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ericfruits · 5 years

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Uganda is the latest African country to revive its national airline

AN AIRLINE IS a way of showcasing a people, says Jenifer Bamuturaki, commercial director of Uganda Airlines, which made its first commercial flight on August 28th. Passengers can tuck into katogo, a popular banana dish, served with a warm Ugandan welcome. The airline will soon fly to seven regional destinations, such as Nairobi and Mogadishu, on four 76-seater planes. It has also placed orders for two wide-body Airbus A330-800s, which could one day reach London and Guangzhou.

Uganda has had a national airline before. It started out shipping whisky for President Idi Amin in the 1970s and collapsed in 2001. Now Uganda is returning to the air, and it is not alone. Neighbouring Tanzania, which is reviving its national carrier, has bought eight new planes and is considering flights to London. Ethiopian Airlines, the regional leader, is entering into joint ventures across the continent: it helped resurrect Chad’s national airline last year and has plans to do the same in Ghana and Zambia. In the past decade new airlines have taken to the skies in countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

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African governments are not in it for the money. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade group, forecasts that carriers on the continent will lose $300m this year, or $3.51 per passenger. Planes fly with more empty seats than in any other region of the world. High taxes, expensive fuel and old aircraft add to costs. South African Airways survives on government bail-outs. In July Kenya’s parliament voted to fully nationalise Kenya Airways as part of a plan to rescue it from debt.

Joseph Muvawala, who heads the National Planning Authority in Uganda, says that governments see airlines as an investment in infrastructure. Technocrats hope that Uganda’s new airline will boost exports of fish and cut flowers, while pulling in tourist dollars, and will drive down high ticket prices on routes served by established carriers. Even if the airlines are unprofitable, the argument goes, the economy will gain.

Such is the theory. In practice, airlines are bound up with ideas of national prestige. They stir a fuzzy feeling of patriotism in middle-class flyers (who get less excited about, say, rural roads). They can also become targets for political meddling. Some governments are pushing ahead with state-owned carriers even where the market is well served by private players, notes Raphael Kuuchi of IATA. Ghana’s politicians are talking of a new airline, even though a private operator flies to seven destinations from Accra.

Only in Ethiopia has a national airline been an undoubted success. Managers have been left to get on with their jobs, even though the business is state-run. By joining up with Ethiopian Airlines, governments elsewhere hope to learn from its expertise. But they cannot import its other advantages, such as Ethiopia’s strategic location as a gateway for Asian traffic. As Ethiopian Airlines spreads its wings, ever more journeys will be funnelled through Addis Ababa airport, which already welcomes more than 10m passengers a year.

The gleaming ranks of planes on the tarmac in Addis Ababa embody the dream of national carriers—and hint at a future which transcends them. The most efficient way to connect Africa is through a handful of regional hubs; the fastest way to increase flight numbers is by opening national markets to continental competition. Big players like Ethiopian Airlines are the obvious winners from that process, leaving little room for minnows.

Yet patriotic illusions persist. The Ugandan government is protecting its infant airline and has not signed up to the Single African Air Transport Market, which would liberalise regional aviation. Even the president says the ideal option would be to create an “East African Airways” with neighbouring countries. Politics stops that idea from taking off. ■

This article appeared in the Middle East and Africa section of the print edition under the headline "Blue-sky thinking"

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blondevoyagebyabean-blog · 7 years

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Weekend in Accra

Its only been a couple days and literally the MOST has happened since I left the states. This is about to be a long post so buckle up my friends.

On Thursday, August 24th, I got to JFK all giddy and prepared for this 10 hour flight to Accra, Ghana. I meet up with Amy at the gate and we waited about 2 hours for the flight to finally start boarding. While waiting at the gate, we made a friend with a woman who was traveling to Ghana to visit family she hasn’t seen in in 12 years. She told us we are going to love Ghana but to not let the men propose to us there. Quote on quote she said, “Even I say no to their proposals and I’m Ghanaian so you know something must be wrong.” When it was time to board there were no zones or different times as to when people should wait in line so everyone just got up at once. The line that Amy and I were in was pretty short and no one was lined up behind us which was weird. We get up to the front and we realize that we were in the priority line (which we certainly were not). Having been in the wrong line, the everyday people line (which we are) was about a mile from the gate entrance. We were second to last in line. We weren’t even out of the country yet and we were reading signs incorrectly... yikes. While physically walking onto the plane Amy and I realized that we told each other different seat numbers of where to sit so we aren’t actually sitting next to each other according to our tickets. But don’t worry we decided to draw a lot of attention to ourselves (as if we didn’t need anymore attention drawn to us) by asking a kind gentleman to switch seats with one of us. He obliged but I don’t think he was happy about it.

