[dropcap size=small]T[/dropcap]hey say in Africa the people live in trees; the bigger your tree, the richer you are. Also, the people stay in jungles with wild animals roaming freely. Furthermore, there is no form of technology. I mean what are you going to plug your iPad charger in to? Your big tree? Don’t be silly! And let’s not forget all the poor starving people who make up the continent. You must always remember them. Even when you’ve eaten so much food to the point of wanting to throw up, you must eat some more in their honor.
Now, I do not know about you, but I do not wish to live in any tree-living, animal-chasing, no-iPhone-having continent!
And I didn’t have to because, by now, you’ve probably picked up that these claims are as ridiculous as they are untrue.
Yes, there is certainly more room for improvement in Africa. Some parts are very much more underdeveloped than others. However, this premise does not make up an entire continent and its people. Poverty is not unique to African countries; there are too many other non-African countries suffering from poverty and quite the number of African countries with great wealth for poverty and lack of civilization to be attributed as an “African thing.”
“Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter.” Or as the late Mr. Komla Dumor of BBC Africa explains it, “It is not so much what the international media does, but what you write about yourself.”
So this is me writing what I know. My goal is to show you our similarities and our differences, and even in the cases where we differ, just how perfectly normal it is to be different. The focus is not only on African countries I’ve visited. It’s basically every country I get the opportunity to see. Why do I bother? Have you not heard? I kind of have a habit.
As you may already know, I was recently in Ghana for a two month-long stay, and besides the part where I was on vacation; I was also there to photograph the Ghanaian lifestyle like I know it. I reexamined the people and the culture. I lived as if both a foreigner and a native, exploring new things and questioning things I already knew. I questioned the culture like a close-minded tourist and argued back like a proud native, and then I did the same thing the other way around: Close-minded native against an open-minded and change bringing visitor.
Don’t worry, this won’t be research statistics and tables; I just love to record these things with my camera! 🙂
Today, I thought I’d share with you a pretty cool resort I visited in Ghana.
During my trip to Ghana this year, I put my brave face on and went visiting crocodiles at the Hans Cottage Botel in the Central Region of Ghana. I remember when I was younger, I visited this resort, but I was too scared to get near any crocodiles. Even though my interest is mainly in fashion and street photography. I love to try out all kinds of photography and that day wildlife photography and whole lot of courage were on my list.
Here is one of my brave moments getting really up close and personal with a crocodile. At first, it was a lot of hiding behind people and standing as far away from the crocodiles as possible. Then, one baby step after the other, I was getting closer and closer to the crocs, and at one point of bravery high I almost sat on one. Of course, the tour guide was nearby in case things painfully backfired. The crocodiles were pretty tame or perhaps they were just very lazy. Either way, it was a good thing.
The weather was perfect and the ambiance was pretty relaxing which I really appreciated because it was a long journey from the city of Accra. I sat at the restaurant listening to the live band play while I had my lunch – yummy fish and fried yams!
Nearby, there were some tourists bird watching while others took boat rides on the man-made lake that surrounded the restaurant.
I truly enjoyed my time here. It was great way to just take a break from the city and all the noise to enjoy nature!
P.S I am not sure why it’s called a Botel. I didn’t catch any boat hotels around the vicinity. :/