manufactured by hand on looms according to a long-standing custom that has been handed down through the years. View the Kente fashions and take advantage of the opportunity to buy. We could pay the paramount chief of this village a courtesy visit.

In the town of Ntonso, artisans' hand-stamp designs onto cotton fabric to create Adinkra textiles. For funerals and other somber events, black-on-black and black-on-red Adinkra cloth is worn; discover how the black dye is manufactured in the village from tree bark and make your own Adinkra sash to take home. Additionally, you can buy sizable pieces of the village-made Adinkra cloth. Cap off the cultural adventure with a visit to Manhyia Palace, official residence of Ashanti Kings (Asantehene) until 1974, now a museum containing treasured items relating to the Ashanti Kingdom.

Dinner at a local restaurant.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Lancaster, Kumasi

Today, we depart from Kumasi to Takoradi. Enroute, we will make a stop at Assin Manso, the burial site of two former slaves from the USA and Jamaica whose remains were re-interred in August 1998 during Ghana’s first Emancipation Day Celebration. A visit to “the Slave River or “Donkor Nsuo” offers the chance to see the place where captured Africans were washed before being conned in the Slaves Castles to await shipment to the Americas and Caribbean.

Lunch/snacks & rest stops on the way. We continue to Takoradi for the overnight.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Raybow International Hotel

Following a leisure breakfast, we check out of our hotel and travel to Maaha Beach Resort. En-route, stop in Axim, where we will visit Fort San Antonio, a massive triangular fort constructed in 1515 and was the second Portuguese fort built on the Gold Coast, after St. George’s Castle (Elmina Castle. It was constructed at the edge of the Ankobra River to enhance the defense on the landward side against the frequent attacks by the local people. This fort is reported to have amassed an enormous amount of gold.

The Fort’s 17th - 18th century paneling is of archaeological significance and was refurbished in the 1950s and used as local government offices.

Arrive at the resort, check-in and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Maaha Beach Resort

After a sumptuous breakfast, we drive to Benyin where we visit the Nzulezu village on stilt.

Upon arrival, you will enjoy a picturesque ride in a dugout motorized canoe on the river to Nzulezu Stilt Village. This unique village is built on stilt on the Tandane Lake. Nzulezu is one of the Amasuri Wetland, a ramsar site and the largest inland swamp forest in Ghana. The Wetland is a habitat for a variety of animals including monkeys, crocodiles, marine turtles and fish.. Nzulezu also represents an outstanding interplay between man and the environment.

Upon arrival back at your resort, enjoy the rest of the day at leisure - with a variety of activities to do which include cycling, swimming, sunbathing at the beach, quad biking, etc.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Maaha Beach Resort

Following breakfast, we depart to Ghana’s central region specifically to Elmina & Cape Coast, which have had the most significant effect on the lives of Africans in the diaspora.

Make a quick detour to visit Bisa Aberwa Museum, a fascinating masterpiece and legacy carefully curated by re-known Ghanaian artist Nana Kwaw Ansah. The Museum prides itself on being a place that recognizes and celebrates the achievements of African practitioners in the areas of visual arts, arts, crafts, literature, performance arts, film, music, sports, medicine, science and more. The 2,200-exhibit museum is regarded by Museologists, as one of the largest collections of sculptural representations in clay, wood, cement, painting, and photographs of personalities in Africa whose sacrifices have shaped African history, culture, and heritage both within the continent and the diaspora.

We continue to Elmina, arriving late afternoon. Transfer to your resort for the night.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Lemon Beach Resort

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Cape Coast Castle
• Fihankra Ceremony

After a leisure morning, visit Cape Coast castle, a UNESCO world heritage site. The castle is a thought-provoking monument to a harrowing period in the region’s history. You will take an emotional journey through the castle which held more enslaved Africans than any other in the region, viewing the dungeons and the infamous “Door of no return”. There is a significant historical museum inside, which explains the history of the castle and of Cape Coast itself. You can purchase literature on Ghana’s forts and castles, as well as the cultural history and traditions of Ghana.

Later in the day, you will go through the “Fihankra” Fihankra is a ceremony which seeks to reconnect people of African descent, who have been lost due to the transatlantic slave trade, to the motherland. This ceremony reconnects returnees with the cultural and spiritual ties that had been denied them for centuries. The final part of Fihankra includes a naming ceremony.

Return to the hotel for another night.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast

Hotel: Lemon Beach Resort

After an early breakfast and check-out, we depart on a scenic drive through the historic Denkyira Kingdom to reach Kakum National Park, a surviving tropical rainforest in West Africa. Choose between a 2 km nature walk through the rainforest to explore exotic flora and fauna with medicinal values, or experience a walk on the 40-meter-high canopy walkway.

After lunch (on own expense), continue to Accra. Transfer to your hotel for the night. The seamstress will be at the hotel to deliver your custom-made clothing and make alterations where needed.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Labadi Beach Hotel

Enjoy morning at leisure. There is an opportunity for last-minute shopping.

Later in the day, depending on your departure flight time, you will be transferred to the airport for your onward flight. After this trip you will forever view the motherland in the positive light it deserves.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast