9 Days Ghana
Day 1: USA / GHANA—Tour members will gather at the ticket counter at the airport two hours prior to their departure to Africa. Dinner and breakfast will be served in flight.
Day 2: AKWAABA – WELCOME. Arriving in Accra, we are met and transferred to our hotel. We will have time for rest and recuperation before participating in the traditional ‘Welcome and Naming Ceremony’. Dinner and overnight at hotel in Accra.
Day 3: ACCRA CITY TOUR. After breakfast depart hotel for a sightseeing city tour of Accra. You will drive through the administrative and economic districts of Accra, the capital of Ghana. This 124-year-old city has a blend of colonial and modern architecture that summarize her history. You will visit the W. E. B. Dubois Center for Pan African Culture, Independence/ Black Star Square and Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, the last resting place of the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Later visit the campus of the University of Ghana, Legon, including the University Bookshop and the Institute of African Studies. After lunch in a local Ghanaian restaurant, you will visit the local Basic school and interact with the school kids and the teachers.End your tour at the Arts Centre where you will have an opportunity to use your bargaining skills to shop in an open-air market for artifacts from Ghana and West Africa. Dinner and overnight at hotel in Accra.
Day 4: KUMASI. This morning, after breakfast, we depart Accra for Kumasi in the Ashanti region. We drive pass several scenic villages and charming towns through the evergreen forests with a stop at a cocoa farming village to interact with the students of the local school and the people. We pay a courtesy call on the Chief and his elders. Afterwards, we drive by the Majestic Nkawkaw mountain range. Arriving in Kumasi, we check into our hotel. This afternoon, we depart for a city tour of Kumasi, visiting the Manhyia Palace museum, the home and office of the former Ashanti kings. A regal history that dates back to 1700 is told with relics and artifacts. Visit the Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology and the Okomfo Anokye Sword. Enjoy a drive through the city with monuments dedicated to the memory of the great Ashanti people. End the day’s tour at the National Cultural Center which features the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum and various studios of the brass makers, potters andbatik makers. We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 5: ASHANTI CRAFT VILLAGES. This day is devoted to visiting the three famous craft villages. Depart to Ahwiaa, the wood carvers’ village, Ntonso, the home of Adinkra, Bonwire, the Kente weaving village and Asuofia Asamang, the beads maker’s village. You will have an opportunity to see how African crafts are made and to buy directly from the artisans who make them. After lunch, departfor a drive through a former slave route to Assin Manso. Visit the site of “Donkor Nsuo”, the former Slave River and market, the final transit point for enslaved Africans. This is the final resting place for two ancestors whose mortal remains were returned from the USA and Jamaica and re-interred there. Continue the drive southwards to Elmina. Dinner and overnight at hotel in Elmina.
Day 6: CAPE COAST CASTLE & ELMINA CASTLE. Breakfast at hotel. Depart for a tour of the infamous Forts, Castles and Slave Dungeons of Ghana. History will unfold the story of the slave trade which the impact is still felt beyond the shores of Africa today. Visit the Cape Coast Castle built by the Swedes in 1653 and was later taken over by the British. This castle also houses theWest African Historical Museum. Our guide will conduct us to the slave quarters and Negotiation Hall where our ancestors were bargained for and sold. After lunch, visit the Elmina Castle built by the Portuguese in 1482 andalso known as St. George’s Castle and is the earliest, biggest structure in West Africa. We see the slave dungeons and the condemned cell where slaves who attempted to escape were incarcerated. Dinner and overnight at our hotel in Elmina.
Day 7: KAKUM NATIONAL PARK. Early morning departure for a drive through the historic Denkyira Kingdom to Kakum National Park, one of the West Africa’s surviving tropical rain forests. Choose between a 2 km nature walk through this forest to discover the wide variety of exotic floral species and the medicinal values they offer or take a walk on the canopy walkway hanging 60 meters above the forest ground. Take your pleasurable lunch at Hans Cottage Botel (on your own) while watching the resident crocodiles and busy weaverbirds. After lunch, depart for a drive along the coast to Accra. Dinner and overnight at hotel in Accra.
Day 8: DAY AT LEISURE / FAREWELL / DEPARTURE. Day at leisure and last minute shopping. Farewell dinner and early evening transfer to airport for check-in anddeparture for the U.S.
Day 9: Arrival in the US and continue home – the end of a memorable pilgrimage.