journey into the unknown
first time in ghana, first time in africa, i don't really know what to expect.
arriving from berlin via amsterdam at the kotoka international airport in the capital accra, down an escalator, everything looks very modern.
on the plane there was a card to be filled in for entry and another for health-related questions. the second card appears to be under the influence of Covid-19, the corona virus that is currently spreading worldwide. at the lower end of the escalator, screening stations are set up, complete with 2-3 employees for checking vaccination passes, for temperature control using a thermal imaging camera, all with face masks, gloves, hairnets and a lab coat.
then i go on to immigration and customs control, fingerprints are taken, just like in the USA, of all 10 fingers - well now the know me! at the baggage carousel in the background - due to the volume, you could also say in the foreground - a song is playing with the text 'welcome to ghana ...', it almost sounds like i landed in the caribbean. the music conjures up smiles on the faces of many waiting people. one can see different hairstyles, braids, frizzy hair, long eyelashes.
my pastime: people watching. it takes about 50 minutes until the luggage arrives at the conveyor belt. one more check to see whether the piece of luggage that you are carrying out really belongs to you, another show of the passport, then out i go through an electric sliding door to a waiting area under a roof, but no longer in a closed room.
for the first time i feel the warm evening air and start to sweat almost immediately - also because i am wearing long trousers coming in from the european winter. a lot of people are waiting here, i hear calls: 'taxi. sir?’, i take a look around until i find a small sign board with my name and the name of the accommodation for the first night in ghana.
the older man explains to me that his car is parked at the other terminal and that we have to get there by bus. we do that together. he makes me wait at the exit stop to pull up the car - another opportunity to watch and gather impressions. according to my travel motto: 'be an empty cup!'
here at the airport, wealth and poverty collide in a strong contrast. a highly motorized mercedes SUV pulls up to pick up an apparently wealthy, semi-african, semi-european young woman who arrived with expensive branded clothing and designer luggage. the engine roars loudly when the SUV sets off, loud hip hop sounds from the inside. young men sit on the fence with no directly recognizable purpose, others have utensils for cleaning car windows. an older man walks past, his pelvis is shifted and his legs are bent strongly to the side, but he still stands proudly.
my driver arrives with quite a rattling box – very likely not roadworthy in europe, but it will be fine for the short distance to the lodge. we pass small wooden shacks that serve as shops, we cross potholes littered side streets into a residential area, through a guarded gate into the courtyard of the lodge. after the check-in i wait a little longer, then up a flight of stairs to my apartment for one night - everything is fine, i have arrived in africa for the first time in my life.
