Introduction

In March of 2008, I was sitting in the village of Abompe with Suzanne Hartley discussing possibilities with bamboo bikes in this part of Ghana. Before joining the Peace Corps, Suzanne had organized bicycle tours in Japan. At that time, she was in the midst of helping the traditional bead makers in Abompe to develop the market and increase sales of the Bauxite beads they were known for. She trained some of the villagers to conduct walking tours of the different bead makers. A few tourists per month would come and visit. I suggested that perhaps bamboo bikes could be built in the village and tourists could come and ride them on a tour of the area.

As we started working towards starting a Bamboosero group in Abompe, we kept the bike tour idea alive with occasional discussion of what it might cost and where we would take them. The idea seemed like it could happen if we found at least five people to pay $1,000 each to go on this tour. It would be a real boost to the Bambooseros of Ghana if they could meet the people who would be riding the bikes. The bikes could also be sold to the tourists as unique and useful souvenirs, providing an instant reward for a job well done.

The training sessions in Accra and Abompe had gone very well and by the beginning of 2009, Suzanne and I decided to try and organize a tour in June, when the weather would be most comfortable. We started talking about it to people who had already traveled in developing countries. Soon we had six brave souls willing to take a chance on some of the first Bamboosero bikes on our first organized tour.

My job was to make sure the bikes were built properly and to provide technical support for the trip. I had become very confident in the bikes coming out of Kaju’s shop in Accra. And the Abompe group had built some very strong looking frames. The test bikes I had received had passed my usual stress and crash tests. These are informal tests that subject the frame to unusual stresses that can occur in off road situations. We also arranged for a frame to be sent to the test lab, EFBe in Germany. The test results came in by email a day before the tourists were to arrive. The frame had passed the first, most difficult test.

We also enlisted the help of Ability Bikes in Koforidua, the closest larger town and the endpoint of the tour. Ability Bikes is a bike shop that was started by David Branigan of Bikes not Bombs with some assistance from Emmanual Yeboah who is the subject of the film Emmanual’s Gift. The idea behind Ability Bikes is to provide sustained employment as bicycle mechanics and shop staff for disabled Ghanaians. We hired them to assemble the parts onto the frames. But further benefit was squeezed out of the situation by using the opportunity to have the Ability Bikes staff train the Abompe Bambooseros on how to assemble the bikes. With their well equipped shop, the task was accomplished just in time.

Steve was the first one to sign up for the tour. In fact, he was the driving force to getting everyone going, including me! I wasn’t planning to come on the tour. I was just too busy and I was spending too much time traveling and away from my family. But he basically bribed me into doing it with an order for 20 of the first Bamboosero bikes that he was planning on donating to a local “Earn a Bike” program for at-risk kids in Kansas City. As a successful businessman, bicycle enthusiast and bamboo aficionado, he was well hooked by the magic carpet ride of the bamboo bike. He owns two and had purchased two as gifts for two of his good friends. Steve’s support as a customer is matched by his personal generosity and selfless character. He’s constantly thinking of others and how he can help.

Steve’s friend and long time travel buddy, Dave, was the next to sign up. Another generous and thoughtful soul, Dave is a veteran of travel to challenging places and can turn any situation into a positive experience. Dave’s daughter, Emily agreed to go as well. Quick witted and self assured, Emily added a refreshing character to the group.

Dave’s friend, Ira, joined the group, taking on the role of photographer and go-to guy for things the rest of us might have forgotten. It’s great to have a seasoned and well prepared traveler in the group. Ira’s son Eric also joined us. The youngest and quietest member of the group, Eric was always ready to go and adapted quickly to changing conditions.

At the last minute, Michael joined us, opting for a bike tour in Ghana over a planned trip to California. With some African American heritage in his family, Mike was especially interested in traveling to this part of the world. And his go-with-the-flow character helped everyone have a good time.

Day 1

The tour started with a day to get settled into our Accra hotel, Afia Beach Hotel and to acclimate and see some tourist sites in Accra. The unique craftsman style construction combined with the beachfront location makes it a great place to start. Some of the guests went for a walk in downtown Accra and upon returning, wanted to go visit Kaju’s shop – the first Bamboosero shop. The van we hired finally showed up and off we went. We drove across town and into the Darkoman neighborhood where I usually stay. We even stopped at a food vendor to have some plantain and spicy sauce. Ira was having a blast photographing people and especially the children.

 

Kaju’s new shop is on his father’s land, on one of the highest hills in the outskirts of Accra. There was a small brick building that Kaju had doubled the size of with some of the money I loaned him. He had been working under a shade tree in Darkoman but now had a proper shop. There was no electricity but he is able to make good quality frames there. Kaju demonstrated how he cuts and fits the bamboo with the tooling I supplied him. Steve took a quick first ride on one of Kaju’s bikes.

Back at Afia, we all had dinner together. The restaurant there has been rated in the top three in all of Ghana. The menu is very creative and would not be out of place in California. Ben, one of the Abompe Bambooseros joined us. He would be leading the tour with Suzanne and coping with any local issues. His friendly smile and excellent English made him a great choice.

Day 2

Our rented van and driver took us out to Cape Coast to tour the Castle. Infamous as a slave trading fort, it is a stark reminder of a dark past from which few monuments survive. Coincidentally, the tour guide for the Castle tour was a young man who had emailed me about assisting with the Bambooseros in Ghana. He was recommended by another development worker who hired him quite often for various things.

After the tour, we chatted over beer at the restaurant next door. It was great to meet him and get a good idea about his English speaking skills. After a short walking tour of the town of Cape Coast, we went to spend the night near the Kukum rainforest. There we met one of Suzanne’s Peace Corps friends and enjoyed dinner on a raised deck over a crocodile pond. A live band set up and played Ghanaian music for the small audience.

Day 3

We awoke early and did the jungle canopy walk on suspended bridges. It was a gorgeous day for a stroll though one of the last, well preserved jungles in West Africa.

We drove to Abompe in the afternoon with a quick stop at a big market outside of Accra to purchase some of the food that our group would consume for the rest of the week.

We arrived at Suzanne’s house and I went straight to the Bamboosero shop to see how the bikes were progressing. There were a variety of issues to be resolved: The bikes that Kaju (Accra Bamboosero) supplied were incomplete, others had problems with the chain coming off in certain gears, and the brakes were not working properly on two of the bikes. I did my best to get them complete by the time the guests came to be fitted to their bikes.

The fitting went well and we finally had everyone out test riding their bikes. Emily was the first to return, beaming about her bike. She felt very comfortable on it and was attracting a lot of attention in the village. Others returned to have a few adjustments made. The Bambooseros were very pleased and it was a great moment for them to see all of the guests riding their work.

But there were problems with the bikes. Michael had a minor crash that caused a big crack in the head tube of his bike. I found that the frame was not made correctly and in fact, was dangerous. I had to come up with a stress test to make sure all the bikes were safe. I asked everyone to return their bikes back to the Bamboosero shop for the test.

Day 4

Suzanne had become ill. She had been coughing a lot and now she had lost her voice. After all the preparations for the tour, she needed a rest. The bike problems added to her stress and she couldn’t get out of bed. Ben and I would have to get it rolling.

The test was set up to simulate a hard hit on a pothole that would place a large load on the front of the bike. To do this without a lot of expensive equipment, I removed the front wheel and placed the front end on the ground with the fork tips on a block and the handlebar on the ground, next to a column of a building. With a helper holding the frame steady, I stood on the cranks at the bottom bracket, pushing it down towards the fork tips. I was able to crack three of the Abompe bikes but not Kaju’s two bikes. I broke off the head tubes of the Abompe bikes and found some specific things they neglected to do. It was a great lesson for the Bambooseros as well as for me. I hadn’t trained them well enough, making absolutely sure they understood everything.

They had other bamboo frames available, including the first prototype I made with them. We tested those frames and found three more that passed. But none were Emily’s size. We would have to find a smaller bike for her. I sent for two bikes from Ability bikes – just in case.

The frame failures caused a day’s delay in getting started. We had to disassemble and reassemble parts between bikes and make sure everything ran smoothly. It was a brutally hot day with no cloud cover. While I worked with the Bambooseros on the bikes, the group went on the Bead tour, visiting the different families that make the traditional bauxite beads. It was a good confidence building time for Ben, who had conducted these tours before. Ben would be leading our group now that Suzanne had become ill.

The Bambooseros, while initially dismayed at the broken bikes, were now happy to know they could test them out and feel confident that they were shipping good product.

Dinner was brought to Suzanne’s house and we feasted on Fufu (pounded cassava), with a spicy chicken and peanut sauce. It was tasty! I found it was not too spicy as I had found most Ghanaian food to be.

Day 5

We rode the back way to Bunso Arboretum. The bikes worked well with minor first ride adjustments. We hired a taxi for the day to follow us – just in case. We attracted a lot of attention at the villages and small towns we passed through. When we stopped, people would gather around and discuss the bikes. Ben was busy translating and explaining that yes, these bikes were made just a few villages away in Abompe. Having a foreign tour group riding through impressed people and some asked where they could be purchased.

We took our time, enjoying the beautiful scenery along the escarpment that divides the Eastern Region from the Volta Region. The cloud cover stayed and it was far cooler than the prior day. Personally, I was glad we didn’t ride that day because it would have been much too hot.

We arrived at the Arboretum and met another Ben, who is rated as the top tour guide among a large group of eco tour sites in southern Ghana. He gave us a fantastic tour of the beautiful trees, including the tree that produces a berry that makes everything taste sweeter for hours after eating one.

To demonstrate this, he had some tart orange slices for us to eat at the beginning of the tour. Then we ate the berry as he explained how it could be very useful for diabetics. Two minutes later, we were asked to eat the rest of the orange slices. They tasted sweet! This was a strong example of how there are valuable plants that have yet to be fully understood in the forest ecosystem - which had been mostly decimated in the past 50 years.

We rode out to the main Accra-Kumasi road and had lunch at the newly built Linda d’Or restaurant. It’s a popular stopping point for travelers and we enjoyed a tasty snack. I had a common, usually bland bread snack that I eat when my digestion starts to act up as it usually does after a few days in Ghana. But it tasted sweeter than usual! That berry really works!

The road back to Abompe was smooth and with a wide shoulder – one of the few places in Ghana where it feels safe to ride on the main road. On the way through Osino, I stopped in to see Aponching, the “strong rider” who pedaled the two bags of cement for the cargo bike demonstration we did last year. He was busy with a lot of repair business. It was good to see that bicycle use is on a steady increase in the area.

After another tasty dinner, a few of us headed for one the three local “drinking spots” to have a Star or Castle Milk Stout, served in nice big bottles. We discussed the events of the past days and I was encouraged by the comments from David, Michael and Steve on how they didn’t expect to see the inside of our struggles with the Bamboosero concept. But they were finding it very interesting and could see how close we were to some real success. Ira was also encouraging and felt it was a good experience for Eric.

Day 6

This was the day I skipped the ride. I wanted to spend a day with the Abompe Bambooseros, reviewing the technical things they had missed. The tourists took a scenic road to a cocoa plantation and learned a lot about cocoa production. Later, because it looked like it would rain, Ben took them on a shortcut trail on narrow boards through a swampy area. The rain caught them and it was very slippery. Luckily, no one fell in. We had the follow taxi come back to Abompe to pick up me and the luggage. We were to spend the night at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana’s guest house. Built on a sprawling campus by the British, CRIG features a clubhouse with a swimming pool, golf course and a full sized Snooker table. A few of us went to drink beer and play Snooker but the rules were too complicated. So we made up our own. Michael sunk the last ball and was declared the winner, with Eric a close second.

