Transportation in Tamale

On Thursday, we left Patakro and the Ashanti region and headed to Tamale in the Northern Region which was a 7 hour bus ride. On the way, it was clear to see that the environment and society was different. In the South (Accra, Kumasi and most of the other areas we had been to previously) I had seen some Muslim communities; however, very few mosques. Instead, there were mega churches and billboards about church services and special sermons. Along the way to Tamale, churches started to give way to mosques. Also modes of transportation changed.
In Tamale, there are no Tro-Tros and there are a lot more motorcycles (which are personal and taxis). One thing I found pretty interesting is that here, women ride motorcycles just as much as men (not as in riding in the back but actually driving them). There was one that I saw riding with a child in the front and two in the back. This is surprising for two reasons. Firstly, almost everywhere else I have been in Ghana and Jamaica, women don’t ride (as in drive) motorcycles. Even in the US it is uncommon to see women riding motorcycles. Secondly, it is something I didn’t really expect considering Tamale is a predominantly Muslim city. In fact many of the women I see are wearing Hijabs. Take that in contrast to Saudi Arabia where women were just recently allowed to drive (with a man’s permission). It is a good thing.
Motorcycle taxis are common in rural Jamaica, especially going up and down communities in the hills. Since I was young I loved riding them. It would have been nice to ride one here in Ghana but it is against SIT policy. However, as said in one of Papa Attah’s sayings “when good is not available, bad is better.” This means if the prefered option is not available, we should be content with what we have. There is another common form of transportation called a “yellow yellow” which is somewhat of a motorized rickshaw (shown in pictures below). I took one for the first time tonight and it was an interesting experience. I liked it although it wasn’t exactly the same kind of rush as a motorcycle. Oddly enough, these I see mostly operated by men. Also in reference to my first cultural connections post, the “yellow yellows” also have a lot of Jamaican flags (as seen in one of the pictures below).