A year after our honeymoon, and still years before the Navy or kids, we did something completely different. We spent two months living in Adankwame, a village just outside Kumasi, Ghana, teaching English, then two weeks in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
If Cancun gave us the travel bug, West Africa is where it turned into something bigger. This trip changed how we see the world, and it’s a big part of why we travel the way we do now.
Why we went: teaching English in Adankwame
We went through an internship program to teach English in Adankwame. Kumasi is Ghana’s second-largest city and the heart of the Ashanti Region. Adankwame sits just outside it: close enough to reach the city, but a very different pace of life.
A normal day in the village
Most days looked something like this:
- Breakfast in one pan. Eggs and toast, all made in the same frying pan.
- Filter the day’s water. Before anything else, we filtered enough drinking water to get us through the day.
- Sandals on. We lived in walking sandals with really good arch support. On days with this much walking, they were the best thing we packed.
- Stop at the shop. We’d walk from our hostel to the first little shop we could find and stock up on snacks and lunch for the day. We saw the shopkeeper almost every day, and by the end she’d become a friend.
- School. We’d greet the other teachers, plan our lessons, and then teach middle school–age kids.
Simple routines, repeated for two months, made a village on the other side of the world feel like home.
One of our favorite memories: one of the local teachers took us to see Ghana’s national soccer team play an international match. The crowd, the singing, the energy: if you ever get the chance to see a game in Ghana, go.
Getting around: crowded, chaotic, and friendly
Getting around Ghana is much different from home. There’s public transportation, and it’s very crowded: shared vans and taxis packed with as many people as will fit.
What we didn’t expect was how happy everyone was to see us. Strangers greeted us, asked where we were from, and made sure we got off at the right stop. The crowded rides became one of our favorite parts of the day.
If you go:
- Carry small bills and coins for fares.
- Ask a local (or your host) which vehicle to take. Routes aren’t always posted, and people are glad to help.
- Be patient and friendly. Nothing runs on a strict schedule, and a smile goes a long way.
The monkey sanctuary
One of our best days was a trip to a monkey sanctuary a few hours from Kumasi, where the monkeys climb right up onto your shoulders and hop around everywhere. It’s chaotic and hilarious, and you will not stop laughing (or checking your pockets).
A night on safari at Mole National Park
We also spent a night at Mole National Park, Ghana’s biggest wildlife park. Falling asleep to baboons and all sorts of other animals moving and calling around us in the dark was unforgettable, and a little unnerving.
The next morning at breakfast, a baboon ran up and stole Michael’s toast right off his plate. Lesson learned: guard your breakfast. The baboons know exactly what they’re doing.
Then we went out to find the animals we’d been hearing all night. We saw elephants both on a walking safari and from the vehicle, and we got to watch them take a mud bath. Standing on foot, that close to wild elephants, is something neither of us will forget.
Kakum National Park
We also visited Kakum National Park in Ghana’s Central Region, a protected stretch of tropical rainforest best known for its canopy walkway strung high between the treetops.
Lake Bosomtwe
Another day trip from Kumasi took us to Lake Bosomtwe, a huge, nearly round lake in the Ashanti Region that sits inside an ancient meteorite crater. It’s Ghana’s largest natural lake, and the Ashanti people consider it sacred.
After weeks of busy roads and packed classrooms, the stillness of the lake was the perfect break.
Two weeks in Freetown, Sierra Leone
After Ghana, we traveled on to Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, on the Atlantic coast, purely for fun. We explored the city and visited the famous Cotton Tree, the giant, centuries-old tree in the middle of downtown that was a symbol of the city. It came down in a storm in 2023, so we feel lucky we got to see it.
The vibe felt a lot like Ghana: warm, welcoming, and busy. The language and food, though, were pretty different, which made it feel like a whole new trip.
What we’d tell anyone going
- See a travel clinic early. Ghana requires proof of yellow fever vaccination to enter, and you’ll want advice on malaria prevention too. Check the current requirements for both countries before you book.
- Plan for water. We filtered our drinking water every single day.
- Bring good walking sandals. You’ll walk a lot, often on uneven roads.
- Expect to live simply. We washed our clothes by hand and took bucket showers for months, and we got used to it faster than we expected.
- Say yes to the invitations. The people are the trip.
Would we bring the kids?
Honestly, not yet. Even as two adults, finding food we could eat took real effort. Doing that for three kids, some of them picky eaters, would be a whole different challenge. This one was the right trip at the right time: just the two of us, before the Navy, with nothing to do but teach, explore, and say yes.
Our trip home had one more stop: a week in London, and our first hot shower in months.
