Navrongo
Created | Updated Aug 22, 2003
Navrongo in the far north of Ghana is a town straight out of a Graham Greene novel. The town quietly accommodates around 50,000 to 100,000 people depending on where you judge the town to have stopped and the general rural sprawl to have begun. By European standards you'd call Navrongo a city as it has a Catholic Cathedral which, at nearly a century old, is positively ancient for Ghana. Yet, if you've ever seen Navrongo on a non-market-day, (market-day is every third day) you wouldn't dare call it anything more than a one horse town.
The people are mainly Kassenas with many Nankanas too and both language are commonly spoken, as are English and Twi (the language of southern Ghana). Navrongo is primarily a market town but the schools, the prison, the customs operation up the road in Paga, the UN medical research centre and several government institutions provide a good deal of the local employment. Navrongo is definitely NOT on any tourist trail which makes it a fascinating place.
There is much to see and do in and around Navrongo if you have an adventurous spirit but you really have to stay a while to appreciate the place fully. Here's how.
1. Make some friends
Navrongans are funny, generous, inteligent and despite the general poverty endemic to that part of the world, (screwed as it has been by the slave trade, the British empire and the World Bank) very friendly to all-comers; black or white. Of course they have their fair share of sharks, dunces, meat-heads and geeks like everywhere else but just like everywhere else, they're pretty easy to spot if you've half a brain yourself. Make friends and you'll be asked round to dinner and invited to all the best shin digs. (Don't turn down a funeral invite. They're the best parties going.) By the way, legend has it that Kassena men are drunks and Kassena girls are easy. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary but then again, I am a Yorkshireman.
2. Learn the language
Ko yi te mo? - How are you?
Kogara. - I'm fine
A ba jege sebu. - I don't have any money.
Jara be? - Where's my dash? (dash - a little extra something)
A nyo na. - I would like a drink of water.
A nyo sana. - I would like a drink of pito. (pito - millet cider)
A nyo womuyiga - I would like a drink of 'who's pushing me' (palm gin)
And finally, for anyone experiencing the annoying Ghanaian curse of 'Kwase Obruni! Ma me Sika!' (Twi for 'Sunday-born white-man! Give me money!') a handy response is;
Gambonga! A ba ni Twi! - Southern Jessie, I don't speak your shandy-drinking, ponsey language!
3. See the sights
For a place off the tourist trail, there's plenty to see.
Green Croccodiles.
I say 'green' because they don't know they're meant to eat you. Someone once told me there were no such things as tame croccodiles. Then I showed him a photo of myself sitting on one's back. Go to Paga with a chicken (that's important!). If you don't do this with a friend in tow, find the croc pond, hand over your chicken and your £20 and they'll tempt a nice big 15-footer out for you to play with. If you go with a friend, the procedure is identical except you chat to the guys for five minutes before handing over your £2. And if you don't bring a chicken, expect to pay out for a Paga chick what you'd spend on a Navrongo cow.
White Elephants
Sorry! The metaphorical variety. (Although I did once see a whole heard about 30 miles from Navrongo completely by accident.) The town's skyline is dominated by a huge hotel, leisure and cinema complex. It never got finished of course. But the shell is still used on market days as a clothing emporium. And if you are interested in genuine Eastern Bloc retro seventies clothing or Everton shirts dating from actual title-winning seasons, there's nowhere better.
Black Lizards
Star Wars fans will know all about Tatuine. The rest of you might like to think - biblical Bethlehem. The traditional housing consists of circular mud-brick, flat-roofed rooms encircling a central space, joined with walls and one or two doorways. They would be beautiful enough unadorned but the real attraction is the decoration. They are painted in hand-drawn geometric patterns and often adorned with paintings of lizards and other symbols. Anyone who doesn't like to snoop around someone's home might consider a visit to the cathedral which is decorated in a similar style. Bliss it is to be sat on a flat roof, looking out on harvested fields on a moonlit night sharing a Kassena meal with a good friend.
Red Lobster
Most foreigners in Navrongo are either VSO volunteers, US Peace Corps, Catholic Priests/Monks or UN health professionals. Not all of these are white of course and those that are are not there for a tan. But if you want to hang out and relax in the sun, Tono is the place to be. Annual membership is cheap and locals easily outnumber foreigners at this private club. There is a swimming pool, snooker table, bar, squash court, tennis court and a huge damn which, if you know the right people, you can go sailing on. Don't expect five star maintenance standards but everything works and the snooker table is always free.
4. Stand Still
No-one is going to rush you in Navrongo. So, just stand still and watch the harmattan blow a red dust over the landscape. Watch the rains purge the air. Watch crops and wild grass grow until you can no longer make out the horizon. Then, watch the sun sear the land and kill off all but the hardiest creatures, the trees, the insects, the Kassenas.
