Coming and Going in Sandema

Sandema is the capital of the Builsa District, in the Upper East Region of Ghana and is our home town until the end of March. When we were on our way to Sandema for the first time we were all very nervous; the road is full of potholes and you can look into the distance for miles and not see any sign of human life. However, when we arrived in Sandema it looked beautiful with the trees lining the high street.

Sandema is a very friendly place and we all feel safe here with a large number of local friends who always greet us in town whenever they see us.  I’m so glad that we were placed in Sandema everyone you walk past says good morning or “Salut-a”. The public transport links to Bolgatanga are good with the metromass running throughout the day and tro tro’s always available. The metro mass leaves Sandema supposedly every 2 hours starting from 6am, it starts off this way but after around 10am it is all luck as to whether you catch a metro mass, or when it might appear. These state owned buses are very similar to UK buses but due to the bad roads and the number of people who use them each day they are now a poor standard.  Seats are often missing, windows are smashed or just missing, and the doors don’t close properly, but as it is such a large bus the journey is still reasonably comfortable.

The Tro Tro’s are private mini buses which is a very popular form of transport in Ghana. They are often very cramped as they don’t leave the station until they are full with people.  These often break down; Poppy and I once saw one break down driving out of the station! Luckily so far one has not broken down with us in!

Fortunately, for Team Sandema, we have been quite lucky getting public transport and have always made it to our destination in one piece!  Let’s hope this luck continues as we try to get to Mole National park this weekend!