Hohoe Things to Do

Logba Alekpeti is just another village, that I remember most for its bush animals collector.

I parked my bicycle and continued by foot; people asked me if I already had seen the zoo. Of course I didn’t, and some guys took me there. Behind a private home, a nice fellow kept 4 dark rooms with animals from the bush, mostly grasscutters, squirrels, giant rats and snails at all sizes.

I had my doubts about all this, but still it was interesting enough to learn about his catching and hunting methods and to see the shy forest animals that almost surely will end up as bushmeat on the local market.

Logba Alekpeti lies along the main Hohoe-Ho road, at the junction to Tafi Atome (West) and Logba Tota (East)

Using Tafi Atome as a base, there are a lot of interesting things to see /do in the area.

The bicycle is the perfect means of transport, since the roads are quite flat and reasonably good, it’s hard to find public transport and moreover you’ll have more time to stop when you like (to meet people or take photo’s) than when using a taxi.

I took a bike to visit the village of Logba Tota, with its beautiful waterfall, stopping on the way in the extremely friendly places Old Dzokpe and Logba Alakpeti (see the following tips). Another suggested goal –that I didn’t make it to- is the Kente cloth weaving village of Tafi Abuife (10km.).

It is also suggested to visit Amedzofe (see previous tips) from here, but in my opinion staying in Amedzofe itself is much nicer!!

For 70000 cedis (EUR 7) the village live-in arrangement is a great option. It includes accommodation, meals, a village tour and unlimited monkey watching (if you like).

Now, Tafi Atome is a friendly village, but probably because of large numbers of tourist arrivals, the enthusiasm and hospitality didn’t seem exceptional, so my stay in Tafi didn’t really compare to those in less visited villages. Instead, I spent much of my time with other travellers and that was cool as well for a change!

Accommodation is in a 2-room guesthouse or at people’s homes and local women prepared very tasty meals. If you got bored you can cheaply arrange evening entertainment (drumming and dancing).

Around the village of Tafi Atome live some troops of mona monkeys that have been considered sacred and are now declared a Community Based Ecotourism Site.

The monkeys are promoted as a major attraction, but actually I found them hardly interesting and not especially worth the journey from Ho if this would have been the only reason of my visit.

For more than 200 years the people of Tafi believed that the monkeys were messengers to the gods, until spread of Christianity started to endanger the moneys and the forest they live in. Now they are officially protected and generating income from tourism.

Two times daily a guide takes tourists out to observe the monkeys either in the forest or –more commonly - near the village, at 7am and 4pm.

On arrival you are to report at the visitor’s centre to pay a fee. It happened to me that I was severely overcharged by one of the staff (name: Innocent –yes it’s true). This guy gave me a false receipt and wrote a new one in the official receipt book. Afterwards I discovered the fraud and had it settled... So, watch out for a guy named Innocent!

When you walk from Fume to Tafi Atome, you’ll pass the village of Old Dzokpe. Not that there’s anything special to see (as far as I know), but I remember the warm welcome of the people when I passed by.

Unless you’re in a taxi, it’s “hard” to walk by unnoticed. People approach you, not for selling or demanding things, but just for a nice chat and exchanging a smile. When I finally was on my way to the touristy monkey sanctuary of Tafi Atome, I realised why again why Ghanaians are so well known for their friendliness!!

If you don’t carry too much luggage, I recommend the 1,5 - 2-hour descent along a small bushpath from Amedzofe to Fume.

This is a great hike – but not difficult when it doesn’t rain - all the way down from the highest point in the Avatime hills almost to the valley floor. You just follow the trail to Mt. Gemi, and at the point where you turn right uphill, you continue straight downhill. The first part offers great views, but soon you reach the forested parts where the trail is overgrown and becomes very slippery. At the end of the bushpath you reach a dirt road. Turn right for Fume, which lies on the main Hohoe-Ho Road. I continued walking to Tafi Atome Village, which takes about another 1,5 hour.

Some people in Amedzofe may try to convince you that you need a guide, well…this is not true. I cannot imagine how you can get lost. I haven’t seen any junctions, and moreover, the path is regularly used by locals who are in my experience always friendly enough to help you out with anything!

From Amedzofe Centre it’s a surprisingly easy half hour stroll to the summit of Mount Gemi, the second highest peak of Ghana. The views from here are awesome!

On the grassy top there’s a 12-feet iron cross erected by a German missionary in 1939. Despite the superb views deep in the surrounding valleys, dotted with small villages and covered with lush tropical forests and savannah, I didn’t spend long time on the summit due to the presence of immense colonies of certain flies that hassled me annoyingly.

On clear days, sunset is a good time to be here because the sun will set Lake Volta on fire!

The waterfalls in Amedzofe are not very spectacular or voluminous, but the short hike to reach them is nice, and the whole scene around the falls very beautiful.

The last part is a bit hard in the raining season (steep muddy trail), but thanks to permanently fixed ropes we managed to get there even on slippers.

At the base of the falls is a small, shallow pool or you may take a shower when you scramble on the rocks above, which is certainly refreshing, maybe better described as ice cold. It’s a great place to relax and refresh!