Day 7

We cycled out of the CRIG campus on a little known dirt road. Ben and Suzanne found this road earlier after much searching. Most locals didn’t even know about it. Suzanne was feeling better and came along in the follow taxi. They had some trouble keeping up with the tourists but they made it.

We arrived in time for the Ohum Festival procession. It was a ceremonial carrying of the chief down to the river for a rite of spring. He was followed by drummers and people carrying huge decorative umbrellas. We followed the procession most of the way and took our shoes off when it got muddy. We were asked to remove our hats and watches as well. It was very crowded and we were unable to see much. Ira got a spontaneous bloody nose and looked a bit scary, causing concern among the villagers. We retreated to a compound that had a water pump, called in by a large woman who offered to help us with Ira and to wash our feet.

She was a village leader, specializing in a ceremony where girls become women. Various remedies for Ira’s bloody nose were offered, including putting a piece of charcoal in the nostril. Ira settled on a cotton swab and keeping his head up until the bleeding stopped.

In the mean time, our feet were washed and Ira’s shirt was cleaned. The woman asked if Michael was available for marriage and lots of photos were taken, including one of Michael and the woman wrestling as if they had a marital argument. It was great fun and we left her with some cash and Ira’s now clean shirt, which he had planned on donating anyway.

We got back on the bikes and continued on to Koforidua, where we were to stay at the fancy Mac-Dic Hotel. Some ominous clouds formed in front of us and a drenching downpour was soon upon us. We took shelter under a closed storefront and waited for the worst of it to pass. We all agreed that rain was better than hot sun.

We jumped back on the bikes when the rain died down to a drizzle. Soon we arrived in Koforidua, making a stop at Ability Bikes. We greeted them and complemented them on the great service. Steve invited them all to dine with us at Mac-Dic’s fancy restaurant. They were thrilled!

We rode up the hill to the hotel and found that our reservation had been cancelled. Some kind of government meeting had forced us out. But they had another hotel nearby that we would be shuttled to. We were itching to get out of our wet clothes and take showers so we didn’t put up much of a fight. The alternate hotel wasn’t bad, just not what we were expecting. Suzanne, Ben and I stayed at a friend’s house, saving a little money.

We met back at Mac-Dic for a nice buffet dinner. The Ability Bikes staff came in, dressed very smartly. We mixed it up, getting everyone to chat with each other. It was great to learn about how Ability Bikes started and how their plans for the future will take shape. Right after the trip, Steve was going to Boston, where Ability’s main sponsor, Bikes Not Bombs, is located. He wanted to support a similar effort in Kansas City and wanted to learn as much as possible about how it should go.

Some of us closed out the evening with some dancing. The band and dance area was right next to the pool and the stone floor was wet and slippery. It made for some interesting dance moves!

Day 8

I caught an early Tro-Tro (public mini bus transportation) to catch up on some business in Accra. Some of the tourists took the planned morning bike ride up the nearby mountain to a unique village that Suzanne and Ben “discovered”. It’s a very cute little village with low, tin and thatched roof mud buildings. They reported that bikes performed well on the climb, feeling plenty stiff and stable.

I found out later that our hired driver did not show up until 5 hours after the appointed hour. He gave no excuse and when called, kept telling Ben that he was coming very soon. It was a bit frustrating and difficult to understand.

We regrouped at Afia Beach Hotel and went out for dinner to an excellent Lebanese restaurant. The Lebanese have a strong presence in Accra and many of them are successful merchants. Kaju joined us and we had fun talking about the experience. Kaju was pleased that his bikes didn’t have any problems.

In conclusion, it was a good time and a new experience for everyone. Everyone did their best to make sure the tourists were comfortable and having fun. And the tourists matched these efforts with the best attitudes one could hope for. Their support will be remembered for years to come.

Craig Calfee