From Accra to Busua; a cautionary tale

After braving food from the Osu night market in Accra, I woke up at 5am, not in excitement for the day ahead but with a different feeling in the pit of my stomach - not the best start!

I packed my bags up as best as I could between bathroom/bucket trips and sent my boyfriend, John, to find a pharmacy - rookie error not bringing immodium.

We planned to take the STC bus, which has a lovely website with a lot of information and no information at the same time. I'd watched a video explaining the four ways to book a ticket, download the app (it did not exist), use the website (it had no booking options), call any of the four numbers (none of them worked) or turn up at the bus station (which one??). So with no way of knowing what time the bus to Takoradi would be, we left as soon as I stopped bring sick at 7:30am and headed to one out of three possible bus stations, Tudu terminal. We were redirected promptly to Awudome, the STC bus headquarters, and found out the only bus would be leaving at 1pm.

With no strength to go anywhere, we waited at the bus station for our bus - there literally was only one bus leaving the whole day! I survived off a single prayer and occasional half sips of water to stave off the dry desert-like feeling in my mouth.

The bus left late at 1:30pm, blasted us with aircon so that I had to wrap up in my raincoat and a towel, and played soundless Ghanain movies with no subtitles, so I got to make up my own plot.

What was advertised on their website as a 4 hour trip started to stretch out as we hit flooded roads and potholes that were more like meteor crates, I tried to ignore the overturned trucks like that couldn't possibly be us despite being at a rather acute angle ourselves.

The speed driven when we did eventually hit flat tarmac was impressive, if not life threatening. But we were all mutually torn between arriving safely or arriving at all. Although I did appreciate the 10 minute stop in Ekumfi to restock on food (for John) supplies (for me) and use the bathroom.

It was a relief to finally reach Takoradi at 9:30pm, a whole 8 hours after leaving Accra! We were picked up by a driver for Ahanta Eco Lodge, who had been faithfully waiting for us since 7:30pm, and of course I remembered far too late that I'd left my favourite hat on the coach!

I had thought the ride was bumpy on the STC bus while navigating the unfinished pot-hole ridden flood planes that were the roads, but that was before being taken on this bone shaking quarry-like driving experience which promptly reminded my body quite how sick I had been that very morning.

Barely intact, we eventually arrived safely at Ahanta Eco Lodge at 11:30pm, a whole 16 hours after leaving our hotel in Osu.

So, all that to say, there are flights available should anyone wish to make the journey to Takoradi from Accra. It might not be as cheap as the 90 cedis I paid (£6) but your survival rate is probably a lot higher, and the journey time is much shorter. As for me, I think I will be paying the £80 to fly back.