A gap year in Ghana
Gap years in Ghana
Looking for a challenge – or the opportunity to change a life? Want to take your GAP year somewhere off the beaten track? Somewhere you can spot hippopotamus on Saturdays and play street-cricket on Monday mornings? Ghana is a typically warm and vibrant African nation. You’ll enjoy great company, spicy food, and music infused with sunshine. This irresistibly friendly country has all the makings of a fabulous GAP year.
Gap Year Opportunities
In terms of GAP opportunities, Ghana has something for everyone. Whether you want to teach boxing or art, work in physiotherapy or nurse beach turtles, you’ll find the perfect opportunity on igapyear.
Although the country’s education system has improved immeasurably since the 1970s, there aren’t yet enough school places for all the children. Students are taught in English, and classes are free (but not compulsory). You could spend your GAP year teaching in a school, or you could enlist to help out with extra-curricular activities.
There are plenty of sports opportunities, from football and rugby to boxing (Ghana’s second most popular sport), and hockey to netball. Ghanaian girls’ education was poor until the end of the twentieth century, but initiatives have now improved awareness and opportunities for young girls. You’ll find them eager to participate in extra-curricular sports activites.
Because art and music is vital to the Ghana way of life – and used to celebrate festivals and events – there are also opportunities in this area, too. Work with local artists, children and adults to inspire and develop artistic talent; or volunteer to help publicise and fund-raise for one of Ghana’s national music foundations.
Budding conservationists should look up one of the packages that include a placement with one of the turtle protection teams working along the Ghanaian coastline. Beach turtles swim to shore at night and lay eggs before returning to the water; these eggs are under threat, and the baby hatchlings have a poor survival rate. Volunteers are required to help monitor and protect the mother turtles – and raise hatchlings before releasing them back into the ocean.
About Ghana
Like other African nations, Ghana has been sliced up, divided and ruled by various countries for the last few centuries. Divided by Portugal and then seized by Britain until independence day in 1957, Ghana is littered with evidence of its former rulers.
The country is quite high in the African GDP league, trading gold, timber and cocoa – with an oilfield just off its shores. Despite the high price of internal peacekeeping, it’s certainly one of the more economically stable countries in Africa. The national language is English and 60% of the population Christian, largely due to Portugese and English colonisation since the 15th century.
Seeing Ghana
Ghana’s rich cultural heritage is a big tourist attraction. Ashanti tribe families, still living in traditional fishing villages, offer B&B facilities to people who wish to experience a slower pace of life. The traditional occupations of weaving, art and cookery are on show, with the opportunity to buy craft work.
But you can’t leave Ghana without heading out on safari. With 16 National Parks, Ghana is a wildlife lover’s dream. Varied landscape and an incredible catalogue of species, from the Big Five to elephants, baboons, buffalo and hippos, bring binocular-wielding tourists in their droves. You can trek in tropical jungle or enjoy a river safari. Head for Mole National Park, where the elephants are confident enough to get up-close and personal, and you can hope to spot 90 species of mammals.
Getting Around
In cities like Accra the minibus is your best option: like the rest of Africa, Ghana’s minibuses are tatty and their routes haphazard. Climbing aboard for the first time can be intimidating but the people inside will be friendly and tickets are cheap. Travelling onwards is more difficult: Ghana’s national railway is currently undergoing work, so long-distance coach services are the way to go. Book with Intercity in advance (see link opposite).