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sub-Saharan Africa Topics specific to sub-Saharan Africa. (Includes all countries South of 17 degrees latitude)
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  #1  
Old 5 Jan 2019
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Ghana road conditions
Hallo,


what are the typical road conditions in Ghana. Do I need to expect sand/deep sand?
Is the weather in August stable enough?


Thanks!
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  #2  
Old 6 Jan 2019
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Ghana’s a big place, with several very different climate regimes.

Main roads are paved, and while not immune to weather-related delays will normally stay open. Around Accra they get fairly clogged with traffic starting early morning and ending late night—a bike can make much better time than a car.

Secondary roads are often not paved, but tend more toward bumps, ruts, potholes and washouts than deep sand. You could certainly find some sand if you went looking for it.

August is still rainy season, which makes all of the above somewhat uncertain. Rains do cause floods, and floods do close roads, neighborhoods, and lodgings—more likely in the south than the Sahel-ish north. Best to inquire locally day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour. Sand washing out of secondary roads onto main routes might give pause, but that’s not really the same thing as “deep sand.”

Hope that’s helpful. You’ll find there’s so much difference from one route to the next that questions are best asked in specific terms, not about a whole country.

Mark
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Old 6 Jan 2019
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Thank you,

this helps. I know that it is a broad question but I want to get a rough feeling about the difficulty of driving I have to expect.

My current understanding: Main roads mainly paved, should be always doable also during rain. Secondary roads maybe unpaved depending on region, may be slippery if wet. Deeper sand (as e.g in Mauretania, Angola) can be normally avoided. Does this roughly meet it?
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Old 7 Jan 2019
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Basic info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana_Road_Network

Fairly typical sealed road in good condition:


Fairly typical dusty unsealed road in the north:


Fairly typical unsealed road in the south:


And then things change when it rains:
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Old 7 Jan 2019
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Thanks a lot!
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  #6  
Old 14 Jan 2019
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Great and spot on regarding the roads as they can get messy!!

However the climate is changing massively, we had a very late rainy season which essentially finished on New Year's Eve ... So beware that if the long rains do come late this year, you could find some challenging routes!!!
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