Ghana cycling holiday
| country: | Ghana |
| trip type: | Moderate cycling holidays |
| departures: | 2009: 14 Feb, 18 Apr, 20 Jun, 15 Aug, 24 Oct, 19 Dec |
| price: | From £990 (13 days) excluding flights. Price includes camping equipment, accomodation costs, guide fees and three meals a day |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
The Lake Volta crossing takes you by bicycle through remote but friendly farming and fishing communities set in lush green farmlands from the Afram Plains across Lake Volta to the Togo mountain range and down to the Atlantic coast. We pass through amazing scenery of rural Ghana, staying wherever possible in small communities and in at community run eco-lodges, with a couple of nights camping.
Reasonable fitness levels are required with up to 70 km cycling on the flat some days, mixed with rest days for bird-watching, hill walks or trips to scenic waterfalls. We are accompanied by a vehicle to carry luggage, with bike spares and a mechanic. So we cycle unloaded, but the warm temperatures mean that we travel slowly and only moderate distances on many days, with plenty of time to rest.
Reasonable fitness levels are required with up to 70 km cycling on the flat some days, mixed with rest days for bird-watching, hill walks or trips to scenic waterfalls. We are accompanied by a vehicle to carry luggage, with bike spares and a mechanic. So we cycle unloaded, but the warm temperatures mean that we travel slowly and only moderate distances on many days, with plenty of time to rest.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1-3: | After a day in the capital, Accra, and a day travelling up to the top of the spectacular at Mpraeso, we get on the bikes. Downhill to Lake Volta, camping by the lake before taking an early morning ferry to the Afram Plains (30 km downhill). |
| Day 4: | Across the Afram Plains of fertile grassland and low forest, with spectacular birdlife and a few scattered villages. (60 km) |
| Day 5: | Early morning ride to meet the ferry to Kpandu, where we discover tarred roads, a bank, shops and bars with cold beer. (25 km) |
| Day 6: | To Liati Wote, staying in community run accommodation and taking a guided walk to the local waterfalls. (30 km) |
| Day 7: | A day to rest and explore the village or climb Ghana's highest moutain, Amedzofe, for spectacular views East into Togo and West down to the lake shore. |
| Day 8: | South to Tafi Atome, a village famous for its sacred monkeys which live in and around the village. We stay overnight in order to catch the monkeys early in the morning when they are most active. (30 km) |
| Day 9: | Leaving the monkeys we head south through the district capital, Ho, and on to a community ecotourism project at Helekpe, where we camp at the foot of the dramatic Adaklu moutain. (50 km) |
| Day 10: | To Sogakope on the East bank of the River Volta (50 km). |
| Day 11-13: | After cycling to where the Volta enters the sea at Ada (30 km), we have two days to enjoy the superb beach and river front scenery, which is also an important turtle breeding site. Options here include boat and canoe trips on the Volta, birdwatching around the Songor Lagoon, an internationally acclaimed marine wetland site, or just resting on the beach before we head back to Accra. |
how this holiday makes a difference
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The tour supports The Village Bike Project which provides low cost refurbished bikes, spare parts and training to rural communities. Each participant donates a bike together with tools and spares to an individual or community at the end of the trip.
Ghana does not have a significant tourist industry in the areas we visit. We will be supporting the first developments of tourist infrastructure which are designed around community run facilities, whose income goes back into the community. In Adowso we stay in a guest house which has been built by community labour with materials provided by the government. The revenue goes to the community. We stay in a six room community run guest house at Liati Wote. This Community-Based Ecotourism Project has been a collaborative effort of Nature Conservation Research Centre, Peace Corps Ghana, Ghana Tourist Board, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the Liate Wote community, with funding from USAID. Food is cooked for us in one of the village houses and guides from the village will show us round. Their profits are put into development projects chosen and managed by the community. Elsewhere accommodation is locally owned and run. We eat local food bought in the community where we are staying and employ local drivers and guides. The tour's carbon footprint is low - some guest houses will have no electricity, and rely on rainwater or local streams for their water supplies. The number of people on each tour is small, since we are guests in these villages, not voyeurs. Currently we can take up to ten people, with some sharing rooms or sleeping in tents in some villages. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |