Why do we live like immortals? 3 months a nomad.

My biggest learnings from the journey so far.

Hey guys,

Been a minute. I hope you’ve been okay.

Been a bit hard to combine writing with travelling and work. Working on it cos I miss writing frequently.

Always stay Jiggy :)

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It’s 3am in the morning and a tiny insect bite wakes me up. I scare the insect away and lay face up in bed for a while. I’m sleeping in a tent for the first time in a hilly town 110km from Accra.

I think for a moment about how 'small' I feel. Unhinged. Just a little me in the world. Living without restrictions. I smile & go back to sleep.

(Tent in Kwahu)

The world and society have evolved to place a premium on identities. We’re born on a piece of land somewhere in the West of Africa and you’re called a Nigerian. If you’re born some 5,000km up north, you’ll likely be a Moroccan. Another 5, 000 km up north from there and you’re British.

If you’re born in a Christian family, there’s a 70% chance you’ll remain Christian for the rest of your life. The same thing applies if you’re born into a Muslim family. And for many other religions.

In many ways, a lot of our pursuits in life are tied to the identities we desire. We want to be successful in our fields so we can be acknowledged as having lived a good life. We desire the elite identity. A huge percentage of our lives’ activities is in pursuit of gathering wealth & resources that’ll get us into that upper echelon.

Identities are comfort zones. They help us make sense of the world.

In many cultures, they also determine how someone’s life pan outs. If you’re born with the ‘wrong identity’, you’ll likely have to put in a lot of work to claim/acquire new ones. Identities typically assume that there’s a clear distinction in the world. Identities promote the idea that you can only one thing in a certain aspect of life but in reality the world is more grey than white & black.

In my opinion, two things are true about identities: They are made up and most of them are restrictive by nature.

I sold all my stuff 3 months ago and left Lagos in pursuit of letting go of my restrictive identities and either eradicating identities totally (which I don’t think is possible because we need to categorize & describe things as humans to enable effective communication) or taking on identities that were less restrictive.

(A council of palmwine elders)

Why should I live only as a Nigerian when it’s literally a line on a map that determines that. Why should I be choleric when I can switch between personalities. Why should I be an R&B person when I enjoy different types of music in different moods.

We often see restricted identities as an advantage but in the past 3 months, I’ve learnt that we restrict our experience of life with restricted identities. When you’re open-minded to new identities, your experience of life is different.

We restrict our experience of life with restricted identities

(Why should we live restricted lives?)

Before the beginning of my nomad journey in Accra, my typical week was: Spend most of the time working. Play video games with my boys on some evenings. If there’s an event in town I’m aware of, I’ll try to attend. On the rare Friday night, I’ll go clubbing with friends. Spend Saturdays watching football and chill on Sundays. Of course, there were some weeks where things were different but there’s usually a similar theme.

A very interesting perspective I learned recently from Sadhguru is how most of us live our lives like we’re immortal. We live life with the future pre-planned.

We’re born and expect to go through primary & high school. During high school, everything we do is in preparation for college/university. During college/university, all we think of is how to get a job/make a living afterwards. We leave college and try to find our place in the world. We spend 80% of our days in jobs trying to gather money/wealth for our family. Sometimes we gather a lot, sometimes not so much.

(House by the beach. One of my fav. pictures in Accra)

Either way, at some point, you have to get married (except you’re a rebel). When we’re married, we start preparing to have kids. Sometimes we’re successful, other times we’re not. There are over 150 million orphans but too many times, a woman who can’t give birth has to live a life of dread because of society’s identities. We get kids and spend our life catering to them. And so on and so forth.

The key point here is that we live our lives with the assumption that the future is guaranteed. We say no one knows tomorrow but we live as though we do. As though we have a right to live till we’re 100 years. When the data is clear that not all of us will live that long. Why are we deceiving ourselves? Why are we spending our lives living for a future we’re not sure will come. And we shun the present that exists!

(As I was editing this letter this morning. I got news that a friend I knew in Ghana just passed away. The message in this previous paragraph sunk in deeper after the news. May her soul rest in perfect peace)

(Being present)

This was one of the first things I learned in my first month in Ghana. Because I was there for a short period of time, I had to be intentional about experiencing the country as much as possible. This gave me a new lease on life.

I wasn’t waiting for the weekend to go out and do things I wanted to do. I wasn’t spending the weekends indoors. I was out in the world, exploring places, meeting new people, exploring my heart’s desires and creating memories that mattered to me. I slowly started to learn to live a mortal life. A present life. Not pushing my 'living' to a non-existential future.

