Two months into our trip and it really does not take much to impress us! So when we arrived at the Green Turtle Lodge we were blown away! Palm trees, white sand, beautiful blue sea and a bar made from a large pirogue – what more do we really need? The lodge is run by a young and incredibly friendly English couple (Tom and Jo) who are aided by their New Zealand friend, Steve, and it can be found just past Dixcove. Our routine over the next six days mostly revolved around the delicious meals served under bamboo umbrellas dotted in the sand around the lodge: breakfasts of muesli and French toast soaked in honey with fried banana’s; lunches of sandwiches, paninis, pizza’s, salads and thick-cut chips; dinners of fresh swordfish and kingfish!
Why not have another G&T?
We broke our routine of eating, sleeping and reading to explore the surrounds. To the east we could walk for a good hour on the beach without seeing a single person. And a 20-minute walk to the west led to the local village, mangrove swamps and an old fort perched on the peninsular. We took a pirogue ride with the locals up into the mangroves and walked to a secluded beach. We were also fortunate enough to have Danielle’s parents, Alain and Helen, join us from South Africa for the week. Not only did they bring a welcome addition to our topics of conversation, but also supplies of chocolate which made Easter feel much more homely!
We were keen to continue handing out footballs and, according to Tom, the local team (who had recently renamed themselves to the “Green Turtles”) would be a worthy cause. So one afternoon we jumped onto the back of the Green Turtle bakkie and headed out to football practise! To get to the field we walked through the bustling village to the screams of “Obruni” (white man) from the local children who seemed to be congregating in their hundreds around us (and in particular Paula, who seems to have a knack of attracting cute little children!). We delivered the football and then joined the Green Turtles to play a gruelling hour of football – when we weren’t tackling each other on bare earth we were hunting for the ball in thick grass!
On our last evening we played one finally volleyball game with Bash and Justus (two Americans we met who are travelling our same route to SA by motorbike) and then bid farewell to the Green Turtle. On our way to Accra we stopped at the town of Elima to visit the Elima Fort which is the second oldest fort in Ghana. Originally built by the Portuguese, the fort was used to imprison slaves under the most horrific conditions before they were shipped out of West Africa. We were taken on a detailed tour and our guide excelled himself in offering a profound and insightful analysis of the fort’s past. The history and beauty of the Ghanaian coast certainly left an impression on us, and we were sad to move on.
