Yiri Lodge

The entrance gate & guard house

Our home away from home for the last 3 weeks  has been Yiri Lodge, owned by the Institute for  African Studies on the University of Ghana  campus.

Welcome!

Heading out with our Police escort.

It's at the north end of Accra, about an hour and a half drive from down town in rush hour, or 30 minutes if you have a police escort! 

We were going in the wrong direction up the highway!  Yikes!

The hotel is quite new and clean, with about 28 rooms, a lounge, restaurant and meeting rooms.

The front door.  Our drivers are always waiting in the lot for us at 6am :(

My balcony - although it's on the ground floor, so not very useful except as a place to store my smelly runners!

Ralph always has a big smile to great us at the front desk!

The entrance to my room #101 - the first one on the first floor.  Made it handy to run to the restaurant for my morning cup of coffee (or 2) before I was quite ready to sit down for breakfast.

The hotel restaurant.  Although technically open at 6, that was when they arrived at the hotel!  Food might be served by 6:45GMT (Ghana Maybe Time)

There doesn't seem to be any brewed coffee in Ghana... It's Nescafe!  But it's served with real cream, so I quite like it!!

Inside my room - simple but clean :)   Only once did I see a lizard in my room! 

I brought my own pillow - it's been so nice to have!

Students walking home from Sunday services - They are all dressed very nicely!

The pool is right next door to Yiri Lodge.

And nearby, is the university.  We are on the south end of campus, away from the classroom buildings, but close to residences and food services. 

You'll notice the red sand on all the paths.  It's everywhere!  My running shoes are quite covered with it, and are going to need a serious wash when I get home.


Some of my teammates were excited about having the pool so close, as they planned to use it to keep up their exercise routines.  But alas, it has not transpired for two reasons.  First of all, we are leaving so early in the morning (by 7am) and it gets dark so early (by 6pm) that there isn't much time in the day.  Secondly, after Jeremy swam there on day 2, he got quite sick, and suspected that it was the result of swallowing pool water.  We'll never know, as he hasn't been back again. 

The residences

I have been running several times, although half of what I normally do.  I often run by the residences, since there's always lots of people walking around, which makes me feel quite safe.   The last time I ran by, I noticed a lot of booming noise down by the last building and determined it was coming from the gutters.  What was it?  Turns out that a few dozen bullfrogs live in the cement tubes, and their loud resonant bass sounds were reverberating to make the sounds explosive!

The local shop supplies water & snacks - very basic stuff :(

Here's the local shop where we can go for water or other small snacks, but there isn't too much there.  We have to make a trip to "The Mall" for better choices.  We take a taxi there for about $4, although you have to negotiate each ride, there are no meters and no fixed prices.  Going downtown might cost you $4 or it might cost you $12, depending on your negotiating skills, the time of day and the traffic.

But the competition across the street closes the gap!

The university shop has plenty of competition though.  There are booths selling supplies everywhere!!  I buy bananas here regularly - the little mini bananas come in bunches of a dozen or so.   But people eat them in that quantity, with nuts, for a snack.  Yummy!