6th March 08

Date: 6th March 08 – my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Location: Accra, Ghana
Weather: Hazy sunshine, humid like never before and 35°c
Status: All good, mission accomplished…..part 1

We’ve done it!! Arrived in Accra after 3 days travel from the north of the country and we have found our little oasis by the coast!

So a hell of a long way travelled, through 3 countries (Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana) over the last few days and the destination which we set for ourselves back in Morocco has been reached.

I gave Luke a clipping from a paper which my aunty Jenny was reading in Essaouira which related to the African Cup of Nations and the title was “Ghana Bound”, I placed it under Luke’s beer as a fortune cookie-style message….at the time I didn’t realise its significance but my man has been, seen and delivered more than I could ever imagine. The perfect start to my mission and a warm up to the mad, mad experience I’m about to have in central Africa.

We left Mali and travelled as quickly as we could south through Burkina Faso but wish we could have stayed for longer as the introduction of green, lush fertile soil for the first time in 3 weeks was a refreshing change and well needed! We basically travelled through the country in 2 days only seeing what passed our window but as we went the temps dropped and the humidity rose until the point where we sweated more than ever before, even sitting down was an effort!

Through the borders with no problem as we had the visas we needed and stayed at another catholic mission in Ghana before taking on the long drive south to the capital. It was a 10hr slog but with the aid of the gps and some amazing map reading skills from Luke, and we arrived at Milly’s campsite right on the beach about 30kms west of Accra.

Today, the 6th March is Independence Day in Ghana and also my birthday so the bar was the first place to visit and we used it to its full potential…..hence my slightly disjointed diary report!

We will service the Colonel here, pack Luke off to the UK and think about the next challenge ahead…..travelling by myself for the first time on the expedition, it’ll be hugely different but in the same sentence, another part of the experience.

The camp we’re staying at has a BIG night on Saturday, tomorrow, so hopefully it’ll be a relaxed one tonight before…..as I think the phrase goes, “tearing the ass out of it!!!”. To celebrate Independence Day of course!!

Will write the next entry when I feel human again J oh and one more thing….just met a wicked couple of local guys after Luke had tried on ANOTHER local costume except this time it was in pure black….but here they wear it as a funeral costume, and as we haven’t one to go to they suggested wearing it for my birthday…..so “lets get DEAD!” love it!

End of day location: Accra, Ghana
Distance covered: 460kms