Green Turtle Lodge

So this past weekend Jason and I took a long weekend and went to Green Turtle Lodge on the west coast of Ghana near Dixcove (see map), for three nights.

It was fantastic! Anyone mulling over the idea of visiting, this is where we'll take you. Here are some photos to woo you.

Here we are, maxing and relaxing on the beach. These chairs, which looked homemade, were perfect for catching a few rays and even better for watching the stars at night. You would not BELIEVE the number of stars you can see out here. I thought we could see a lot at Lake Manitoba Narrows over the summer, but with so little ambient light coming from anywhere around here, they just pop right out at you on the beach here.



The Green Turtle bills itself as an eco-resort. All the guests stay in African-style clay huts with thatched roofs. Each hut has a little solar panel on the roof that powers your lights and your fan. They've got composting toilets and recycle greywater from the shower on the plants. Here's Jason in front of our hut:



The huts are right on the beach. How close is "right on the beach?" Seriously, we could walk there in a few steps. We were lulled to sleep each night by the sound of waves crashing on the shore.

Here's Jason again from another angle, so you can see how close we were to the sea. He's reading The Maltese Falcon, which we found in the resort's book-swap pile. (How can you not love a resort with a book swap?)



The resort is also big on community development. The employees are locals, they use local materials for building, cooking, etc., and when you take a tour or whatnot, the fee includes a donation to the local community development fund, which the village decides what to spend it on. Right up our alley.

We took a tour of the mangrove swamp in a dugout canoe. But my internet connection is rather slow today, so I'll say more on that next time. For now, here's a few more beach shots.

Green Turtle, which has a handful of huts and can take maybe a dozen or so guests, is set on about six kilometres of sandy beach. To the west, there's the tiny fishing village of Akwidaa:



To the east, there's just more and more beach. Another small resort, which just opened last week, is about a kilometre away. Another two kilometres or so away there's an even teenier village -- really just a couple of huts and a fishing boat.



Jason and I walked all the way along this beach to the rocky point at the end -- it took a few hours -- and we only saw 2 other people: one local guy who just waved and went about his business, and another couple, who were heading out for their walk just as we were coming back. It was the most private beach I've ever seen. Wonderful!

With so few people around, I felt very safe putting my camera down and stepping away to take shots of the two of us with the self-timer. Hence the chair shot above, and this one of us enjoying our morning coffee.




Mmmm, have I mentioned the food? More on that tomorrow, too. Stay tuned!