Last Stop: Stumble Inn

I’m glad I can devote an entire post to our time down in Elmina, because it was the nicest vacation experience of my life.  Duffy had somehow discovered a hole in the wall called Stumble Inn and after spending a couple nights there with his family, he heartily recommended it.  He said R&R was the name of the game, so I figured we’d finish the trip with it after I hauled my parents all over hell.

After another soap opera filled bus ride we were in Cape Coast, a really cool town in the Central Region of Ghana.  The home of the Fantis, cool rock formations, beaches, and a couple of slave castles, the area is distinct from everywhere else I’ve been in Ghana.  We were heading to the neighboring town, Elmina, so we hailed a taxi.  The driver made a mistake with me.  When he quoted us the price for transport to Stumble Inn, I got the impression that he actually didn’t know where it was.  This is something that happens with whiteys here in Ghana sometimes… it must be that once you get tourists into a car, you can reason with them over prices if things don’t go exactly as planned.  I’m not reasonable though.  I learned to bargain from Ghanaian mothers and old women, and they pay the quoted price or less.  Anyway, after our driver stopped for directions and drove us significantly farther than he intended, he was rewarded with exactly the price he quoted us.  Sorry bud.

Anyway we set up shop at Stumble Inn, which is an Eco-lodge–but it doesn’t beat you over the head with it.  Most of the toilets are composting except for some near the dorms, and there is only power for three hours in the morning and three in the evening.  Accommodations vary from dorms, to single rooms, to two-person huts with attached bathrooms.  My parents took a hut and Mandy and I hit the dorms.  Eventually we were joined by Abbey and Cole, who came out to kick it for one night.  All the buildings are thatch-roofed.

At night everyone gets a kerosene lantern for light.  The lodge is right on the beach, and the main hang-out is a flat, sandy area with some couches, chairs, and tables that are protected from the sun.  The main attractions at stumble in:

• Sitting
• Napping
• Reading
• Walking on the beach
• Volleyball (bring your own ball)
• Conversing with good company

Kofi. As a good friend would say: The dude's a Dude.

Stumble Inn provides easily the most laid-back environment I’ve ever experienced, but our leisure was the result of some very hard-working individuals.  Kofi, the maître d’, is a master of hospitality.  A lot of touristy joints really miss the mark for me in Ghana–not Stumble Inn.  Kofi remembers your name from the second you contact him, he’s always right behind you when you realize you need something, or he magically suggests the thing you didn’t realize would really hit the spot.  He pays attention to you, your interests, and the kind of experience your looking for–then he tailors your stay to suit you.  I never felt like I was ordering him around when I requested something, and never felt pestered when he asked me what I needed or suggested something.  How does he do it? He really blew me away and I’ll definitely be going back if for nothing other than his great company.

One day we went to Elmina to visit the slave castle.  We walked on the beach, but learned that between Stumble Inn and town it becomes more or less impassible.  If you’re going to town, have Kofi call a cab for you.  He’ll get you local rates and reliable drivers.

The castle was beautiful and our tour guide was great.  We learned about the history of the place and saw where some really heinous stuff happened.  It was really refreshing that our tour guide didn’t sugarcoat anything, and even made some jibes as if to say, “Yes, Westerners, you are very welcome in Ghana, but we still remember this.”

We spent some time playing in the waves back at camp, and bid farewell to Cole and Abbey the next morning.  They only came for a day.  Most of the rest of our time was spent as described above.  We sat around a lot and just enjoyed the sea breeze, cool water, and an occasional tuna sandwich.  The notable exception was our excursion to Kokum, one of the few bits of continuous rain forest left in Ghana.

Kokum was beautiful.  It was a tropical rain forest just like in the movies.  There was also a mini-museum there that showed a map of what Ghana’s forests once looked like.  It seems that Ghana had a lot of rain forest, and I’ve traveled a lot through once-forested areas.  There’s a lesson you only learn once: when you cut down a rain forest, it doesn’t grow back.

We also got a great lesson on the local flora from our tour guide. We learned lots about which trees were the best for improving one’s love life. We also learned about a tree that’s called, “Having Sex with Your Sister Tree.” I’ll leave the story behind that one up to your imagination.

And then my parents left!  There’s a little more to it than that, but good lord, I’ve gotta catch you up to the present at some point don’t I?  You can find a set of all our Elmina/Stumble Inn/Kokum photos on flickr as per the usual.