I’ve known this to be true for some time but someone recently reminded me how noisy Ghana is. I guess I have somehow learnt to live with it or just got used to it.
It was last night lying in bed that I started to think about it more, as a mexican wave of dog howls came rolling towards us. It was about midnight. I heard it coming from some way off and it got as far as our area, our dogs joining in too, when it abruptly stopped.
I’ve discovered it’s also a myth that cockerels only crow at dawn. They also crow at midnight, one, two, three and four in the morning! And don’t get me started on the frogs during the rainy season. They make an incredible noise, up there with the volume of a car alarm. It is the only time you will see Aubrey wearing rubber gloves and ‘fishing’ for frogs in our (deflated) pool before launching them onto the scrub land next door. All under cover of darkness of course.
As for the churches, they go full pelt well into the night and on into the dawn. We have quite a few in hearing distance from us. In fact Nana’s church is one of them and she has come in the last two mornings hardly able to stand due to two back to back all night sessions.
We then have these lovely people hiring out sound systems that seem to insist on checking them at five in the morning with some heavy beat tune. Not as bad as when there is a festival or celebration. During these occasions there are some ‘spots’ (bars) near us who compete for loudness and staying power well into dawn. The main hotel near us has pool parties at the weekend so if you think you may get a break from the music during the day or at the weekend, think again. These are particularly rowdy affairs heard for miles around with a heavy beat that gets under your skin and not in a good way.
The main road is close and consists of a fair amount of traffic, including all the beeping that goes on here; basically whenever a car comes to a junction to join the main road someone on the main road will beep. And have you ever heard a lorry tyre blowing? It sounds like a small explosion. The first few times I heard it I expected to hear screaming afterwards due to a gas works disaster. It’s quite a sound. Get’s your heart pumping I can tell you. And it happens quite often here with all the overloaded trucks ploughing past from East to West, West to East.
If the electricity is off the generator vies for our attention in the background but with the car horns, cicadas, frogs, churches and even the sea which we hear constantly being only about 20 metres from it, it is actually a gentle hum.
Lets also add the children because lets be honest they are not quiet! So all in all a noisy place.
So for everyone reading, I wish you a very peaceful and quiet night/day. Light is off so the generator is lulling me into thinking it’s fairly quiet tonight, that is apart from the constant barking of dogs. Must be getting to full moon!
And finally:
This year we have been practicing our dancing……
Ochina! x
Laughing Doves 