West Africa 2025

Monday, March 3  Fish, Slaves, and Fire   A remarkable and full day.  We left Kumasi and drove towards the coast and the city of Elmina.  On the way we passed this palm oil factory: The seeds were fed into a hopper and crushed, releasing the oil: It was an OSHA nightmare: Further on down the road we passed a cocoa plantation and stopped to take a look: The seeds are the source of the cocoa: We reached the coast and drove west, reaching the entrance to the harbor.   Most of the fishing boats had already returned for the day, this one was entering the harbor: We drove over a bridge with a great view of the entire fishing village: There were flags from multiple nations!   Here’s an Israeli flag next to a Saudi one: We were told they are used to help locate one boat or another and that they have no connection to the countries the flags represent!   The boats require a lot of manpower: The primary reason for our visit here is Elmina Ca...

 Sunday, March 2          The Ashanti King   Our  trip was timed to get us to Kumasi for the Festival of Akwasidae, held at the Royal Palace, at which the Ashanti chiefs gather to pay homage to the Asantehene, the Ashanti King.  The borders of Ghana and other West African countries were drawn by colonial powers with no regard to tribal boundaries or allegiances; the Ashanti live not only in Ghana but in Togo and Ivory Coast.  The tribal leaders and the Ashanti king now have no direct power, but the government and the military, of necessity, maintain good relations with the tribal chiefs and the king whose authority is still respected by many of the people. We made a brief stop at the Manhyia Palace Museum, where we saw some quite beautiful Ashanti gold artifacts which have recently been returned (on loan, however) from two British museums:  We then walked a considerable distance downhill to the Kumasi Sunday ...

 Saturday, March 1   Dancing at a Funeral Today we drove from Accra to Ghana’s second largest city, Kumasi.  Kumasi is in the region of the Ashanti, an enormous tribal group who make up most of the population of the north of Ghana.  We stopped at a small village along the way to see the local market and the production of casava flour.   After parking the van we walked into the village:  We came upon the roasting of the casava into flour in large pans over an open fire.   The temperature outside the roasting area was in the 90s:  There was food shopping along the roadside:  And the hairdresser was there, too:  We continued on to Kumasi, where, we were told, on Saturdays there would be a number of Ashanti funerals.   They are not at all like ours.   The burial of someone who dies happens promptly, but the funeral is later, once the oracle has determined that the dead person’s spirit has arrived in the world beyond.   ...

 Thursday-Friday, February 27-28         Lomé and on to Ghana On Thursday morning we walked from our hotel to the center of Lomé where there is a large square with a monument to Togo independence (1960): The monument is clever—looked at from another angle, there is a human figure:  Togo is known for its fabrics, and we went to the Grand Marché to wander and shop:  There were many stores selling huge bolts of very colorful fabrics:  I bought a shirt, which was a 20 minute process including four salespersons and my fellow travelers.   The fabric I first liked came in a shirt which didn’t fit me, although the four people trying to sell it insisted it did (I had to pull it tight across my chest to even try to button it).   Ultimately, I found one in a fabric I liked which did, actually, fit. We briefly visited Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lomé before leaving for the Ghana border.  On Friday we began our explo...