We stayed for three nights at the Noda Hotel whilst sightseeing around Kumasi in Central Ghana.
Fortunately the hotel was located on the outskirts of Kumasi, and set back off a busy main road: Bradt refers to it as ‘one of the most hectic cities we’ve encountered anywhere in Africa, with surging throngs of humanity and constant traffic jams emanating in every direction’.
79 rooms of various styles ranged from standard rooms to chalets with a kitchenette. It was one of the few places we stayed on our tour where we were shown to our room – 5402 (block 5, 4th floor – one lift). This was probably because there were two ways to enter, and neither were very direct. The hotel’s outer walls were decorated with what looked like Chinese style letters, but after a visit to a local village, we realised they were Adinkra symbols, representing concepts or aphorisms, which are used extensively in fabrics, logos, and pottery.
Our spacious room had a firm king-size bed, but the only sheet was on the bottom, and as we didn’t want to sleep covered by a fleecy rose patterned blanket or a thick woven blue and grey bedspread, we sought an additional sheet. The room was light with two large windows (but unfortunately no decent view), bedside tables, charging points and lights. The AC worked well as did the WiFi but as the hotel was spread out, we had to keep logging on to different routers. There was a desk and chair, empty fridge, TV, armchair and room for one open suitcase, but it lacked a safe and tea and coffee making facilities. There was mesh on the windows presumably to lesson the view of the building works.
The good-sized bathroom had a large walk-in shower, with rainfall shower head, but as there was no curtain or screen, the floor got wet. Whilst the water in the shower was hot and powerful, in contrast the water in the basin remained tepid and was useless for shaving. Wires dangled from drilled holes presumably for the non-existent hairdryer.
Murphy who showed us to our room, and was clearly after a tip, made a great play of fetching bottled water, a small bar of soap, toothbrushes, a shower cap, supplementary towels as there was only one, and shoeshine kit but ironically no shower gel or shampoo.
Breakfast was disappointing with an uninspiring choice of pineapple, pippy watermelon and apple quarters turning brown. The hot buffet had pre-cooked omelette, sausages, chopped salad, baked beans and two unfamiliar gloopy porridge-like dishes – we later established one was called Tom Brown as it ‘turns brown’ during cooking. Despite sliced bread going through the toaster twice, it remained a light tan. Bottles of chilled water were available but there was no juice, cereals, or other bread. The hot drinks consisted of sachets of Nescafe, tea bags and hot water in flasks, but no fresh milk.
It was interesting that for such a large hotel, there was no indoor bar, although drinks were available at the pool bar. However, at the weekend, it was busy with families and blaring music, whilst during the week, a conference group of around 30 people had outdoor dinners around the pool.
We therefore tended to sit in the restaurant for drinks, which had to be ordered from the pool bar. However, there was an extensive menu of reasonably priced drinks, and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, bringing a bottle of Beefeater gin, the measure, can of tonic, and a glass of ice to the table so we could see our drinks being made.
Unfortunately, on our final night, loud rap music from the conference dinner at the pool competed with Premier league football commentary from a TV in an adjacent room, and German style oom-pah music being played on a radio in the restaurant. It was a relief when it was time to go to bed.
The a la carte menu had lots of choice, but on our first night we realised that portions were huge and even sharing a beef kebab starter and a main chicken kebab with chips and salad was plenty. On subsequent nights, we shared a single main and enjoyed beef with mushroom and oyster sauce one night and fried chicken with noodles on our final evening.
This was a slightly mixed experience, and if the conference had not been taking place, we suspect we may have been the only guests. The website says, ‘we always ensure that our clients is a memorable stay’, It was, but possibly not as they intended.
