Accra is rising. Literally. Roll around the wealthier parts of town and you’ll notice the spread of high-rise, high-density luxury accommodation, a category whose arrival is fairly recent. Hitherto the rich would buy a plot – if they didn’t already own one – then build a wall around it and erect something between a bungalow… [Read more…]
February 27, 2013
As a building, the National Museum on Barnes Road represents a strange mix of stylistic imposition and local celebration. Commissioned in 1955 in the run-up to independence and opened to mark it in 1957, it was designed by Englishman Denys Lasdun – later Sir, and the man behind London’s brutalist National Theatre. It is in… [Read more…]
January 18, 2013
Last week my profile of Accra-based orchid enthusiast Florence Benson went up on Urban Photo (part of my work for Mmofra Foundation, whose Playtime in Africa project Mrs Benson supports). By way of variation on a theme, here’s a very different urban garden - one that I pass and eat from so often that it… [Read more…]
January 17, 2013
If you approach Ghana Commercial Bank on Labadi Road from the east, you come first to the old branch, which has in front of it a sign that reads, “We have moved next door.” The site of the older building is used as an overspill car park, but the building itself seems to be unused.… [Read more…]
November 18, 2012
Though it is officially a botanical garden, the 60-acre park at the University of Ghana’s Legon campus has mostly run wild – even more so than Aburi, the struggling historic site for which the government is seeking private sector partners. Fortunately, bugs and birds love a mess. Fellow Accra-based blogger Tim Woods reports spotting hoopoes, shikras, hornbills, tinkerbirds… [Read more…]
October 31, 2012
A couple of snaps of Kempinski’s fast-developing property in Accra. Though the original late 2012 opening date slid – first to a non-specific ’2013′, now narrowed down to April – work is still very much underway. There is no sign of it doing a Hilton.
October 28, 2012
Le Must is hard to miss. Built from those artfully irregular stones that all-inclusive resorts use when they’re trying to look rustic, it is harshly lit and surrounded by large, gaudy billboards that advertise the restaurant itself.
October 20, 2012
This fish came from Jamestown harbour, in the coastal part of what is known as ‘Old Accra’. Getting there is not difficult. You leave the main road at the colonial-era lighthouse and descend a steep ramp, then walk south down muddy paths lined with small wooden shops and houses. And then, quite suddenly, you emerge… [Read more…]
October 12, 2012
Until late 2011 Home Touch was a landmark on Giffard Road, thanks to a reputation for good, honest Ghanaian food and a striking, American diner-style roadside sign. The nearby bus stop was sometimes referred to as ‘Home Touch junction’.
October 10, 2012
A mostly Vietnamese hotel, bar and restaurant in an Osu backstreet, just far enough from the Oxford Street scrum. It’s owned by a French-Vietnamese couple and serves a couple of Gallic dishes too.
May 26, 2013
0