Bob Marley, the weather and my first weekend in Ghana

25-10-10

My first morning in Ghana was stormy. After arriving at the airport late the night before and being hit by the humidity, I was surprised to wake up to intense rains and winds. The night before, my plane in South Africa had been delayed by a thunderstorm, so maybe it was the same one. Areas were flooded and traffic in places couldn’t move. By mid-afternoon, it was hot again. And every day since has been hot too.

The heat here is as you might expect: humid and harsh. Temperatures at this time of year don’t get much higher than 30 to 35 degrees, but the city of Accra requires that you walk to many places, making it all the more extreme.

On the weekend, well and truly ready to hit the coast, I visited nearby coast town called Kokrobrite for a large reggae party. The ride to Kokrobrite was by mini-bus (Tro-tro) and to travel 20km to the town cost 60p or around AU$0.40c. Around twenty people from projects-abroad went along, and Saturday afternoon was spent mostly lounging around on the beach, basking on the sticky sand and swimming in the perfectly cool sea.

The beach resort –Big Milly’s – wasn’t tro-tro cheap but still very affordable. Around 10 o clock, the reggae started and kept going without break for the next four hours. The party was a mixture of fewer tourists and more Ghanaians. Many of them were Rastas, short for Rastafarian, a deeply spiritual group who really, really, really love Bob Marley. One of the more popular songs of the night was a rendition of his name, over and over again. The reggae dancing was wild too and the only rule was to mix it up. If you were getting boring, there were rastas eager to show you some moves.

As it got late and the music stopped, the night moved onto the beach. Some neighbouring bars stayed open and there was a large drum session at one and then a bon fire on the sand. After that, everyone flocked to see something in the distance. A gigantic sea turtle was laying its eggs and a man stood over it with a flashlight in one hand and an open hat in the other.

Sometime later, back at Big Milly’s and sitting around exhausted, but too tired to go to bed, the night felt like it had finished. And then there was a loud bang. None of us had a clue as to what it was and a guard strode out of some nearby darkness, walking slowly, with a rifle in his arm. For some reason, he fired it a second time at what looked to be nothing, before wandering off to watch a movie with a dozen other Ghanaians over by the bar.

We decided to call it a night after this and all went to bed.