Kumasi Cultural Tour, Ghana

This post is about my overnight Kumasi Cultural Tour I did February 7th and 8th in Ghana. Although this trip very much peaked my interest, no one else in our family group was going, so I was not sure if I wanted to venture out for an overnight trip in a country I had never been to with a group of people I didn’t know very well. However our daughters really encouraged me to bite the bullet, so to speak, and go for it. I did, and I was truly out of my comfort zone most of the time......but glad I did it.

We departed in the morning for a drive through the forest zone to Kumasi, the seat of the Ashanti Empire. I did not realize when reading the tour description of, “drive through the forest” entailed a 4.5 hour drive. The road was a two lane blacktop road with many large potholes often down to the gravel level beneath the blacktop. Some of the “potholes” were the entire width of the road and were several yards long. Along the road, I saw goats, chickens and many people (some naked) walking along both sides of the road and so much more. The drive itself could be a topic for another posting!

We stopped for lunch at a Lebanese restaurant, quite tasty.

After lunch our guide, Charles, who lived in Kumasi, took us to an unscheduled stop where there was a large gathering of people. Our guide told us the Ashanti people just had appointed a new Prince. After the ceremony, the Prince was carried out on the shoulders of others, with the King following. Men were playing the drums, people were dancing and celebrating and everybody was very friendly with our group from SAS.

Next we went to the Manhyis Palace Museum which explained the Ashanti Kingdom.

Our last stop for the day was the National Cultural Center where we were given more information about the various kings who ruled the Ashanti Empire. Here again, I thought the tour description was rather deceptive. I found although the description read, “Features brass makers, potters and batik makers,” our only other stop was at a store where we could BUY batik products. I felt I had been had.

Charles gave us a little bus tour of Kumasi, then we went back to our hotel. We were served a lovely poolside dinner. We were all exhausted from the long bus ride, the high tempertures/humidity. So we were in bed and asleep before 9:00 pm. Even the students didn’t go out to party that night!

Day two we stopped at three Ashanti craft villages: Bonwire, the kente-weaving village, Ahwina, a wood carvers’ village, and Ntonso, the home of the Adinkra cloth. This was my favorite day!

The first stop, Bonwire, is where they make the well-know kente cloth. The weavers (only men are allowed to weave) are out on the sidewalks with their looms weaving the cloths. The cloth could be a single, double or triple weave, the triple weave being the most expensive and heaviest. A single weave is one sided. A double weave piece, both sides could be used and would have different patterns, as would the triple weave. Some were buying a larger piece to drape over a couch, others were buying a long narrow piece to use as a table runner. They also had smaller woven pieces to use as coasters. Some pieces only were made up of two colors, such as blue and white or red and white, but most were the typical colors seen in Ghana : purple, red, orange, black, green and yellow. It was beautiful to look at, but I left empty-handed.

For whatever you wanted to purchase, it was expected of you to bargain until you and the seller could reach an agreement. Those of you that know me well, know that I can bargain with the best of them; however I found bargaining very difficult to do on this outing. I kept looking around and seeing how these people have very little, and here I am going around the world and I should be bargaining??? It didn’t feel right and I just couldn’t do it.

Next stop, Ahwina. Although I didn’t need to take any wood carvings home with me, they were interesting to see all they had and talking with the people. The carvings included masks, animals and more. I did pick up a few simple bracelets and necklaces here. I had those guys surrounding me sometimes six at a time (which was a little scary) trying to get me to buy/bargain with them, as I walked down the street.

The last stop, Ntonso, was very interesting. First we went in a two room small building to see the tools that are used to dye the Adinkra cloth and hear about the history, meaning of the many symbols used and production of the cloth and dye. (See picture to better understand what the Adinkra cloth looks like.)

Adinkra means “goodbye” or “farewell” in Twi, the language of the Akan. It is tradition for the Akan people wear cloths decorated with Adinkra symbols on important occasions, especially at funerals of family or friends. This signifies their sorrow and farewell to the deceased.

The stamps that are used to put the dye on the cloth are carved out of wood. Each symbol carved, has a different meaning. These carvers are called calabash carvers.

Then we were taken outside to see how the ink for the Adinkra cloth is made: bark is gathered and put into a large pot, then pounded with a large heavy wooden pole until the bark is broken down. Once the bark is broken into little slivers, water is added. The mixture is put over an open fire and boiled in a pot to make the black ink.

Once the dye was finished, it was time to make our own printed Adinkra cloth. We chose a strip of cloth (many designs and colors to choose form) and which symbols we wanted and got to work. Our cloth was in the shape of a banner, maybe 8 inches by 48 inches. We laid it on a large board on the ground, then dipped a stamp in the dye, shook off the excess ink and stamped it on our banner.

We could use several different symbols on our banner, depending what we wanted our banner to signify. The cost for each banner was about $5.00 US dollars. (See picture for some of the results.)

Then it was back on the bus and our guide had asked us if we would like to see Crater Lake before heading back. This lake and its surrounding crater was created by a large meteorite strike that took place over a million years ago. The lake is around 25sq km, and up to 90m deep. The crater in which the lake is contained in is even larger. The crater walls rising to 600m and covering an area of 49sq km, 8.6km across at its widest and 8.1km at its narrowest. This is the largest natural fresh water body in Ghana, and is filled by rainwater. However three (out of eighteen) people said they didn’t want to see it, so our guide said we needed to head back to the ship if everyone didn’t want to see it. Back to the ship it was.