Ghana Reviews

Dear Derek. We had a fantastic time in Ghana - thank you so much for putting together such an excellent itinerary.  We have just completed the Rainbow Tours online review and reiterate all of that to you. The mixture of history, education, nature and relaxation was perfect.  A very good balance.  Our two guides (Alex overall and Foster at Kakum) went out of their way to look after us and ensure we had a great time.  Prince and Richard, our two drivers, were also excellent, coping well with some challenging driving conditions... We also really enjoyed the tour of the fish market in Elmina and the batik and cooking classes in Cape Coast.  I am trying to find ingredients here to make my own red red... The accommodation was great.  As you predicted, the Kakum option was not quite as good as elsewhere - we found it very comfortable but the slightly limited menu and very large portions left as feeling embarrassed when we failed to eat our food.  Lemon Lodge and Lou Moon were fantastic, as was the Villa Boutique (although we did not really see much of it!).  The dinner and room at Villa Boutique before the flight home was a great touch - we felt well fed and refreshed before flying... We hope the roadworks on the N1 finish soon - this was not our bumpiest journey by a long way but once they are finished, it will make travel across southern Ghana even easier. Probably/possibly not for you but we thought Lou Moon could potentially expand its eco credentials (it is already an amazing location, although not as busy as it could/should be) by trying to move away from bottled water and/or encouraging guests to help collect some of the litter as part of nature walks/trips along the beach etc.  We recognise a lot washes in from the sea but there is clearly a lot of local littering and perhaps that would be a way to encourage guests to give a little back as part of a stay and/or start to help improve the local plastic pollution.  Not sure how that would work but just a thought. Thanks again for organising our trip.  We have not been to West Africa before and are now busy looking at options for a return to the area, perhaps travelling east to Togo and Benin or to São Tomé and Principe (and on to Gabon?).  We are also looking at options for trips further south to Madagascar, Botswana and perhaps Zimbabwe.  We will be in touch...  .

Hi Derek We had a fab time thank you! Firstly the guides - Isaac (the historic stuff and getting us around) and Andrew (the wildlife stuff) were both great. Really lovely and informative. We felt very well looked after the entire trip and learnt a lot about the country. The drivers were both good too - with the first the van had seat belts that were only across the lap but the second driver (Ben)’s van had proper seat belts which made us feel safer. He was a really good driver too and was very careful with overtaking (I know because I was sitting behind him for a lot of the trip!) Generally the Ghanaian people were very friendly and welcoming and at no point did we feel threatened. We all remarked that the immigration staff at the airport were about the nicest we’ve ever come across. I thought the locations gave us a great overview of the country with a good mixture of history and wildlife. Accra was obviously a good place to start and we enjoyed the tour of Jamestown as well as seeing the big square and arch and the museum which gave us a good introduction to the country. Kumasi was also very interesting - I hadn’t heard about the Ashanti kingdom before so it was great to hear about some history of a region I didn’t know anything about. We also enjoyed the artisan activities. It was a bit of a shame that it was the National Day on the day we saw the bead making factory so no one was working, but hardly anyone’s fault! Bonkro was definitely our favourite place, even though it was the simplest. We loved visiting the cocoa plantation and the village (we didn’t see the medicine man - I’m not sure why not but it was a Sunday so he may have been at church). For me (and I think Jenny although she can answer for herself! (Clare didn’t come)) the highlight of the whole trip was seeing the Picathartes. We were a bit unlucky on the first day we went to see them as only one turned up and although he did some magnificent hopping for about five seconds, he then just groomed himself. There was another one hidden behind some trees but we couldn’t really see him. The next day we had a free afternoon so I asked Andrew if we could go ourselves to see them again, and he kindly said he would accompany us. We went to a different location and had a much better experience with about five birds turning up, and including one that hopped up to the nest several times and another that took a massive jump through the forest. We met some travellers in Kakum and recommended the trip and we heard they went there and really enjoyed it too. We also did the night walk and saw the world’s ugliest bat, a snake and finally and amazingly, a white bellied pangolin. We were all amazed how they found it (it was one of the village guides) as it involved walking into the forest from the path and the pangolin was up a tree! The Elmina castle in Cape Coast was fascinating and also we stopped at the two rivers where the slaves were given their final wash. I hadn’t realised quite how badly they were treated in Africa before they had even left so this was a real education. Kakum I’d say was less good. The canopy walk was both fun (with good views) and somewhat terrifying and I usually have a good head for heights and didn’t think it would be scary. A lot of the other people in our group (some well-fed American Ghanaian diaspora!) didn’t make it round. We didn’t see any wildlife. We had the walk in the afternoon but across the road from the national park and it involved walking up a logging track. We saw quite a few birds.... We got lucky at the end of the walk when we saw a Fraser’s Eagle Owl (a large group of birders staying in the hotel missed it so we felt a bit smug!). We didn’t see the flying squirrel which I think I would have liked to see - Andrew didn’t mention it so it may be there weren’t any around or he hadn’t seen any for ages. We didn’t do another walk on the last day (as the itinerary said we would) - I think it would have been impossible to get to Accra for lunch if we had, and after lunch Isaac took us to a craft market and then to an art gallery where we could stock up on souvenirs. In terms of hotels, the Boutique Villa in Accra was lovely although Clare and I had better rooms than Jenny who was in a different building across from the entrance. Ike’s hotel was fine in terms of the rooms but the staff were a bit dozy. Picathartes lodge was by far our favourite - such a tranquil location (despite the building work) and lovely staff. The Rainforest Hotel in Kakum was our least favourite - the rooms (and especially the bathrooms) felt a bit grubby.  We realise this is probably the best hotel in the area but we were expecting it to be better than it was. We thought eight days was a good length of time for this trip.   Anyway, all in all we had a really enjoyable trip so thank you very much for arranging it!  Best wishes R.  .

We had an excellent time in Ghana. Very hot and humid but worth it. Amazing country and amazing birds. Our guide and driver were superb. Nothing was too much for them and they went out of their way to make sure that we were safe, comfortable and enjoyed every minute. We saw around 250 species of birds. A few monkeys, dwarf crocodile, bats, butterflies and Pel's anomalure. Saw one of them gliding through the forest. Ghana is such an amazing country in terms of wildlife, culture and sights and sounds of life happening at the roadside. I would recommend visiting the country to anyone.

Hi Derek. Just wanted to touch base whilst waiting for the São Tomé flight. We loved our Ghana trip, even the LONG bumpy drives !! Issac was incredible so so informative, attentive and friendly! We also wanted to add that the particular guides he chose for castles etc were also tops! Thank YOU. Onwards and upwards. John and Kim.  .