One of the first out-of-the-city beach resorts you come to on the drive west from Accra, Abandze sits by a small estuary just beyond Saltpond (trivia: hometown of afrobeat and highlife legend Ebo Taylor, whose latest album just got a nice write-up on excellent British music site The Quietus).
It’s been there for around six years, founded and still run by a friendly Scottish lady who, she says, only visited the country because her Ghanaian accountant insisted. While she was here the land came up for sale, and she realised she’d looked down on it from the ruins of nearby Fort Amsterdam. The price was right, and the rest was history, of a sort. No signs of the old expat effect here.
A few friendly local staff and a parade of cats and dogs, including lop-eared terrier Mitzi, help her run things, serving up very fresh seafood – though our fish platter was rather overcooked – and unusually good beef imported from Argentina via Takoradi.
Breakfasts also deserve a mention. Eggs came with a proper, rich, yellow yolk, and bacon answered its description. These are big pluses at budget-to-mid-range resorts; even eggs from the big South African and Lebanese supermarkets often have pale, flavourless centres.
I should add that on the second of our two nights L sustained quite a few bites in bed, of the sort likely to have been delivered by crawling things, not flying ones. I was fine though. That aside, it’s a welcoming spot with a nice upstairs bar and a decent stretch of beach, made all the more attractive by its proximity to the city. It’s on file for bank holiday weekends.
Findability: Go through Saltpond and keep driving west until you can see the ocean. It’s directly opposite a small Goil station. [map]
