You are Welcome!
The title says it all. The ghanaians have a saying when they greet you. Translated it says exactly that: Wonderful people.
A belated hi there from the land of Jungle, rain and humidity that makes the pores open and sweat run freely. This little piece of information is made much more interesting by the fact that according to those in the know, ie. The locals, this is actually “winter” and come November it will get *really* hot!. Now lets go back a few years – well ok a lot of years – when I was but a nipper at school, and in the Geography class I was taught that when it is winter in the south, it is summer in the north.
Granted that when u see a weather map of the UK during June, the maximum temperature is 14 C and it is rainy, but hell – even they call it summer. Couple this piece of information with a smiley SAA captain announcing that we have crossed the equator on our six hour trip from JHB to Accra, all my teachings tell me that it is summer in Ghana. I will dwell on this fact over then next few months no doubt…
Monday did turn out to be a bit of a rush with me attending a contract meeting at the office, but all in all I had enough time at the airport to recline in the business class lounge – not because we travel business class, but courtesy of my Silver Card – juicing up on two ciggies before getting onto the plane. True to form there was an issue with luggage, which delayed our push back by 40 mins, and while doing the taxy to 27R, everytime the pilot touched the brakes it sounded like the wheel had falling off. Needless to say this required a right turn into the lower bay area and a further 30 mins while the mechanic tighted the wheel nuts, or retrieved his spanner that he left behind while completing the service.
Flight was pleasant enough, reasonable food, a good pinotage (or two) and six hours later we landed at Accra airport. Hot humid and dare I say it, another African airport that looks identical to most other airports in Africa. 25 mins to clear immigration and 2 mins for the luggage. Only then!!!! Could I get a ciggy in my mouth and start boosting the nicotine levels. Boost them I did – two in quick succession before I made the parking lot.
The office had arranged a driver for us, and we checked into the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel. $108 a night for a room with no soap and a mini bar. Drinks were good – Star Beer was my first local beer supped and I was duly warned by those in the know that the alcohol level may vary from 4% - 14% depending on the batch you got. Mine were evidently 4% as I did not see my butt that night. What was nice is nestled up against the mirrored shelf of the pub was a bottle of Captain Morgan!!!! Needless to say a few of those were duly supped that night.
Dinner was a buffet – nice basic stuff with a wonderful chilli salad type thing, which was hot and bloody tasty. Once again – needless to say seconds was had. *chuckle*
A hellishly restless night followed and I awoke at 6am to do the shower shave brekkie thang, before meeting my driver at 8am to honor an appointment at the bank. That done – very pleasant relationship manager we have – six hours on the road to the sprawling metropolis of Tarkwa.
One thing that was in mind was how could it take six hours to travel 367 kilometers. They have told me that the road is bad….. but come on – how bad does a road have to be in order for a vehicle to average 60kmph over 6 hours.
Welllll : to say the road is bad, is an understatement of note. It took two hours to get out of Accra – 40km thanks to a combination of narrow roads, heavy traffic, at least eight broken down vehicles causing stunning traffic jams, and my introduction to street vendors. If you thought you had it bad at the robots in sandton, it has nothing on the “markets” that we passed every 5km’s or so. From the myriad of vendors who wander past the car you can purchase food, tooth brushes, chocolate, plastic bags of water or iced fruit juice, car tyres to name but a few. Hellishly interesting.
There are roadworks on the main gold coast road which necessitated numerous diversions onto dirt tracks, which carry around 400 cars an hour. Needless to say, the roads were full of potholes and contributed to our low average speed. Everything is green and jungle type foliage abounds. The country is poor, of that there is no doubt, and informal business abounds. Very India like I thought, with small shacks selling anything and everything.
The Ghanaians are very friendly, speak good English with a strange accent and seem to be a very happy lot. My driver was pretty good at dodging the potholes, hooting incessantly at the pedestrians and overtaking on a solid white line. That said, 70% of the road seems to be a solid white line, so one would assume it is the local national sport here. Stopped off for cooldrinks and pee break at an amazing little hotel, built on a type of natural pond which is the home –as I was informed by the driver - to crocodiles. Needless to say, they were nowhere to be seen, but I did purchase two cokes and 1.5l of mineral water for the equivalent of R15.00. Not bad in my book.
A short cut was agreed upon between Michael and myself and 90km’s of narrow dirt road was the route taken. Another African trait is speed humps. (see Nessers laugh). Everytime you reach a village there are tree trunks laid across the road, covered in sand which work as a very very effective speed hump. Add two hours for the 90kms.
One thing which is worth a mention is been a former british colony, the nice people drive on the wrong side of the bloody road. Bar the fact, I keep on trying to get in on the wrong side of the car, when the mind wanders somewhat and returns, it is all I can do not to shout at the driver that he is on the wrong side of the road. Couple that with everytime you turn a corner, your mind automatically screams that what is been done is incorrect. I do not somehow think that I will be doing much driving.
Tarkwa…. What can I say. There will be some pictures taken and posted as well as to show exactly what Tarkwa looks like. To paint a mental picture while you await the photos goes something like this.
