Ghana 2022

Airline: Delta Airlines

Date: July 6, 2022

New York to Accra

Flight #: DL 156  
Depart: New York (JFK) at 11:45 pm
Arrive: Accra (ACC) at 1:45 pm (Jul 7)

Arrive in Accra, Ghana. Transfer from airport to your hotel. Check into your hotel. Have a 1st dressmaking consultation on this day.

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Dinner

After breakfast, depart for a sightseeing tour of Accra. You will drive through the administrative and economic districts of Accra, the capital of Ghana. This 137-year-old city has a blend of colonial and modern architecture that summarizes her history. You will visit a fabric shop, the dressmaker the W. E. B. Dubois Centre for Pan African Culture, Independence/ Black Star Square, and Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. End your tour at the Arts Centre where you will have an opportunity to use your bargaining skills to shop from an open-air market for artifacts from Ghana and West Africa.

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and depart for Kumasi. En route to Kumasi, stop on the way to Besease shrine, a world heritage site. The Besease Shrine is a traditional fetish shrine near the town of Ejisu. Each of these shrines is a home for a particular spirit, called obosom that mediates between mortals and the supreme god Nyame. Observe the unique architecture and experience the mode of ancestral worship to the ancient gods.

Hotel: Golden Tulip Kumasi Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

Today you will have the privilege to witness the Akwasidae Festival in the Ashanti Kingdom. Akwasidae rituals and events are held in Ghana by the Akans every six weeks, honouring the ancestors and the Ashanti king. Akwasidae, according to the Ashanti cultural archive records is an ornate ceremony, commemorating the date that the Ashanti Golden Stool was magically brought down from heaven. A visit to Kumasi during an Akwasidae celebration is an invitation for spectacle. A celebration which parades colourful canopies and umbrellas amongst fontonfrom, kete and mpintsin drummers, dancers, horn blowers and singers who perform in honour of their ancestral spirits.

After the festival, embark on a citytour to the seat of the Ashanti Empire to explore the Manhyia Palace Museum, to obtain firsthand information on the legacies of the Ashanti kingdom. A regal history that dates back to 1700 is told with relics and artefacts. Enjoy a drive through the city with monuments dedicated to the memory of the great Ashanti people. Continue the tour to the National Cultural Centre which features the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum and various studios of the brass makers, potters and batik makers.

Join the group for "kasa" (talk time). Kasa provides an opportunity to learn more about Ghanaian culture or simply talk to each other and share impressions of the tour experience. Kasa discussions are led by your tour leader or tour guide. (This activity is optional).

Hotel: Golden Tulip Kumasi Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, depart your hotel and devote this day to visiting the three famous Ashanti craft villages. After breakfast, depart for Ahwiaa, the wood carvers’ village, Ntonso, the home of Adinkra cloth, and Bonwire, the Kente weaving village. You will have an opportunity to see how African crafts are made and to buy directly from the artisans who make them.

Hotel: Golden Tulip Kumasi Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and depart your hotel for a drive through the former slave route to Assin Manso. This was the final transit point for enslaved Africans before being shipped off to the new world. You will have the opportunity to visit the slave dungeons as well as the final resting place for two ancestors whose mortal remains were returned from the USA and Jamaica and re-interred in Ghana.

Hotel: Coconut Grove Beach Resort
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, drive through the historic Denkyira Kingdom to Kakum National Park, one of West Africa’s surviving tropical rain forests. Extending over 360sq km, Kakum is the home to over 40 large mammals and 400 bird species as well as many species of butterflies, flora and fauna. The most popular attraction is the Canopy walkway which is made up of seven bridges extending 330m, hanging 100 feet above the forest floor. Choose between a 2 km nature walk through this forest to discover the wide variety of exotic floral species and the medicinal values they offer or take a walk on the canopy walkway.

Afterwards, embark on a tour of the infamous Forts, Castles and Slave Dungeons of Ghana. History will unfold the story of the slave trade which the impact is still felt beyond the shores of Africa today. Visit the Cape Coast Castle built by the Swedes in 1653 and was later taken over by the British. This castle also houses the West African Historical Museum established by the Smithsonian Institute in collaboration with the Ghanaian Government in 1994.

Hotel: Coconut Grove Beach Resort
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

Early morning after breakfast, depart hotel and visit the Elmina Castle built by the Portuguese in 1482 and also known as St. George's Castle. This castle was the first European structure built in Sub - Saharan Africa. The colourful harbour nestled below the Elmina Castle, full of pirogues preparing to go to sea offers one of West Africa’s greatest photo opportunities. Return to Accra afterwards. Upon arrival, visit the dressmaker for a fitting session, and then check into your hotel afterwards.

