"Ballshapedworld" wrote in message
news:20041119005125.21692.00000711@mb-m14.aol.com...
>I am planning a trip to Ghana in July and i wanted to know if anyone can
>offer
> some advice:
>
> 1. I am looking for a good travel agency or web site to go through. what
> is
> considered to be a "good" rate for a flight to Ghana - the cheapest i have
> found is $1500 I live in NYC if anyone has suggestions please let me know.
>
> 2. Looking for a good hotel in the Accra area but not too expensive. I
> have
> heard of Akuma Village ... if anyone has any suggestions plz let me know.
>
> 3. I want to go to the slave castles - i am curious to know if anyone has
> had
> that experience and how was it getting there.
>
> 4. This may sound very "American" but do cell phones work at all there?
>
> 5. Even with the pills can you still get malari?
>
> Any other insight please feel free to let me know!!!!!
Hi, I was just there a few months ago. I live and work in Kinshasa, and some
of my colleagues are headed back to Accra in a few weeks.
1. Can't help you with travel plans from the US, but fly with the major
carriers. We flew in and out on Air Kenya, which was excellent. The flights
that connect through Cameroon (Cameroon Airlines) are notorious for being
stranded there, so avoid those.
2. When you get there, you can always ask a taxi driver to show you some
places. There are LOTS of places of various quality...you can get a 5-star
beach resort with a floating bar in the pool, all the way down to a 1-star
shack with no air conditioning and an old mattress. I'd need to know your
price and comfort range before I could advise you on accomodations.
However, being a westerner, they will assume that you want the ritzy places.
When I get home tonight, I'll dig out my Accra map and give you some names
and email addresses of places and where they are. Tell me what price/quality
scale you are looking at.
3. I hired a taxi driver to take me along the coast. It was a full-day
drive, we paid him $30, and he stopped at all the castles, bought his own
lunch, and left us in the SW for a few nights at a cozy beach hotel. Then he
returned a few days later, and for another $30, he brought us back to Accra
to the airport. You can also rent your own car in town (easily arranged
while you are there) or prearrange one. I suggest you just do it while you
are there, from your hotel. If you hire a cab, DON'T do it from your hotel,
as the rates are about 3x what you can get by flagging one down on the
street. About every 4th car is a yellow cab, and all prices are negotiable.
Wandering around the slave forts is a bittersweet experience, but wandering
around the local towns surrounding them is very interesting.
4. Yep, and everyone has them. But be sure you have a dual- or tri-band. If
you don't know about cell phone bands, it can be confusing, but here is a
summary.
Phone bands are like radio stations...they are on their own frequencies. You
can't get AM on an FM radio, and you can't get a GSM 1800 signal on a GSM
900 phone. If a country is a GSM 900 country, you need the right frequency
phone to make calls. However, some radios are AM/FM, and some phones can
cover multiple frequencies.
Most of the US networks are GSM 1900, which is unique to the US. If you have
a single-band GSM 1900 phone, it will only work in the US.
Most other countries use GSM 900 and/or GSM 1800. "Dual Band" phones sold
outside the US are able to work on either of these networks.
Dual band phones sold in the US must have GSM 1900 (the American band) plus
one of those others. Ghana uses GSM 900, so if you have a dual band, be sure
it is a GSM 900/1900. Any phone shop can tell you what your phone is.
Tri-band phones have all three: GSM 900/1800/1900. If you have a triband
phone, it will work almost anywhere.
Korea and Japan have their own network, like the US, so to use a phone there
you need a 'World Band' phone. That has _all_ the possible bands, which is
why it costs so much. Its also why it is so stupid for kids who do not
travel to own one.
Bookmark this site for your future travels:
http://www.cellular-news.com/coverage/
If you have the correct phone, don't bother changing to roaming....buy a sim
card when you get there (about $10) with the PrePay option. You can load it
up with $20 in credit and call all your US contacts and give them your
Ghanian number. US roaming charges from Ghana will be about $3 a minute,
while a prepay sim card will cost about $.15 a minute to call the US, IIRC.
5. Absolutely. Pills don't prevent malaria, they only mask the symptoms so
that you don't feel so crappy. To avoid getting malaria, you need to use bug
dope and keep covered at night. Anopholes mosquitoes (the kind that carry
the parasite) bite only at night and cannot tolerate temps below 70F, so if
you are spending your evenings in an an air-conditioned hotel room, you are
safe. I have lived in Africa for 3 years, stopped taking Doxcylin almost
immediately, and have never had malaria. I use bug dope at night, never
stand around outside during the rainy season, and sleep under a mosquito net
in an airconditioned room.
Ghana is a beautiful, friendly and safe country. You can arrive with a
backpack, cash in your pocket and no reservations and end up having a great
time and seeing a lot of sites. Enjoy it!
--riverman
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