1. Make sure you’re up to date on all your vaccines for mosquito born illnesses and make sure to take your malaria medicine everyday
Here the thing no one tells you about mosquitos in Ghana or any place tropical for that matter. No matter how much repellant you use, you will still get bit. I used repellants with 40% DEET, ones with all natural ingredients and one from Mexico I’m pretty sure isn’t legal in the states. The result was the same, I got mosquito bites.
2. Make a schedule and try to stick to it
I flew from Seattle to Dallas to DC to Addis Abeba to Accra. If you’re counting thats 5 different time zones in a short amount of time. What’s key here is to make sure you get on a schedule as quickly as possible. Ghana is very near to the equator which means daylight and night will be pretty equal. Sunrise is usually around 6:00am and sunset is around 6:00pm. This combined with the changed in time zone played havoc on my sleep cycle for about 3 days because I never planned for it.
Also, when you make your schedule you want to make sure to take your malaria medication at the same time each day. You start to take the pills 2 day before your trip and 7 days after you get back. I chose to take my pills at 8:00am EST, not realizing that I would have to wake up at 5:00am PST to take my pills when I get back to the states. But wait it gets better…November 6th was daylight savings time, so I’m waking up at 4:00am PST for a week to take my pills.
3. Pack light and don’t bring anything you can’t afford to lose
For my trip I brought a standard suit case and a carry on. That’s was it for the month I was here. My wardrobe consisted of 10 pairs of basketball shorts, 3 pairs of cargo shorts, 10 t-shirts, 14 pairs of boxers and 14 undershirts. Looking back now the 3 pairs of cargo shorts seems like too much considering I didn’t wear them. Everything I brought I could afford to lose in fact, if my main suitcase gets annoyingly heavy, I’ll probably throw away several pairs of basketball shorts. I bought them from Walmart and they were cheap.
4. Do your own Laundry
Laundry service here seems pretty affordable. 5 pairs of shorts and 5 shirt can be cleaned for 3 cedis a piece (1 cedi equals roughly 25 cents), a little more if I want pick up and drop off service. Seems pretty reasonable right? I thought so too until I got a quote to wash undergarments. It was 20 cedis a piece! Almost 7 times as much as to wash a pair of cargo shorts. So you are better off washing clothes yourself. I should mention most laundry in Ghana is still done by hand washing. I was lucky in that the place I stay had an actual washing machine.
5. Bring double of what you think you’ll need
I took this lesson to heart. Getting basic necessities in Ghana can be hard and very expensive. Getting “luxury” item can be damn near impossible. One of the shops on the street was charging as much as 100 cedis for a lightning cable and the shop owner looked at me like I had 2 heads when I asked about a usb c cable.
6. Get a lightweight, breathable, durable pair of shoes
There isn’t public transportation in Ghana and you’ll do a lot of walking. It’s normally around 80-90 degrees here so you will sweat and most of the side streets aren’t paved. Having a good pair of shoes is a must. Most of the people here wear sandals. I would too if I was always sure that the ‘dirt’ on the road was actually dirt.
My Nike Free Trainer 3.0 after a month in Ghana
7. Make sure to bring plenty of cash
Credit card fraud is rampant in Ghana and some places won’t accept them. Even if the place does accept them you’re greeted with suspicion. For instance I tried to pay with my Chase Sapphire preferred at KFC. The clerk insisted that I input a pin. I tried to explain to her that the card is chip and signature and doesn’t require a pin. She took the credit card machine away and made me pay with cash.
Also of note, very few places take a card other than Visa. Some places that cater to tourist take Mastercard, nobody takes Discover or American Express
8. Some times you have to be the ugly American
Ghana for the most part is not a very rich country. When you are walking on the street people will following to the point of stalking to try and sell you things and beg for money. Its very aggressive. A very nice ‘no thank you’ does not go far here. I’ve gotten to the point that I just ignore people. When that doesn’t work, I’ve had to raise my voice several times. Yes, it makes me look like the ugly American but my comfort and safety is my number 1 priority.