Take a healthy dash of the north side of Maputo, a little bit on Mnduinduze township and a whole lot of Soweto in the 80’s and you will be getting there. The place is filthy, roads are almost non existent, shops are filthy and the houses in general ancient, half built and packed together.
The house that I am staying in on a temporary basis is a double story, with the contract manager staying on the lower level, and me sharing with the works manager and his wife in the upstairs unit. Large, tiled floors, six bedroom, water and electricity and beer in the fridge. Not too shabby Nige.
I do however want my own place, as horror upon horrors the house owners are dedicated non smokers and I join the mozzies once every so often to have a ciggy on the balcony!! Who was it that mentioned this as part of the horror stories??? Methinks one can tick that part off.
Rose is the site catering manageress, and accordingly the food is good and plentiful, and once again the beer is cold. :>
Next horror story comes at bedtime on night one when I am informed that we leave for work at 6am. Read the previous blogs to work out how mortified I am re the early mornings I had in Joburg. With long teeth I set my alarm for 5:20am, and try and catch up on some well earned rest.
And yes! I was up at 5:20 – cue everyone who gets up at that time normally – not you Esther – hysterical laughter!!. Shower shave and clamber into the bakkie for the 20 min ride to site.
Slowly getting my feet wet, understanding what is happening on site and hearing that the spare parts for the sat system are once again “lost” – one would assume G5 in JHB will no longer use DHL for sending packages to Ghana, I am quite getting to enjoy what is happening here. Not the friendliest bunch of people I have met, which is unusual, but considering the guys are at the business part of the contract, under pressure to meet deadline dates and are all overdue for R&R, I can understand and will ease my way in slowly.
The main office where I am does not have electricity as I was warned, but apparently they have attempted to get electricity in previously, which once again is stymied by Africa and their strange concept that if you want power, you will pay for the full capital cost of getting electricity to your site. Cue in an estimate for ZAR2,5 million and you will nod your head and understand why I see extended use of the Generator as a viable option. However I did note that there were quite a few sites around us that have businesses on them, and based on the assumption that Ghana will operate the same was as Swaziland did on this score, it may be possible to share the capital cost with our neighbours. Another item on the to do list.
Tomorrow it is the following
- Get local cell phone
- Speak to Electricity board
- Speak to local ISP about connectivity
- Meet the IRS man
- Meet the local Police
- Meet the local Bank manager
The job has started. Lets see how far this can take me!
Have a fun one – till laterz
A belated hi there from the land of Jungle, rain and humidity that makes the pores open and sweat run freely. This little piece of information is made much more interesting by the fact that according to those in the know, ie. The locals, this is actually “winter” and come November it will get *really* hot!. Now lets go back a few years – well ok a lot of years – when I was but a nipper at school, and in the Geography class I was taught that when it is winter in the south, it is summer in the north.
Granted that when u see a weather map of the UK during June, the maximum temperature is 14 C and it is rainy, but hell – even they call it summer. Couple this piece of information with a smiley SAA captain announcing that we have crossed the equator on our six hour trip from JHB to Accra, all my teachings tell me that it is summer in Ghana. I will dwell on this fact over then next few months no doubt…
Monday did turn out to be a bit of a rush with me attending a contract meeting at the office, but all in all I had enough time at the airport to recline in the business class lounge – not because we travel business class, but courtesy of my Silver Card – juicing up on two ciggies before getting onto the plane. True to form there was an issue with luggage, which delayed our push back by 40 mins, and while doing the taxy to 27R, everytime the pilot touched the brakes it sounded like the wheel had falling off. Needless to say this required a right turn into the lower bay area and a further 30 mins while the mechanic tighted the wheel nuts, or retrieved his spanner that he left behind while completing the service.
Flight was pleasant enough, reasonable food, a good pinotage (or two) and six hours later we landed at Accra airport. Hot humid and dare I say it, another African airport that looks identical to most other airports in Africa. 25 mins to clear immigration and 2 mins for the luggage. Only then!!!! Could I get a ciggy in my mouth and start boosting the nicotine levels. Boost them I did – two in quick succession before I made the parking lot.
The office had arranged a driver for us, and we checked into the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel. $108 a night for a room with no soap and a mini bar. Drinks were good – Star Beer was my first local beer supped and I was duly warned by those in the know that the alcohol level may vary from 4% - 14% depending on the batch you got. Mine were evidently 4% as I did not see my butt that night. What was nice is nestled up against the mirrored shelf of the pub was a bottle of Captain Morgan!!!! Needless to say a few of those were duly supped that night.
Dinner was a buffet – nice basic stuff with a wonderful chilli salad type thing, which was hot and bloody tasty. Once again – needless to say seconds was had. *chuckle*
A hellishly restless night followed and I awoke at 6am to do the shower shave brekkie thang, before meeting my driver at 8am to honor an appointment at the bank. That done – very pleasant relationship manager we have – six hours on the road to the sprawling metropolis of Tarkwa.
