Culture Smart

Geography

“Welcome to Ghana – The Center of the World” is a proclamation you may hear during a visit to Ghana. The actual ‘center of the world’ is about 200 miles south of the port city of Tema, in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. However, Ghana is the closest landmass to the artificial center created by the intersection of the Equator and the Greenwich Meridian.

Ghana is sometimes referred to as being under the ‘armpit’ of Africa or the ‘trigger’ of Africa- imagining Africa could be held as a gun.

Ghana is a very fertile and rich land, and is noted for its plentiful supply of yams, cassava, cocoa, rubber, maize, palm products, pineapples, oranges, papayas, avocados, plantains, bananas, and pepper.

Mineral resources are also synonymous with Ghana, which is the reason for its nickname, Gold Coast. Diamonds, manganese, bauxite, and timber are found in large quantities. In 2007 large, good-quality oil deposits were discovered off the coast.


Climate

Temperatures average 91 degrees F in the daytime, and 69.8 degrees F by night.

December through February is the coolest and driest time. This is also the time of the Harmattan, a red dust that covers the sky as it blows south from the Sahara Desert. Then it becomes very hot until April when the first of two rainy seasons start. Rainy seasons are April-June and October-November in the south. The north area of Ghana receives one rainy season from August-September.

More next week!