A couple of things I wanted to do more of was nightlife. I really like music and dancing and I recently realized I didn’t do them enough. So I gathered a checklist of places I wanted to go and by the end of the first month, I had visited 70% of them. This meant being more intentional about my productivity such that I could go out on weekday evenings to do things I wanted to do.

(AlleyBar in Accra is a guaranteed fun spot every friday and saturday night)

In my 2nd month, I had ticked off most of my nightlife exploration and wanted to explore outside Accra.

My first trip was to the coastal town of Cape Coast in the Central region of Ghana and 4 hours from Accra. This historic coast was vital to the Europeans during the African Slave Trade period. I saw relics of many forts along the coast and the beaches were immaculate.

The first stop was Kakum National Park, a reserve started by the locals and one of three places in Africa where there is a canopy walkway.

(Doing the canopy walk with one of my Ghana besties, Grace, in Kakum)

After Kakum, I explored the town with my group of travellers. We visited the historic El Mina Castle which I wrote about in detail here. This was one of my favorite places to visit in Ghana because of how much it taught me about our African heritage & history.

(My Cape Coast Trip Crew - @ExploreGhana)

The next weekend, I went on a road trip to the Volta region with my friend, Alecka, to summit the tallest mountain in Ghana. This was an interesting trip because we decided we were gonna go by 1 am that Saturday morning. I needed to find a driver who will be willing to take us on a 4-hour trip by 7 am.

Luckily, I was nice to my Uber driver the previous night. I hit him up and he was game.

(Had to take a picture of the driver to be safe. He was a super cool guy and made the trip fun!)

We left Accra by the first light with the magnificent Adomi Bridge as our first stop.

(Adomi Bridge. Very beautiful view here)

After taking pictures, we set off to Mt. Afadjato. Before we got there though, I had one of my worst experiences with Ghanian police. We were stopped and asked to provide our passports or risk being sent back to Accra.

The immigration officer expected us to carry our international passports with us at all times. After being delayed for almost an hour, we eventually had to part with some cash before we proceeded. To be fair to the Ghanian police, I never had any unpleasant interaction during my entire stay in Ghana. The worst-case was getting questioned and in a respectful manner.

(The Immigration officers)

We arrived at the mountain in the afternoon but after we learnt that it’ll be a 3-hour hike to the tallest point. We opted for a lower summit and visiting the Wli waterfalls. The climb was steep but the view was worth every step.

(The beautiful on Mt. Afadjato)

The waterfall was also beautiful. As I write this line, I remember the feeling of the water falling against my body from those heights.

(Who can get me a modelling gig with Calvin Klein plix? This talent is waiting to be tapped)

The adventures continued the next weekend. This time, it was the turn of the Eastern region. There was a beautiful umbrella rock in the Yilo Krobo District to see. It kinda lived up to imagination and the trip was good in helping me see what different parts of Ghana looked like.

(Umbrella rock)

Something that wasn’t on the itinerary was this three-in-one palm tree.

I can’t remember the age of the tree but it was old enough for the locals to pray at its foot and ask for wishes. It was even rumoured that people who had fertility issues and prayed there could bear children.

After this escapade, we visited Boti falls and Asemena waterfalls before ending up at Peduase Valley resort in Aburi.

I had heard so much about Aburi before this trip and it felt really good to be in the hilly town with a great weather. Watched a Chelsea game, visited a mini-zoo and took it all in.

(The world should be our oyster. Literally)

This was my last trip outside Accra in March. I resumed my exploration of Accra when I got back and my weekly routine continued.

They say people make places memorable and my stay in Accra was no exception. Being by yourself in a new country forces you to make new friends, be confident, be kind and appreciate great connections when you find them. Accra is great because of the diversity of the expatriate community. Unlike in Lagos, any random coffee bar or lounge you go to in Accra would have folks from an average of 5 different countries.

This was fun and important for me on my journey of exploring the world because I got to build relationships with people from different parts of the world who have lived different types of lives in different types of cultures. Made friends from Sierra Leone, the Carribeans, Europeans, Americans and more.

I not only got to appreciate the diversity of our cultures but I got to learn first-hand about what life living in different parts of the world feels like. In many cases, our current perception of many parts of the world is either incorrect, hugely influenced by biases or less than a 10% reflection of the reality in those countries.

My last major trip outside of Accra was during the Easter holiday. I visited the charming Kwahu town. It is where the highest habitable point in Ghana can be found: Abetifi. Luckily I got to stay in Abetifi.

(The official beer in Ghana and the most popular)

This was a special trip because it was the first time I was going camping and sleeping in a tent. The atmosphere in the town was electric throughout.

Kwahu is where a good number of Ghanaians go to spend Easter, so it was packed. There were hundreds of bars which were popping till early morning hours. Locals were walking on the streets in numbers at all times. Youths in their teens were out by 5 am chilling with their friends and having the time of their lives. It was electric.

