Wanderlust’s inspirational adventure

Like many Ghanaians I know, my visits to various parts of the country have mainly been on the back of attending funerals.

 For some, class excursions back in school or church excursions constitute the only experience that they have had of visiting other parts of the country.

My time at the Ministry of Education did facilitate some work-based travel, but not enough to make up for my appalling deficit in this department.  

The notion of your average Ghanaian hitting the tourist trail in Ghana, or just travelling from one point to another just for the thrill-seeking sake of it is quite far-fetched.

This is quite understandable when one considers the costs involved, including fuel and accommodation, as well as the state of many of our roads and other security concerns.

For many of our citizens, keeping body and soul together and putting bread on the table are the things that held sway over the mind.

So, in the scheme of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, esteem and self-actualisation are way up in the stratosphere.

Even for those who have the means, it is not particularly a venture that comes to mind readily. 

Wanderlust adventure

The longest road journey I have ever undertaken was a road trip from Accra to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which took a total of 27 hours or so, with a sleepover at Bolgatanga, since the border would be closed by the time we got there if we had continued further.

 This was back in October 1990 when, together with my fellow third-year undergraduate classmates offering French at the University of Ghana, we travelled on a Ghana Tourism Board (as it was then) bus to Ouagadougou for our year abroad language programme in Burkina Faso.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip.

The story of a group of 13 Ghanaians, including a lady, who undertook an ambitious, bold and gruelling 10,000km trip by road from Accra to London, UK, has gripped many minds and catapulted Ghana into the international news circuit for the right reasons.  

The distance is astonishing by any stretch of the imagination, the equivalent of driving at 100km per hour non-stop for 100 hours.

Their diary, captured in their online diary on their Facebook page, Wanderlust Ghana, is nothing short of captivating and inspiring, and in some cases, almost scary.

Their account of a Moroccan police officer giving them full escort out of heavy traffic when he discovered that they were Ghanaians, and his subsequent revelation that he admired Abedi Pele, was most heart-warming.

I am sure the account gave many readers a burst of patriotic pride.

“Why not?”

During a BBC video link interview with one of the team members when they were in Spain, they were asked why they were undertaking the trip.

“Why not?”, came the reply.

Immediately, I was reminded of late US President John Kennedy’s September 1962 speech announcing the US’ intention to go to the moon by the end of that decade.

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too,” he said.

 For me, “why not?” captures the whole essence of this expedition, and indeed other expeditions that have been undertaken throughout the history of mankind and continue to be pursued.

It is this question that has inspired mankind to keep pushing the frontiers, whether it is in going to space, ‘discovering’ far-flung lands, sailing across the oceans, discovering the ocean depths, or exploring the North or South Pole, among others.

Human knowledge and the advancements we enjoy today, including our ability to fly across the world or communicate with others with ease at the touch of buttons have, in most instances, been born out of audacious dreams that bucked the trend and screamed “Why not?” 

Missing the point

Life is not, and must not be, a straitjacket, with ‘safe’, predictable routines and predictable outcomes.

It is to be lived to the fullest, even with its risks, so long as those risks are managed.

Of course, there were several risks associated with this expedition, but then there are risks involved in driving from, say Accra to Sunyani.

 My only gripe with Ocean Gate’s ‘Titan’ expedition in June this year to see the Titanic shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean, with the resulting death of all its passengers in an implosion, was the sheer negligence in ignoring safety precautions against several warnings and alerts.

To criticise the trip as a pointless waste of time and money when the group could have simply purchased airline tickets and flown in comfort to London, as some have argued on social media portals, is to miss the entire point by a mile and to demonstrate a certain unfortunate poverty of thinking.

After all, the expedition was not publicly funded.

As someone quipped in response to such an argument, “Is your money missing?”

On this trip, the team built many memories that will live with them for the rest of their lives.

They have raised money for charity, achieved global recognition and have become the toast of a nation that is so heavily split along party lines that it is difficult to rally around any single issue without the usual partisan bickering.

I am sure many television interviews, speaking engagements and probably a book to share their experiences will emerge out of this expedition.

I can see the ‘National Geographic television channel making a documentary out of this.

I can see car giants falling over each other and themselves in a scramble to sponsor their next expedition, which I have no doubt will eventually take place.

You do not get to make this kind of impact whilst crammed into seat number 23D on a routine British Airways overnight flight from Accra to London.

As TS Elliot put it, “The journey, not the destination, matters…”

Ouagadougou inspiration

The Wanderlust adventurers dared to dream, worked hard at it and actualised it.

They have demonstrated strength of character, clarity of purpose and sheer grit, and we can only admire and cheer them, as a group of enthusiastic and proud Ghanaians turned up to do when they arrived in the UK.

A West African coastal tour from Douala to Nouakchott. Cairo to Cape Town.

A round trip expedition of Ghana from Accra through Hohoe, Bimbila, Tamale, Bolgatanga, Lawra, Bole, Dormaa, Kumasi and Takoradi back to Accra, or a coastal expedition from Keta to Half Assini, revealing how connected and beautiful Ghana is.

The permutations are endless and exciting and I hope this trip inspires such feats.

Those of us of a certain age bracket will recall the exploits of the famous Kak Dee, who walked from Accra to Paga in the 1980s, to wild acclaim.

With the right pitch, sponsorship for logistics should not be a barrier.

Inspired by the Wanderlust team, maybe I can convince my Burkina Faso class from Legon to get together so that we retrace our steps to Ouagadougou 33 years ago.

The idea would be to take it nice and easy, as we are no longer spring chickens and our knees can be a bit wobbly. 

We could do with quite several stops along the way to stretch our legs, sample fresh, frothy local palm wine or pito, feast on some fufu with goat light soup, munch on roasted guinea fowl, feed the crocodiles at Paga and then go on to pose for photographs sitting on their backs as they snore contentedly, before descending on Ouagadougou to revisit our stomping grounds of yesteryear.

Why not?

Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng,
Head, Communications & Public Affairs Unit,
Ministry of Energy,
Accra.

E-mail: rodboat@yahoo.com