The Volta trip: The nice Keta sand, going fishing and how we lost our drone to the Keta Winds

Travelling and sightseeing are two of the best things that could ever happen to anyone, most especially when you are growing up and have less significant things to worry about. Apart from treating your eyes with the best views in life, travelling also gives you exposure and insight into things. For me, it also gives me business ideas and other ways of doubling the few dollars I have.

Many times, we complain about not having enough money but travelling is not always expensive, especially when it is within the country. With a minimum amount of money, you can travel and enjoy every bit of the journey. I greatly recommend the countryside. I have been to 8 out of the 10 regions in Ghana and I look forward to visiting the Upper East and Upper West regions soon.

Recently, I took the longest road trip ever. I drove to Takoradi for a few days and drove all the way to Tamale. That’s like 10 hours behind the wheels. It was tiring and fun at the same especially since I got to drive my all-time favourite car; a Mercedes Benz.

On 21st September which was a holiday and a Friday, started off a long weekend, so three of my friends and I decided to leave Accra and travel to the Volta Region to rest and to go sightseeing. As part of the trip, we planned to visit Togo and I haven’t been there before.

We set off from Accra around 5:30am on Friday morning and first headed towards Aflao, then Togo. We made a few stops on the way and the one I remember most vividly is the stop at Nogokpo. The Nogokpo township is a small town built mostly under long coconut trees. The township is a very popular one due to the fact that it is believed to have one of the most powerful shrines in the country.

By 8:30am, we were at Aflao. The first thing we did was to find a safe place to park and prepare to enter Togo. We changed some CFA at the border. We were advised to dress like ‘normal’ people because it would help us pass through without ‘worry’. We crossed the border successfully and we walked down the road for almost 2 kilometers towards the Lome township as we admired their nice beach.

Togo is indeed a nice place. We visited their port and market places. We did little window shopping at the car ports and we saw very nice cars which were relatively cheap at prices that could be compared to online or abroad prices. I now understood why people settle on ‘Togo cars’ even though they aren’t the best. Their markets are quite similar to the Ghanaian ones. We went to buy sneakers and we got them at cheap prices. I am very sure that their ‘Free port’ is a major reason why things are very cheap there as compared to Ghana. The okada we took from the border to the port charged us 250CFA each even though we got lost. To me, that was very cheap considering the distance we covered, as opposed to the charges in Ghana. We couldn’t have left Togo without taking anything in so we went to the beach to have some drinks and also to enjoy the scenery. Two of us took in malt and the other two took Orijin beer as we relaxed and i must say Malt in Togo is very light.

We left Togo for Keta where we spent the night. The weather in Keta is usually great and the skies are so clear. The long stretch of clear white sand coupled with the weather and the whole atmosphere in general could be a match for Dubai or even Las Vegas. Keta, which means ‘sand top’ when translated, is indeed a settlement built on sand. There is literally sand everywhere you pass and your car can easily get stuck in the sand if you happen to drive through it.

The next day, which was Saturday, we went to the beach in the morning, visited what is known to be the oldest lighthouse in the country, St. Paul’s Lighthouse, and also Fort Prinzenstein.

It wasn’t my first time climbing a lighthouse but this lighthouse built in 1901 seemed scarier than any other with each step that we took upwards. Midway up, I almost wished I hadn’t climbed up at all but the adventurous side of me kept me going. Upon arrival at the top, the fantastic views of Keta’s beautiful sandy beaches and Woe’s famous farmlands. Two iconic things about Keta are their nicely irrigated farms and cemeteries (mostly family cemeteries) at every corner. The view from the lighthouse, coupled with the clear blue skies, was simply breath-taking.

We learnt that since it was built, the 8 pillars of the lighthouse have never been changed and that the lighthouse still works perfectly. Due to our adventurous natures and our crave for nice and wild pictures, we decided to fly our Tello drone from the top of the lighthouse which turned out to be a huge mistake. Ken, one of the guys, started the drone whilst it was on Nii, another guy’s palm. As soon as the drone was airborne, Ken lost control of it and it kept moving towards the sea. The Tello drone is not a particularly big drone so it does not have the calibrate features that would have brought it back to the take off point. We stood there amazed as we watched the winds carry our drone away.

Few Moment after we lost our drone to the Keta Winds

Fort Prinzenstein would have been a great edifice if it had been maintained well. Part of it has been washed away exposing the skeletal building structure of the fort. it was very visible that the fort did not have any metallic materials in it. The building was a mere arrangement of stones with concrete.

Later, we went in search of worms as bait since fishing on the Keta lagoon was the next on our agenda. We enjoyed some chilled fresh palm wine as we fished and honestly that was one of the best palm wines I’ve ever tasted. Either the waves were too strong or we were on the wrong side of the lagoon because we weren’t able to catch even a single fish. We ended the day eating banku with fish and pork.

Fast forward to Sunday, we had breakfast and headed towards Accra. Halfway through the journey, we received a call and had to return to Keta. We ended up spending a better part of the day swimming in a pool. That evening, we went to a club at Aflao which was about an hour’s drive from Keta. The club wasn’t really up to the standard of the ones in Accra but the people were really having a good time. We returned to Keta 2am. The best part of that return trip was when we stopped in the middle of nowhere and jammed for about five minutes before continuing the journey. It was a very scary approach but to me, that was the highlight of the night.

We headed back to Accra at dawn on Monday. Ken was the designated driver but he ended up dozing off whilst driving due to tiredness so I had to take over whilst he went to sleep on Dino’s leg. The three-day road trip has so far been one of the best trips ever that I have taken. There was so much to see and experience. I learnt so much about other cultures and also about the Volta Region.I saw business prospects so i will surely go back to invest in Volta Region.