10 hours later on Friday August 25th (23rd bday, holla!), we landed in Accra. We get into the airport and go through immigration, after we wait just a casual hour and a half and few panic attacks and our baggage finally showed up. We walked through customs and was out of the airport breathing Accra’s air. It didn’t take long for people to realize we have no idea where we are going so all the taxi drivers and other random people flocked to us. We found a taxi driver who knew where our hotel was and followed him to his car. While following him, men just came and took our bags to help bring them to the car. These men were not affiliated with the taxi driver what so ever but they wouldn’t let us take our bags back until we got to the taxi. They then asked for $10 each for a tip. Amy and I were flabbergasted since we literally had the capability to pull our suitcases to a car. We tipped them 2 cedi (which is 50 cents) and were on our way to the hotel. We get our room key and literally dropped to the bed as soon as we walked in the door. Later on at some point, we met up with Briana and Jason and went out the Accra mall for dinner (I got a veggie burger lol). After dinner we went to a local bar in Osu called Republic. It was in an alleyway and the seats were plastic lawn chairs and I loved every piece of it. There were locals and ex-pats there so it was a really inclusive place. Briana’s friend of a friend met us there and he showed us around the area that night after we left the bar. We went to a lot of local places that I can’t remember the names of because I couldn’t find a sign for it. On Saturday, we slept all day until about 4 and then went and got food at a place in Osu called Frankies. The sun sets at about 6:00 here so it gets dark fast (just a random add in piece of information that I thought was interesting). After dinner we went to a Joloff Fest. Joloff is a common West African rice dish and its soooo good. At the Fest we listened to music and watched a Joloff Cookoff. Then we went home and fell asleep by 9.

Sunday was a pretty casual day as we just hung out at the hotel and slept (jet lag was getting the best of us). Sunday night we went to the mall again and this time it was to exchange money. The exchange rate for Cedi is 4.33. So for every US dollar, it is 4.33 Ghanaian Cedi. Ghana’s highest bill is 50 cedi which is about 11 dollars. I had to exchange at least $1000 for rent at the Navrongo Research Centre so once all of my money was exchanged, I had 5 wads of cash in my bag. We literally shut down the shop where people can exchange money because I think we took it all.

It doesn’t seem like a lot happened during our weekend in Accra but boy was it tiring and entertaining. Look out for pictures from the weekend! Bye!

#blondevoyage (my official tag line- shout out to Avery for making it up)

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hellolightbulbmoments · 5 years

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Our trip to Ghana (part 1)

We've travelled a lot as a couple and we've got a pretty solid process for it. Pick a location, pay for flights and accommodation, pack light, as in–hand luggage only light. And spend as little as possible if we can. It's a process that has worked for us quite well, but it didn't quite work on our trip to Ghana.

For starters, my mother and her friend accompanied us which meant we didn't have to sort out accommodation or activities. Also, Ghana isn't one of those countries you can hop on a plane and just fly to if you're from the UK, you have to get a visa from the Ghana high commission (£60). Get a bunch of vaccinations including yellow fever (£50). And take anti-malaria medication around two weeks before your flight (£27). Not forgetting sun cream, mosquito repellent and before you know it, you've spent £150 per person on top of the cost of the flight.

The British Airways flight we took was a leg up from our typical easyJet/Ryanair flights. They allowed for two 23kg suitcases as well as two sets of hand luggage per person. One person's allowance was more than enough for both of us, but other people had plans for that extra space. My dad paid for our tickets so it was only fair that we allowed him to take a few things with our extra space. My mum and her friend travelling with us added a few things as well.

Boti falls

Our first tourist stop around four hours from Accra. This place is famous for its twin waterfalls located at the bottom of Kwame Nkrumah's house. Unfortunately for us the waterfall had but almost dried out, apparently the best time to see them is between July and August, we visited in May. So instead we did something else.

Our tour guide Kennedy took us on a hike nearby and showed us some sights as we walked past them. One, a large footprint on a rock that was said to have been made by the giants of old. We walked past a rocky wall almost cavelike, with loads of holes in it. We were told these were old banks, people would place their gold inside for safe keeping. We later passed another was a rock in the shape of an umbrella (or mushroom). It was such an unusual natural sight and the views of mountains around it were breathtaking. Our final sight was a three-headed palm tree with a so-called, 'fertility rock' at its base. Most palm trees have one head, but this was the only one with three, it's told that if you sit on the rock you're more likely to have twins or triplets.

