It depends. On the open paved section between towns, they drive on the right, just like the US. But after a while, those smooth sections give way to roads with huge potholes – at that point they need to drive wherever there is a pot-hole free pathway – right , left, and center. And after a while, the pavement gives out altogether – on the rutted and choppy dirt section, it may be necessary to drive considerable distance on the left side of the road.
On the crowded streets in town, we found our car in the middle, with cars coming towards us on the left and right! Actually, we were not driving ourselves, but hired a car and driver for the full 5 days in Ghana.
I really wanted to go inland to Kumasi, the Ashanti capital, so I booked a nice hotel and paid in advance. That committed us to doing everything possible to figure out how to get there. The trip was supposed to be about 4 or 5 hours. Semester at Sea works with a tour company in each country to arrange the group tours – guides, buses, and itineraries are worked out months in advance. They also put a travel advisor on the ship while we are in port.
The travel advisor booked us a car and driver, and said they would meet the ship’s shuttle into Accra. We grabbed our backpacks, got on the shuttle, and took the hour and 15 minute trip from the dock in Tema into Accra. No one was waiting. And no one came after that. We talked to the shuttle driver, they talked to the travel advisor (after a few tries), and when he took the bus back to the ship, he left someone to wait with us.
It all worked out! We were in Kumasi by the end of the day and had a great buffet dinner, including Ghanaian dishes. More later. On the way back to the coast, we were on a 30 or 40 km stretch of road in excellent condition – “Gift from the people of Japan”!
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