(My Kwahu crew)

Historically, the Kwahus were a military powerhouse in Ghana. They were one of the tribes that were never conquered, aided by the mastery of their mountainous environment and using it to their advantage. They fought side by side with the Ashantis for a long period of time before they decided to be independent. One of my favorite experiences in Kwahu was visiting the Twenedurase Mystical Cave. The caves were narrow, dark and couldn’t be navigated without a torch. I could imagine how their enemies must have feared coming to attack them in such conditions.

(At the caves)

I also got to visit the beautiful Volta lake and sat on the mysterious tree that sits in the middle of the lake.

(On a tree in the middle of the lake)

Was looking forward to paragliding in Kwahu but there were no available spots, so the least I could do was enjoy the beautiful view of the entire town. My crew in Kwahu was fun and we spent hours discussing the origin of the universe, aliens, the origins of Christianity, the afterlife and many other topics that likely left folks with more questions than answers.

We ended our trip with the best fufu I had in Ghana.

Some of my biggest learnings from Ghana/My journey so far

1. What we know about most places in the world is only a fraction of the reality in those countries: There are so many misconceptions about Ghana by Nigerians and vice-versa. I enjoyed living in Ghana.

   1. People are more expressive and less concerned about showing off. I could go out with #10,000/100 cedis in Ghana every night and I’ll have the time of my life each time. There are bars and lounges that are accessible to all and have cheap drinks like beer on the menu at all times. Ghanaians like to have a good time and do so without the ‘status’ pressure that is so prevalent in Nigeria.

      

      (Friday nights in Ghana at Zen gardens. Almost everyday of the week, there’s a live band playing somewhere in Accra where people go to chill)

   2. Most places in Ghana are incredibly safe and the people trustworthy: I was out with a friend last weekend. She went to the bathroom and left her phone on the table without asking anyone to supervise. As a Lagos boy, I stayed anxious all through and guarded the phone constantly till she got back. In most places in Ghana, you can walk and go on a run freely from 3am or 4am without having to worry about not coming back home without your phone. I’ll often make a payment with MOMO and the cashier wouldn’t ask for a confirmation because of the trust.

   3. The music is great: There was a Twitter battle before I left Nigeria in Ghana when some Ghanian artists complained about Ghanian songs not getting enough Airplay in Nigeria. I would say there’s some truth to this. There is a lot of really good Ghanian music and I am very glad I got to learn a good number of them and vibe hard when they came on when partying. But I had never heard most of those songs in Lagos. For a country that plays so much of our music, I think we can def do more by intentionally giving more African music (not just Ghanian) airplay.

   4. You feel blacker in Ghana: There is something about Ghana that makes it feel very African and black. They are proud about their country and culture.

      

      There’s a Ghanian flag everywhere and proudly hoisted in personal establishments. This isn’t very common in Nigeria. I also think that because of the safety in Ghana and the attractive weather, Ghana attracts a LOT of people of African descent and non-Africans looking to experience Africa. More than half of the expats I met in Ghana had been in Ghana for less than 6 months. That says a lot!

2. Nigerian culture is VERY influential in Africa: I was shocked when I was out partying and super old school Nigerian songs came up and EVERYBODY was vibing. Or when I’ll bump in random people from different African countries talking about Old Nollywood, aged Nigerian celebrities and other aspects of Nigerian culture. I always knew that Nigerian culture was well exported in Africa but I always thought that was a recent thing that’s happened in the past decade. On this trip, I realized that we have a similar childhood experience and people who grew up thousands of kilometres away can relate very well to the life I lived as a child.

3. Take your current perception of the world with a pinch of salt: A lot of what we know about the world (good and bad) is laced with biases. We can’t visit everywhere or ever know everything, so some biases will persist. The least we can do however is be open-minded and not judge people/take actions based on biases that are likely flawed.

When I left Lagos at the end of January, I was scared a little. No permanent base. All my material possessions are worth less than $2k. I’ll be going to new places where I have no previous connections. The fear of loneliness. And many more.

(One of my favorite pictures from Ghana with Mensah. He walked up to me and gave me a gift of a shell at El Mina castle which I still keep till today. His English was flawless!)

My stay in Ghana made me only want to do this more. It taught me that human love is universal. Wherever we go in the world, we would find people that we connect with and have shared values/attributes. As long as I stay open-minded, kind and curious, I’m pretty sure that Accra will not be the height of my nomad experience.

Accra was good to me and will always be my first nomad love. For now, a quick stop in Nigeria.

Got questions or comments, tell me about them in the comments section!

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We restrict our experience of life with restricted identities - Francis Sani.

Love always.

Francis.