Aburi botanical gardens

This was one of my favourite tourist attractions in Ghana. Aburi is about two hours drive from Accra and is up on a hill so much cooler than the capital. The gardens itself was huge and apparently would have taken a few days to see everything, so our tour guide only showed us the highlights.

We first saw a row of cedar trees brought from Lebanon, apparently, these were the exact same trees Solomon used to build his temple. Unfortunately, these trees were being attacked by parasite trees, ones that attack from above and hollow out a tree. In fact, many of the trees in the botanical gardens were being taken over by the parasites which were a sad sight to behold.

We saw some hibiscus plants, nutmeg trees, smelt some cinnamon barks and saw an amazing work of art called, 'the tree if life'. A tree carved by someone called Micheal who took 5 years to do it. It started with people struggling at the bottom of the tree at its roots with animals in the middle and people climbing to the top. The top had kinds and people who had made the climb successfully, it was such an interesting thing to behold and I'm glad we saw it in person, as well as seeing the person who made it.

Black star square

This place was pretty underwhelming. It was a large square with seats all around it and a large arch that lead to the sea. We were told that this part of Accra gets busy during the Ghana independence day celebrations.

The square also has a statue of a soldier near its entrance behind a bowl which looks like it is used for a flame. The roundabout in front of the square gave a good view of Accra, with the independence Arc similar to the Arc de Triumph in Paris.

Kwame Nkrumah museum

One of the few museums in the capital of Ghana. It consists of the burial place of Ghana's first president and his wife which is surrounded by a large park, and a small museum with pictures and certain belongings of Kwame Nkrumah, we started our tour there. Our tour guide gave a great description of what each item was from his desk to his casket, and also gave clear explanations of most of the pictures on the wall.

We were not allowed to take pictures whilst in the museum but we were allowed to outside. We were told about his grave that it was designed like a tree that was cut short to represent his unfinished work. There was a large sculpture of Kwame pointing forwards above the place where he proclaimed Ghana's independence as well as a few smaller sculptures blowing trumpets and playing drums to represent the funeral ceremony.

All in all, it was a very educational trip and was to be the first of many things we learnt about Ghana's history.

Arts centre

This is the part of Ghana that reminded us most of the markets in Marrakech. It was an indoor market with people selling all sorts of things from bracelets, to fabrics, to wooden carved items. All the sellers tried every trick in the book to get your attention. Offering you free items, invading your personal space to explain how great their items were, and of course, tourist get the inflated price so this isn't somewhere to come to if you don't like bartering.

What's more, people continued selling you things outside of the market as you tried to walk away. At one point there was a crowd of four people around us who wouldn't take no for an answer. We had to slam the door to our car and start driving before they gave up.

#ollie #travel

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edreamflight · 6 years

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kadofficialworld · 6 years

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By, Nana Kodjo Manuel

Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast is a richly endowed country in Sub-Saharan Africa with not only unlimited resources but dozens of beautiful historical tourist sites. No wonder this West African nation has increasingly become one of the top destination for most tourists who seek to enjoy their vacations, spend time with friends and family or change their natural environment. If you haven’t visited these places below, then you are not having fun at all. Talking of these beautiful places that not only do they contribute to the economic growth and development in Ghana but are so beautiful you would want to live there for the rest of your life. Before you buy your plane or bus tickets, you might wanna get to know a little history of these beautiful places. Alright let’s begin

The Cape Coast Castle

The Cape Coast Castle is one of about forty ‘slave castles’ or large commercial forts, built in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally built by the Swedes for trade in timber and gold, but later used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The castle was used to hold slaves before they were loaded onto ships and sold in the Americas, especially the Caribbean. The “gate of no return” was the last stop before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The Cape Coast Castle is one of the tourist sites in Ghana that has hosted much tourists.

Read more at: https://capecoastcastlemuseum.com/index.html

2. The Paga Crocodile Pond

is a sacred pond in Paga in the Upper East Region of Ghana, which is inhabited by West African crocodiles. The existence of this renowned crocodile pond is based on a story told of a man called Naveh, who settled in the Paga township where the pond is located after the reptiles helped him cross a river to escape enemy attack many years ago. He then promised not to harm, kill or eat crocodiles because he believed they were his ancestors, He then kept them in a pond. Due to the friendliness of the reptiles, it has become one of the most popular tourist sites and the pond is now reliant on tourism to ensure that the population of crocodiles remain fed and healthy.

