Ghana was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to win independence from colonial rule, in 1957. That history shapes how the country carries itself and how it treats people who visit.

Accra moves at its own pace: loud, direct, quick. Kwame Nkrumah’s memorial sits in the centre, a few steps from Independence Square and the Black Star Arch. At the Kane Kwesi workshop, carpenters build fantasy coffins (a car for a driver, a fish for a fisherman, a plane for a pilot), a serious part of Ghanaian funeral tradition.

Cape Coast and Elmina hold 2 of the most significant slave castles anywhere, both UNESCO-listed, both still standing at the water’s edge. Assin Manso, 45 minutes inland, is where enslaved Africans bathed for the last time on home soil. Kakum National Park covers 350 km² of dense tropical forest, with a canopy walkway hung 30 metres above the ground.