We began our trip to Ghana in Accra the country's smelly, hot and chaotic capital.Staying in a lovely guesthouse in The Darkuman suburb took away some of our stress! From Accra the STC bus company runs an hourly service to Kumasi which has the largest market in West Africa.Its a good idea to find a guide or you could spend hours wandering around getting lost! The Roman Hill area is the best route into the bead zone.

From Kumasi you can easily get to Koforidua where a Bead Market is held.Koforidua has a very nice hotel The Capital View and its possible to arrange to visit the market at Agomanya held on a Wednesday and Saturday, although you may wish to stay somewhere a bit more peaceful nearer the town.We found the Traycourt Leisure Center made the ideal base with its shady gardens full of butterflies and bird song.It's also easy to visit The Volta River and Dam from here.

At the end of your trip you may feel brave enough to visit the huge Makola Market in Accra where there are reputed to be many bead sellers.Again it may be best to hire a guide so as not to waste time

Hotels and Guest Houses we Stayed in:

Accra Crystal Hostel email crystalhostel@hotmail.com CHEAP Koforidua Capital View, Old Estate MODERATE Kpong Traycourt Leisure Center - has a good bar and restaurant open 24 hours and its easy to get transport from Kpong about 5 mins away.CHEAP Kumasi Cozy Lodge just outside town and very quiet with a good bar attached. 01527030 MODERATE

A twin room costs from £5 - £30 a night

Its possible to buy a huge variety of beads in Beads in GhanaGhana both old and new and during my trip to the contry in 2005 I visited 3 busy markets to buy beads to use in my jewellery.

These beads arrived in Ghana via 3 separate routes

a. Brought in along the trans-Saharan routes.Types of beads include Indian Islamic, Egyptian, Chinese and Roman. Stone beads from Mali and Kiffa Beads from Mauritania came along these routes.

b. Originating in Ghana - evidence of bead production from 2000B.C.Later excavations found shell, stone and glass beads from 1600 A.D.Bauxite mined locally was used to make beads and these can be bought in most markets today.Glass bead making seems to have begun around 700AD in Begho in Northern Ghana.

c. Brought in by Europeans to trade for slaves, gold and spices.These beads were made in Venice, Bohemia Germany and Holland

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Who wears the beads?

Beads are worn during the important ceremonies including Dipo, a girl's coming of age.The young teenage girl wears huge amounts of beads around the neck, waist and limbs while performing the Dipo dances.

At weddings the bride will wear beads paid for by her husband. Her waist beads will be worn permantly for the rest of her life.Beads are worn by the chiefs at all times.