Visitors can sit, touch and take photographs with the crocodiles. The crocodiles roam freely throughout the pond, and are brought to the shore when the guides whistle loudly. Tourists can take photographs while holding the crocodiles’ tails, and the crocodiles are fed with chicken. Unfortunately, the only time additional food is provided to the reptiles is when tourists pay for the chickens when they pose for photographs. I think the Tourism and Creative Arts Ministry should do something about it.

Read more at: http://www.travel-to-discover-ghana.com/paga-crocodile-pond.html

3. The Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum

The Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum Also, one of the amazing places to be in Ghana is the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. It is located in downtown Accra, the capital of Ghana. It is dedicated to the prominent Ghanaian leader, Kwame Nkrumah. The mausoleum which was designed by Don Arthur, houses the body of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his wife Fathia Nkrumah. It is meant to represent an upside down sword, which in the Akan culture is a symbol of peace. The mausoleum is clad from the top tithe bottom with Italian marble, with a black star at its apex to symbolize unity.

The interior of the mausoleum boasts of marble flooring and a mini mastaba looking marble grave marker surrounded by river washed rocks. A skylight at the top of the mausoleum illuminates the grave, and at the right time, seems to reflect off the marble further emphasizing that beauty many may have come to fall in love with. The mausoleum is surrounded by water which is a symbol of life. Its presence conveys a sense of immortality for the name Nkrumah. It shows that even in death, he lives on in the hearts and minds of generations here and the ones yet to come.

Read more about the Mausoleum at: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293797-d3706306-Reviews-Dr_Kwame_Nkrumah_s_Mausoleum-Accra_Greater_Accra.html

4. The Artist Alliance Gallery

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The last to talk about for now is the Artists Alliance Gallery situated in labadi-Greater Accra Region, Ghana. This renowned arts venue was established by the highly respected Ghanaian artist, Ablade Glover. It has become one of the most important of its kind in Ghana. There are three expansive floors of arts displayed in cool marble galleries, being the artworks of some established artists like Owusu Ankomah and other upcoming artists like Ebenezer Borlabie.

Read more at : https://www.artistsalliancegallery.com/

Most of these beautiful places in Ghana serve as major sources of revenue for the country through the creative arts and tourism sector. To continually preserve the beauty of these places, the Government of Ghana must invest in the Creative Arts and Tourism Ministry.

Long Live our Motherland Ghana

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BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN GHANA By, Nana Kodjo Manuel Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast is a richly endowed country in Sub-Saharan Africa with not only unlimited resources but dozens of beautiful historical tourist sites.

#Ghana is beautiful

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touristguidebuzz · 8 years

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Flight Review: South African Airways Business Class (A340-300) From Dakar to Washington, D.C.

On a recent mission to discover the most interesting ways to redeem Etihad miles for award flights, several members of Team TPG traveled to Serbia, Morocco and Senegal, with me flying aboard South African Airways’ A340-300 in business class between Washington, D.C. (IAD) and Dakar (DKR).

South African Airways (SAA) operates flights between Washington, D.C. (IAD) and Accra, Ghana (ACC) on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and to Dakar (DKR) on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, with both of these flights then continuing to Johannesburg (JNB). I looked up my flight online ahead of time and was excited to see it would be my first time flying aboard a four-engine plane, SAA’s Airbus A340-300, one of the most beautiful aircraft in the world — to an #AvGeek like me, anyway.

In This Post

Booking

I booked this flight using 84,444 miles transferred from the Etihad Guest program. For the round-trip itinerary — with one leg in economy and one in business. I used the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card to pay for the additional $592 in taxes and fees, which earned me 3x Membership Rewards points (1,776 in total) for the purchase. If the Amex Platinum card’s 5x bonus category on airfare purchases had been in place at the time of booking, I certainly would have used that card instead.

Another thing to note about booking this specific flight: since SAA is a Star Alliance partner, award seats are available to book through United, so if you were to book your flight that way, each leg would cost 80,000 United MileagePlus miles, plus about $18 in taxes and fees on the outbound flight and about $100 for the return flight — still much less than the taxes and fees Etihad charged for my ticket.

My reservation confirmation from Etihad.

Airport and Lounge

This flight proved to be one of the most… interesting… I’ve ever had. The peculiarities started at the airport in Dakar (DKR), which was, quite frankly, a disaster. It was very hot, poorly lit and appeared as if it was going to fall apart at any moment. Luckily, an entirely new airport is under construction at a different site.

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport (DKR) has seen better days.

My flight was scheduled to leave at 1:55am local time, so I was only expecting to see a deserted terminal with just a few other passengers waiting — I couldn’t have been more wrong. I quickly learned that flights arrive at and depart from West Africa at all hours of the day, so even though it was late, there were still crowds of people waiting to check in for their flights.

