v2.webp){kind=logo}
.jpg)
Johan Kruseman
After traveling around Ghana for a week, I realized they don’t have any kind of annual vehicle inspection here. I once saw a car lose a wheel while it was driving. The minibus I was in, following behind, honked furiously to warn the shopkeeper on the side of the road about the wheel heading straight for them. But everyone else seemed to think it was no big deal. The unlucky car was left leaning on its front-left brake disc, looking completely worn out.
Two days later, I saw a car flipped upside down on the side of the road. It had happened the day before because the front suspension had snapped.
And now, it was my turn to hit the road again. The plan? Drive in one day from Kumasi, in the middle of the country, to Mole National Park in the north, ideally arriving before sunset.
With a distance of 422 km, it didn’t seem impossible. We left at 7:00, and the start of the journey went smoothly—except maybe for the fact that the bus’s shock absorbers had completely given up. Every bump (and they do have quite a few!) meant we swayed cheerfully for about half a minute after.
The bus dropped us off in Fufulso, a small T-junction with a handful of houses around it. We quickly found the minibus to the next village, Damongo, but then had to wait for enough passengers, since these minibuses only leave when every seat got a passenger (or two). After what felt like an eternity waiting for the last two passengers, my travel buddy and I decided to buy those last seats ourselves so we could finally get moving. With the pedal to the metal, we sped off at 60 km/h toward our final stop. Were we actually going to make it?
Nope. The gearbox gave out. By now, I was used to being impressed by the practical skills people here have for fixing things, but a broken gearbox? That’s the kind of thing you’d call roadside assistance for. Not our driver, though. He couldn’t have been much older than 17 but grabbed a few screws and bolts from the glove compartment, slid under the car, and started working. In less than 10 minutes, he had it fixed, and we were back on the road.
Fifteen minutes later, he had to repeat the exact same repair. But, somehow, with busted shock absorbers and two gearbox fixes, we made it to our destination just after dark.
