Ghana
in West Africa See
Ghana
Two Page
Spread
in
Africa Travel World Edition
Preview Marcel
Andeweg, General Manager, Alisa Hotels,
Ghana GRAND TOUR OF
GHANA- A GOLDEN EXPERIENCE! Advertise
Online.
New
York Times Travel
Show
.
USA
Canada Air Link Roadside
Commerce
Natural
beauty of Ghana Panafest
As part of
the ongoing commitment to enhance the
historical, cultural and spiritual focus
of PANAFEST, the schedule includes a
Pre-Panafest Pilgrimage called "On The
Slave Route To PANAFEST," - Part I
of the PANAFEST program and allows the
participants to experience the courses of
the Slave Trade route of the old Gold
Coast. For details visit
http://www.panafest.org/
.........
PHOTOS
FROM OUR
GHANA
GRAND
TOUR
.
Ghana
Story
.
Photos
1
- Cape Coast Castles
Photos
2
- Kente Weavers
Photos
3 -
Ceremony
Photos
4 -
Roadside Commerce
Photos
5
-
Tour
Sites
Photos
6
- Ghana Fashion
Photos
7
-
Bead
Making Art
Photos
8
- Slave River
WORLD
CONGRESS
Photos
1 -
Congress Activities
Photos
2
-More Activities
Photos
3
- Gala Events
Photos
4
- ATA Trade Show
Photos
5
- Delegates
Photos
6
- Fashion Show
Electronic
World Edition
ABOUT
GHANA
Ghana
Story
The
New Ghana
Special
Projects
Radio
Interview
Photo
Gallery
Promotions
Yearbook
Memories
Tour
Operators
Union
Contacts
ATA
Congress
Flashback
New Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi
Details
Florence
Oboshie Sai Cofie,
Minister
of Tourism, and Diaspora Releations
Ghana
By
Jerry W. Bird
What
was my impression of Ghana on our first
visit since 1999? Upon landing at Accra's
Kotoka International Airport my eyes were
fixed like lasers on a banner newspaper
headline that shouted its bold, positive
message across the arrivals area - "Ghana
is Safe." What a confidence builder -- and
nothing in two exciting weeks of ATA 31st
Congress activities, colorful galas and an
educational, fun-packed, cross country
tour gave us any reason to doubt the
authenticity of that challenging
statement.
Our
2006 Grand Tour can easily be described as
a "Photo Safari," and over 10 new gallery
pages are available for online viewing
from hundreds of images captured by
Muguette Goufrani, featuring Cape Castles,
Kente Weavers, Slave River, Bead Making
Art, Ceremonies and Festivities, Roadside
Commerce, Tour Sites, Ghana Fashions, Gala
Events and the ATA Trade Show. Combined
with superb photography by Robert Eilets
and selections from Sandy Dhuyvetter of
TravelTalk Radio, we are able to showcase
Ghana like never before. Being non profit,
we seek no financial benefit from sharing
the sights and sounds of Ghana with a
worldwide audience - and with other
approved media upon
request.
This tour, with its focus on roadside
commerce, creative crafts and cottage
industries, was an eye opener to the
amazing entrepreneurial spirit that is so
dominant in Ghana. It is reflected in the
latest book by Dave Fick entitled
""Africa:
Continent of Economic
Opportunities."
The experiences enroute during this week
long, dawn to dusk tour left a profound
impression Starting with the Lake Volta
Region near the Togo border, our journey
took us to the provincial capital of Ho;
then to the Kumasi area, home of the
Ashanti Empire. Our agenda included Senchi
Riverside Resort, Liate Wote, Afadjato
Mountain, Wli Waterfalls, Tafi Monkey
Sanctuary, Abenyinase Kente Weavers, Cedi
Beads, Oumasi, Shai Hills Game Reserve,
Bunsu Arboretum, the Bobiri Butterfly
Sanctuary, Ejisu Bease, Bonwire Village,
home of the Kente Weavers, Ntoso, the
Adinkra Printing Village, plus Ahwiaa, the
Carving Village. We visited the the Ghana
Tourism Board's Kumasi office and Crafts
Center, plus a new luxury resort at Lake
Bosomtwe. One of the most meaningful sites
was NNonkonsuo, the Slave River Memorial
Center. Enroute to Kakum National Forest,
with its famous rope bridges, we stopped
to watch a family operation producing palm
oil. The final leg of our journey involved
Elmina and Cape Coast
Castles.
Continued
Flashback
The
ATA-WTO World Congress in Accra, Ghana was
our last opportunity to spend some quality
time in the company of ATA's dear friend
Fred Fuller who passed away in June,1999.
For a capsule profile of Ghana, we have
included the following section which
arrived courtesy of Joe Nyarko of Sagrenti
Tours. A darker era saw many of our
people, and those of other African lands,
leave our shores for the plantations of
America and the Caribbean, creating the
biggest Diaspora the world has ever seen.
Today, citizens of many states around the
world still acknowledge and treasure their
family links with Ghana, returning to
explore those links and to experience the
soul of their motherland. Today, come home
to Ghana, the gateway to that African
Heritage. Our celebrations , with great
durbars of chiefs in full regalia, full of
dancing and drumming, reverberate with
images of our rich cultural traditions and
reflect the passage of nature's calendar,
so important in the preservation of our
culture. Throughout the year and
throughout the Country, our people love to
celebrate, and the great sights and scenes
reflected in these festivals create for
every visitor, a memory to be cherished.
If you're surprised by all this, you're
beginning to get the feel of Ghana. One
delightful surprise after
another.
Nature
has been generous to Ghana. Few natural
attractions can compare with the land of
Ghana. National Parks, such as the rain
forest of Kakum, or the broad Savannah of
Mole, are havens for indigenous flora and
fauna, safe from predatory man. Ghana is a
bird watcher's paradise and nature lover's
delight. Forest walks captivate the
senses, as butterflies flit from flower to
flower, and shafts of sunlight illuminate
tiny orchids and other native flowers.
Products of our indigenous trees and
plants have always enriched medical
knowledge throughout the world. The
variety of landscape is matched by
striking seasonal and regional contrast.
The greens of the hillsides just after the
rains, and the golds and ochres of the
Savannah in the dry season.