To summarise - If you want a day-trip, go to Yamossoukro in the Ivory Coast. But if you are prepared to stay a while, Navrongo will show you the world.
DROP THE DEBT!
The people are mainly Kassenas with many Nankanas too and both language are commonly spoken, as are English and Twi (the language of southern Ghana). Navrongo is primarily a market town but the schools, the prison, the customs operation up the road in Paga, the UN medical research centre and several government institutions provide a good deal of the local employment. Navrongo is definitely NOT on any tourist trail which makes it a fascinating place.
There is much to see and do in and around Navrongo if you have an adventurous spirit but you really have to stay a while to appreciate the place fully. Here's how.
1. Make some friends
Navrongans are funny, generous, inteligent and despite the general poverty endemic to that part of the world, (screwed as it has been by the slave trade, the British empire and the World Bank) very friendly to all-comers; black or white. Of course they have their fair share of sharks, dunces, meat-heads and geeks like everywhere else but just like everywhere else, they're pretty easy to spot if you've half a brain yourself. Make friends and you'll be asked round to dinner and invited to all the best shin digs. (Don't turn down a funeral invite. They're the best parties going.) By the way, legend has it that Kassena men are drunks and Kassena girls are easy. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary but then again, I am a Yorkshireman.
2. Learn the language
Ko yi te mo? - How are you?
Kogara. - I'm fine
A ba jege sebu. - I don't have any money.
Jara be? - Where's my dash? (dash - a little extra something)
A nyo na. - I would like a drink of water.
A nyo sana. - I would like a drink of pito. (pito - millet cider)
A nyo womuyiga - I would like a drink of 'who's pushing me' (palm gin)
And finally, for anyone experiencing the annoying Ghanaian curse of 'Kwase Obruni! Ma me Sika!' (Twi for 'Sunday-born white-man! Give me money!') a handy response is;
Gambonga! A ba ni Twi! - Southern Jessie, I don't speak your shandy-drinking, ponsey language!
3. See the sights
For a place off the tourist trail, there's plenty to see.
Green Croccodiles.
I say 'green' because they don't know they're meant to eat you. Someone once told me there were no such things as tame croccodiles. Then I showed him a photo of myself sitting on one's back. Go to Paga with a chicken (that's important!). If you don't do this with a friend in tow, find the croc pond, hand over your chicken and your £20 and they'll tempt a nice big 15-footer out for you to play with. If you go with a friend, the procedure is identical except you chat to the guys for five minutes before handing over your £2. And if you don't bring a chicken, expect to pay out for a Paga chick what you'd spend on a Navrongo cow.
White Elephants
Sorry! The metaphorical variety. (Although I did once see a whole heard about 30 miles from Navrongo completely by accident.) The town's skyline is dominated by a huge hotel, leisure and cinema complex. It never got finished of course. But the shell is still used on market days as a clothing emporium. And if you are interested in genuine Eastern Bloc retro seventies clothing or Everton shirts dating from actual title-winning seasons, there's nowhere better.
Black Lizards
Star Wars fans will know all about Tatuine. The rest of you might like to think - biblical Bethlehem. The traditional housing consists of circular mud-brick, flat-roofed rooms encircling a central space, joined with walls and one or two doorways. They would be beautiful enough unadorned but the real attraction is the decoration. They are painted in hand-drawn geometric patterns and often adorned with paintings of lizards and other symbols. Anyone who doesn't like to snoop around someone's home might consider a visit to the cathedral which is decorated in a similar style. Bliss it is to be sat on a flat roof, looking out on harvested fields on a moonlit night sharing a Kassena meal with a good friend.
Red Lobster
Most foreigners in Navrongo are either VSO volunteers, US Peace Corps, Catholic Priests/Monks or UN health professionals. Not all of these are white of course and those that are are not there for a tan. But if you want to hang out and relax in the sun, Tono is the place to be. Annual membership is cheap and locals easily outnumber foreigners at this private club. There is a swimming pool, snooker table, bar, squash court, tennis court and a huge damn which, if you know the right people, you can go sailing on. Don't expect five star maintenance standards but everything works and the snooker table is always free.
4. Stand Still
No-one is going to rush you in Navrongo. So, just stand still and watch the harmattan blow a red dust over the landscape. Watch the rains purge the air. Watch crops and wild grass grow until you can no longer make out the horizon. Then, watch the sun sear the land and kill off all but the hardiest creatures, the trees, the insects, the Kassenas.
To summarise - If you want a day-trip, go to Yamossoukro in the Ivory Coast. But if you are prepared to stay a while, Navrongo will show you the world.
DROP THE DEBT!
