Although every website you read tells you what a fantastic, friendly place
Ghana is, the choice of packages seems very limited. Is there a reason why
none of the bigger operators seem to have touched it yet, and most of the
smaller ones offer tailored packages or very small groups, often with basic
accommodation and travel arrangements? Penny House, North Yorkshire
Times Online Assistant Travel Editor Ginny McGrath, responds: Ghana is
a destination yet to get on the radar for large-scale tour operators, simply
because it wouldn't generate the level of bookings to make it a profitable
addition to their brochures and websites. It also lacks a sophisticated
transport infrastructure and luxury hotels, so that rules it out for a lot
holidaymakers.
However, that doesn't mean slumming it. Explore
(0844 499 0901) offers one of the most comprehensive programs in West Africa
among British operators, and this includes two trips to Ghana.
The first is a 16-day escorted group tour called "Kingdom
of the Ashanti", which takes in all corners of the country. The
tour’s imminent July trip is full, but there are departures in October and
December costing from £1409 with flights from London, transportation, 15
nights’ B&B, a few other meals and all guiding and excursions. It
includes a trip to see elephants in the Mole National Park, the Atlantic
coast and the museums and markets of Accra.
In addition, Explore offers a "Volunteer" tour to Ghana, involving
10 days working on a turtle conservation project beside the sea at Akwidaa,
followed by seven nights’ escorted touring of the country’s main sights. The
conservation is concerned with protecting three types of turtle nesting on
Ghanaian beaches: the Olive Ridley, the Leatherback and the Green turtle,
all endangered.
Tasks include helping stragglers reach the shore, erecting effective signage
and helping with workshops for local fishermen. The tour has only one
departure, on 5 February 2009, and it costs from £1875 with flights from
London, transportation, 14 nights’ B&B, most other meals, the
volunteering and all guiding and excursions.
The Explore group size for both trips is up to 16 - so it depends what you
class as "very small groups". Explore is a member of the Association
of Independent Tour Operators, which means it has signed up to a code of
conduct and a quality charter.
Another company that operates to Ghana is London-based The
Traveller (020 7436 9343), a cultural operator specialising in
pioneering destinations. The company can organise tailor-made trips to "Africa’s
cradle of commerce with Europe", focusing on its troubled history and
visiting key sites in the gold and slave trade histories.
Highlights include th Gold Coast, great castles buit variously by Portuguese,
Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Prussian and British settlers down the years, and
Kumasi, the ancient capital turned hive of modern activity.
One final thing worth mentioning on Ghana is that on June 9, the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office reported news of sporadic, localised outbreaks
of civil unrest in the Bawku (Upper East Region) of Ghana. The FCO currently
advises against all but essential travel to that particular region. Neither
Explore nor The Traveller’s trips visit the region, and further unrest in
other parts of Ghana is not expected, but it's worth checking the site for
updates.
