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[Nigeria]Nigerian glossary

2007-01-02

Travelling back to Accra

Filed under: ghana,travel,VSO — kevin @ 17:57

Our taxi driver (I think he’s called Ado) failed to appear at 8am as we’d agreed, once it got to 8.20 I phoned him and was told he was coming (a common West African phrase which doesn’t actually imply an intention to arrive soon). He eventually appeared at 8.45 and seemed puzzled that I was annoyed.

Once we were in the taxi the driver was still standing about chatting to the eco-village staff, so I shouted across to remind him that we were waiting.

We got the whinging about the bad road on the way back as well. I timed the journey and it was about 40 minutes, so he probably hadn’t even left Asikuma until after 8am.

When we arrived at Asikuma I half-jokingly suggested that we reduce the fare from the agreed ¢80,000 to ¢70,000 because of his lateness. He immediately became stroppy, so I dug in, explaining that he had wasted our time so we’d reduce his money.
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Xofa Eco-Village (31 December – 2 January)

Filed under: ghana,travel,VSO — kevin @ 16:42

Up horribly early and then to Asafo station to take a bus to Accra. Lots of different “luxury” bus operators, so we chose one that had air conditioning and was already quite full. We bought tickets for ¢55,000 (£3) each and settled down for the journey.

We broke down on the outskirts of Kumasi but (unusually) the company had a spare bus and sent it to collect us. The new bus had condensation from the a/c dripping on the unfortunates in window seat but was better than nothing. We departed again at about 7am and arrived in Accra around 11.30.

After a cross-city taxi transfer we got to Tudu station and took a tro-tro going to Ho, asking the driver to drop us at Asikuma junction, ¢30,000. Once we got further north we could see that the Harmattan was fairly severe, with very poor visibility around Lake Volta.

At Asikuma junction we bargained with the taxi drivers but couldn’t get below ¢90,000 (£5, a day and a quarter’s VSO allowance) for a taxi to Xofa, they’re obviously too used to rich tourists. The driver whinged about the bad road all the way, although in Nigerian terms it was fairly average.

We arrived at Xofa Eco-Village (glowing article and criticism) and were immediately whisked to a covered area by the lake by the manager, Victus. The accommodation is in several little round houses, mostly in pairs and dotted around the site. They’re nice but constructed with more enthusiasm than skill, mosquito netting is mostly decorative as there are huge gaps left without nets.
A small thatched stone house. Dave and Marebec reading by a plastic table under a thatched roof. A lakeshore with dead trees sticking out of the water.  Poor visibility due to dust.
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