Transportation in Ghana can be very difficult! There are no passenger trains or efficient highway roads in Ghana. Instead, travelers that do not have cars take public transportation, which includes old taxis, large vans, called tro tros, or buses. Motorcycles and motorized rickshaws, called pragyas, are also common around the country, too. While transportation is an important part of traveling to different sites, it is one of my least favorite parts about living in Ghana because it takes a lot of time and is very difficult to get around.
In order to travel to different towns, people often fill up tro tros. Tro tros are large vans in Ghana that hold many people that sit close together. There is not a lot of room in tro tros because there are so many people that try to fit in one tro tro. The tro tros do not leave until enough people have bought tickets to fill the van. This means that some travelers may be waiting a long time before the tro tros actually leave for their destination. For shorter destinations, Ghanaians use motorcycles or motorized rickshaws. Many young men will use motorcycles to quickly transport goods or people around shorter distances. However, as a Peace Corps volunteer, I am not allowed to ride the motorcycles because my organization does not think they are as safe as other modes of transportation.