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, depart for a scenic drive to a beautiful village located in the Volta Region. You will have the opportunity to pay a courtesy call on the paramount chief and elders amidst traditional drumming and dancing by the villagers and also participate in a naming ceremony, where you will be given a traditional African name.

Join the group for "kasa" (talk time). Kasa provides an opportunity to learn more about Ghanaian culture or simply talk to each other and share impressions of the tour experience. Kasa discussions are led by your tour leader or tour guide. (This activity is optional).

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, depart your hotel and visit Jamestown, the historic centre of British Accra. You’ll love the bright colours, authentic tastes and rich history of this charming district. Explore Jamestown’s architecture which has a unique blend of Eurocentric and Ghanaian influences, a reminder of the district’s history as the seat of British Colonial rule before Ghana’s independence. Take a picture by one of Ghana’s most famous buildings, Jamestown’s red and white lighthouse that overlooks the Gulf of Guinea.

Afterwards, visit Omanye art gallery, one of the most renowned art venues in Accra. There are three expansive floors of art displayed in cool marble galleries established by artists such as Owusu Ankomah and George Hughes, whose paintings are reminiscent of Jean Michel Basquiat and Willem De Kooning. Visit Gallery 1957, named after the year Ghana gained independence, the gallery offers contemporary art with a focus on West Africa.

Check out of your hotel at 6:00PM and transfer to the airport later in the evening for check in and depart.

Meals: Breakfast 

Airline: Delta

Date: July 16, 2022

Accra to New York

Flight #: KL 590
Depart: Accra (ACC) at 10:10 pm
Arrive: Amsterdam (AMS) at 6:45 am (Jul 17)

Layover in Amsterdam - 3 hours 15 minutes

Flight #: DL 047
Depart: Amsterdam (AMS) at 10:00 am
Arrive: New York (JFK) at 12:23 pm (Jul 17)

All of the first-class accommodations have been selected with your comfort and safety in mind. Click the link to view the beautiful properties.

Accra: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel

Kumasi: Golden Tulip Kumasi Hotel

Elmina: Coconut Grove Beach Resort

Due to the global COVID-19 Pandemic there are travel restrictions around the world. Please become familiar with the restrictions and the requirements for travel to Ghana and for entry back into the United States. These requirements are periodically updated, please check the below websites for the most recent requirements.

Ghana Entry Requirements

United States Entry Requirements
 

Below are some of the documents required for travel to Ghana

Passport
Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months pass the return date of the trip.

Immunizations
There are certain recommended and required immunizations for travel to Ghana. Yellow Fever immunization is required for entry into Ghana (you will need to show proof).  Please see the Ghana page of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website for the full list of recommended and required immunizations.

You can go to a local travel doctor to obtain the Yellow Fever Immunization and other recommended immunizations or medication for the trip. Another place is Passport Health, they have travel medical clinics throughout the United States.

Visa
US Citizens are required to have a Visa to enter Ghana. Information on obtaining visa can be found on the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC website or Ghana Consulate in New York website.

The cost is $60 - $100 depending on whether is standard delivery or rush processing (plus shipping). Currently, visas are only being processed by mail.

You can also use a visa service company to obtain your visa. One such company is CIBTvisas. The cost to obtain the visa with them is $169 for standard processing (plus tax and shipping). Note: You must use this link to get the discounted cost of $169, the regular cost is about $229.

Please note that the visa is valid for 90 days from the date of issuance. You should not apply for your visa too far in advance because it could expire before your trip ends. I'd recommend applying for your visa mid-May thru early-June 2022. The visa application process can take about 2 - 3 weeks to complete.

Checklist for submitting Visa application at the Ghana Consulate in New York

Airline: Delta Airlines

Date: July 6, 2022

New York to Accra

Flight #: DL 156  
Depart: New York (JFK) at 11:45 pm
Arrive: Accra (ACC) at 1:45 pm (Jul 7)

Date: July 16, 2022

Accra to New York

Flight #: KL 590
Depart: Accra (ACC) at 10:10 pm
Arrive: Amsterdam (AMS) at 6:45 am (Jul 17)

Layover in Amsterdam - 3 hours 15 minutes

Flight #: DL 047
Depart: Amsterdam (AMS) at 10:00 am
Arrive: New York (JFK) at 12:23 pm (Jul 17)