One thing that was in mind was how could it take six hours to travel 367 kilometers. They have told me that the road is bad….. but come on – how bad does a road have to be in order for a vehicle to average 60kmph over 6 hours.
Welllll : to say the road is bad, is an understatement of note. It took two hours to get out of Accra – 40km thanks to a combination of narrow roads, heavy traffic, at least eight broken down vehicles causing stunning traffic jams, and my introduction to street vendors. If you thought you had it bad at the robots in sandton, it has nothing on the “markets” that we passed every 5km’s or so. From the myriad of vendors who wander past the car you can purchase food, tooth brushes, chocolate, plastic bags of water or iced fruit juice, car tyres to name but a few. Hellishly interesting.
There are roadworks on the main gold coast road which necessitated numerous diversions onto dirt tracks, which carry around 400 cars an hour. Needless to say, the roads were full of potholes and contributed to our low average speed. Everything is green and jungle type foliage abounds. The country is poor, of that there is no doubt, and informal business abounds. Very India like I thought, with small shacks selling anything and everything.
The Ghanaians are very friendly, speak good English with a strange accent and seem to be a very happy lot. My driver was pretty good at dodging the potholes, hooting incessantly at the pedestrians and overtaking on a solid white line. That said, 70% of the road seems to be a solid white line, so one would assume it is the local national sport here. Stopped off for cooldrinks and pee break at an amazing little hotel, built on a type of natural pond which is the home –as I was informed by the driver - to crocodiles. Needless to say, they were nowhere to be seen, but I did purchase two cokes and 1.5l of mineral water for the equivalent of R15.00. Not bad in my book.
A short cut was agreed upon between Michael and myself and 90km’s of narrow dirt road was the route taken. Another African trait is speed humps. (see Nessers laugh). Everytime you reach a village there are tree trunks laid across the road, covered in sand which work as a very very effective speed hump. Add two hours for the 90kms.
One thing which is worth a mention is been a former british colony, the nice people drive on the wrong side of the bloody road. Bar the fact, I keep on trying to get in on the wrong side of the car, when the mind wanders somewhat and returns, it is all I can do not to shout at the driver that he is on the wrong side of the road. Couple that with everytime you turn a corner, your mind automatically screams that what is been done is incorrect. I do not somehow think that I will be doing much driving.
Tarkwa…. What can I say. There will be some pictures taken and posted as well as to show exactly what Tarkwa looks like. To paint a mental picture while you await the photos goes something like this.
Take a healthy dash of the north side of Maputo, a little bit on Mnduinduze township and a whole lot of Soweto in the 80’s and you will be getting there. The place is filthy, roads are almost non existent, shops are filthy and the houses in general ancient, half built and packed together.
The house that I am staying in on a temporary basis is a double story, with the contract manager staying on the lower level, and me sharing with the works manager and his wife in the upstairs unit. Large, tiled floors, six bedroom, water and electricity and beer in the fridge. Not too shabby Nige.
I do however want my own place, as horror upon horrors the house owners are dedicated non smokers and I join the mozzies once every so often to have a ciggy on the balcony!! Who was it that mentioned this as part of the horror stories??? Methinks one can tick that part off.
Rose is the site catering manageress, and accordingly the food is good and plentiful, and once again the beer is cold. :>
Next horror story comes at bedtime on night one when I am informed that we leave for work at 6am. Read the previous blogs to work out how mortified I am re the early mornings I had in Joburg. With long teeth I set my alarm for 5:20am, and try and catch up on some well earned rest.
And yes! I was up at 5:20 – cue everyone who gets up at that time normally – not you Esther – hysterical laughter!!. Shower shave and clamber into the bakkie for the 20 min ride to site.
Slowly getting my feet wet, understanding what is happening on site and hearing that the spare parts for the sat system are once again “lost” – one would assume G5 in JHB will no longer use DHL for sending packages to Ghana, I am quite getting to enjoy what is happening here. Not the friendliest bunch of people I have met, which is unusual, but considering the guys are at the business part of the contract, under pressure to meet deadline dates and are all overdue for R&R, I can understand and will ease my way in slowly.
The main office where I am does not have electricity as I was warned, but apparently they have attempted to get electricity in previously, which once again is stymied by Africa and their strange concept that if you want power, you will pay for the full capital cost of getting electricity to your site. Cue in an estimate for ZAR2,5 million and you will nod your head and understand why I see extended use of the Generator as a viable option. However I did note that there were quite a few sites around us that have businesses on them, and based on the assumption that Ghana will operate the same was as Swaziland did on this score, it may be possible to share the capital cost with our neighbours. Another item on the to do list.
Tomorrow it is the following
- Get local cell phone
- Speak to Electricity board
- Speak to local ISP about connectivity
- Meet the IRS man
- Meet the local Police
- Meet the local Bank manager
The job has started. Lets see how far this can take me!
Have a fun one – till laterz
1 Comments:
Me thinks - own house definitely tops the list - enjoyed this update of life in Africa :)
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