10D9N Grand Ghana Safari

Upon arrival at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, situated on the beautiful Gold Coast of Western Africa, you will be met by our expert local tour guides right after you clear customs and exit the main terminal building. Look out for the prominent Ashanti African Tours sign. Your guides will take care of your luggage and transfer you via a private air-conditioned vehicle to your Accra accommodation. Once checked in, your experienced guide will offer a warm Akwaaba (welcome) and conduct a comprehensive trip briefing while you enjoy your evening meal at the hotel restaurant and acclimatize to West Africa.

dinner

After breakfast, we set off for a full city tour of Accra, passing through the economic and administrative districts on our way to the National Museum, which houses immersive ethnographic displays from Ghana and across West Africa. We then head to Jamestown, one of Accra’s oldest suburbs, for a community walking tour to see historical structures that predate the colonial era, the 1871 British lighthouse, Fort James, and traditional Brazilian stone houses built by returned free enslaved Africans. After lunch at Country Kitchen serving local dishes, we visit Independence Square to view the eternal flame of African liberation lit by Kwame Nkrumah in 1961, followed by the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and Mausoleum built of Italian marble. We browse the adjacent National Cultural Centre—Ghana’s largest outdoor arts and crafts market—before ending the action-packed day at the “Fantasy Coffins” workshop in Teshie Nungua to see artisans sculpt custom coffins shaped like cars, cocoa pods, and animals before returning to the hotel.

breakfast · lunch · dinner

We make an early start and check out of our hotel, driving north toward the Ashanti Region. Our first stop is at TK Beads in the beautiful Akuapem hills, where experts demonstrate the skilled, ancient process of crushing and firing glass to make traditional beads, which serve as local cultural symbols of wealth and beauty. After shopping for bead souvenirs, we continue up the range to visit the historic 1890 Aburi Botanical Gardens. Your guide will walk you past exotic and indigenous flora, explaining their traditional medicinal properties. We then stop at the friendly Aburi craft village to watch generational woodcarvers sculpt traditional African drums and statues before breaking for lunch in Koforidua, the capital of the Eastern Region. We spend the afternoon driving to Kumasi, arriving in the early evening to check into our hotel and enjoy dinner.

breakfast · lunch · dinner

After a relaxing breakfast, we embark on a rich cultural city tour of Kumasi, starting at the Manhyia Palace Museum, the historic home of the Asantehene (King of the Ashanti) to get a firsthand insight into the legacy of the powerful Asanteman Kingdom. We continue to the National Cultural Centre near Bantama to explore the craft market and the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum, which houses ancient Ashanti artifacts. Next, we plunge into the labyrinth of stalls at the massive Kejetia Market, the largest outdoor market in West Africa, to experience daily local commerce. After lunch at a local restaurant, we visit the legendary Okomfo Anokye Sword site at the teaching hospital, where a 400-year-old unmovable sword stands driven into the ground as a symbol of Ashanti unity. We conclude the day with a brief visit to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) before offering the option to experience Kumasi’s nightlife with a live highlife band or relax at the hotel.

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Following an early breakfast, we bid farewell to Kumasi and drive north toward Ghana’s premier wildlife sanctuary, enjoying a local lunch en route. Just before entering the park boundaries, we stop at the ancient village of Larabanga to view its iconic 1421 Sudanese-style mud-and-stick mosque, which is one of the oldest in West Africa and listed by the World Monuments Fund as an endangered site. Your guide will explain the legends of its mystical founding stone and the ancient Quran housed inside. In the late afternoon, we arrive at Mole National Park and check into our lodge, which is spectacularly perched on a 250-meter-high escarpment. You can spend the evening relaxing on the pool terrace, watching wild African savannah elephants and crocodiles gather at the watering holes below as the sun sets over the guinea woodland.

breakfast · lunch · dinner

breakfast · lunch · dinner

After an early breakfast, we begin our journey back southward. Our first stop is at the beautiful Kintampo Waterfalls, a fast-flowing cascade where adventurous guests can experience a natural “power shower” and swim in the plunge pool. After lunch at the nearby Falls Restaurant, we drive through Techiman to reach the Boebeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary. These two closely nestled villages have protected wild Black and White Colobus monkeys and Lowe’s Mona monkeys for centuries due to traditional beliefs that the primates are sacred. We walk the forest trails to view these completely wild, free-roaming monkeys up close while our local guide identifies the surrounding medicinal trees. We then complete our drive back to Kumasi for an evening check-in and dinner.

breakfast · lunch · dinner

This morning, we explore the structural remains of the great Asante Empire by visiting traditional UNESCO-listed mud-and-bamboo thatched shrines adorned with geometric Adinkra motifs. We stop at Ejisu Besease to view the spiritual shrine where legendary female warrior Queen Mother Nana Yaa Asantewaa fortified herself before leading the 1901 war against the British. Next, we travel to the traditional craft villages, starting at Adanwomasie, the birthplace of colorful Kente cloth. We interact with generational weaving families, learn the history of the patterns, and try our hand at a traditional wooden loom. We then continue to Ntonso, the historic home of Adinkra cloth, where we learn how natural dyes are extracted from tree bark and participate in a workshop to stamp our own fabric strip using carved calabash symbols. We end the afternoon at Sokoban Krofrom to watch an ancient lost-wax demonstration of traditional brass casting before returning to our Kumasi hotel.

breakfast · lunch · dinner

Following a leisurely breakfast, we check out and drive south toward the coastal region. We stop at Assin Manso, a profound transit station along the historic enslaved African trade routes. Here, we tour the Ndonkor Nsuo (Enslaved African River), where captured ancestors were given their final bath and checked for physical fitness after walking hundreds of kilometers in shackles before their final march to the coast. After viewing the symbolic re-internment graves of returned ancestors, we drive to Cape Coast for a seaside lunch. In the afternoon, we take a deeply emotional guided tour through the dark, stone dungeons of the UNESCO World Heritage site Cape Coast Castle, viewing the heavy iron grates and walking out through the historic “Door of No Return” before checking into our coastal hotel for dinner.

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We make an early morning start for Kakum National Park to experience Africa’s world-famous rainforest canopy walkway. We take a deep breath to cross 7 suspended rope bridges strung 40 meters (120 feet) high across the upper guinea rainforest canopy, resting on platforms surrounding giant trees. After browsing the park’s wildlife center, we visit the International Stingless Bee Project to observe native hives, walk the butterfly garden, and sample medicinal bee honey. We stop for lunch at Han’s Cottage Botel, built right over a tropical lake filled with Nile crocodiles, before driving back to Accra. En route, we take an informative tour of Fort Amsterdam in Abandze, the first British fort built on the Gold Coast in 1631. Arriving in Accra, we stop briefly at the Accra Mall for last-minute souvenirs before enjoying a final farewell dinner at a local restaurant and transferring to the airport for your international flight home.

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