Even though it was just before midnight, the terminal was surprisingly busy, with many people checking in for departing flights.

I made my way over to the South African Airways Premium check-in line and waited for at least 30 minutes in line behind a family of six before I was able to check in. The process was pretty smooth once I made it to the desk though. The agent spoke perfect English, quickly found my reservation and printed my boarding pass. I was a little concerned, however, when I saw my bag being taken off the conveyor belt, thrown onto a cart and wheeled away, but when I arrived in Washington, D.C., it was there waiting for me. I think there might have just been a mechanical issue with the belt at DKR.

I was repeatedly told that taking photos in the terminal was “forbidden.”

Along with my boarding pass, I was given a hand-written entrance ticket to the Business Lounge at DKR.

My Business Lounge access pass had a decidedly retro look.

Upon entering the lounge, I was overjoyed to feel the air conditioning, given the oppressive humidity in the rest of the terminal. The lounge itself was fairly large, with plenty of red leather sofas and chairs. While the lounge overall was pretty outdated, I found the seats to be very comfortable for my hour-long visit.

There weren’t many lights on inside the lounge, but I enjoyed the air conditioning.

I was repeatedly told, even in the lounge, that photography was forbidden within the airport, so I wasn’t able to take a ton of photos. I did manage to get one of the refreshing Senegalese beer I enjoyed before boarding my flight.

A cold beer was exactly what I needed after my lengthy check-in experience.

Boarding

Boarding was scheduled to begin around 1:00am, so I headed to my gate by 12:55am, expecting to have just a few minutes to wait. As I arrived at the gate, I realized we wouldn’t be boarding on time, since the only employees there were actually security personnel — who patted down each and every passenger and inspected each carry-on bag one-by-one. It took me about 20 minutes to get through all of this.

Next, I discovered there was no advanced boarding for business-class passengers. While I don’t have much experience flying in business class, I figured I’d at least get to board before the passengers traveling in the economy cabin, but there was just one simple call, after which everyone in the gate area rushed forward, becoming part of a massive crowd.

After my boarding pass was scanned by the gate agent, I walked out onto the tarmac and got on the bus that would shuttle us to the aircraft. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for every single passenger to get on the one, very crowded bus, we finally headed to the massive A340-300 around 2:15am.

The Airbus A340 is an incredibly long, four-engine aircraft.

Not only was I very excited to get off the bus because it was very hot, but I was also very excited to be right there on the tarmac in front of such a huge plane — the largest I’ve been on to date. SAA’s livery looks beautiful on this very long plane — it’s a shame I wasn’t able to get this close to it when it was light out. Economy passengers boarded through the rear door, while business-class passengers entered through a door toward the front of the plane.

I boarded the A340 through the forward door.

Cabin and Seat

After being greeted by the friendly flight attendants, I made my way to my seat and was once again surprised by what I saw — a half-full business-class cabin with passengers still sleeping and others clearly just waking up after a nap. This was perfectly normal, given that this flight had just come in on its first leg from Johannesburg (JNB). I’ve just never been on a flight that was already in progress by the time I boarded.

The business-class cabin on South African Airways’ A340-300 consists of two separate cabins full of 38 lie-flat business-class seats arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. The majority of the seats are in the front section, while just 12 are located in the rear section.

The design of the cabin is dated, but the seats were comfortable.

Each seat is 23.7 inches wide and offers 73 inches of pitch. And all of them turn into fully lie-flat beds.

The business-class cabin is divided into one large cabin with a mini-cabin behind it.

A large pillow and bottle of water were waiting for me at my seat, 3K. Oddly enough, I was never given an amenity kit — I think because the flight attendants didn’t seem to know who the new passengers were and so many of the people who had already been on the flight were moving around the cabin.

I was assigned seat 3K, a window seat near the front of the cabin.

The seat was noticeably old, but I found it to be comfortable. I also had tons of legroom and couldn’t even reach the seat in front of me without getting up entirely. There was a small cubby at the bottom of the seat in front of me that I could fit my shoes in, which was very convenient.

I had to get out of my seat to reach the headphones that were stored in the seat-back pocket in front of me.

One of the things I liked about the seat was a pre-set ‘relax’ setting, which was perfect for eating and watching movies on the in-flight entertainment system. The seat controls were loud and the seat itself moved slowly, but I had no trouble getting comfortable.

Here’s the seat in ‘relax’ mode.

When fully flat, the seat made a nice, comfortable place to sleep for a few hours. One minor annoyance was the built-in headrest at the top of the seat, which put me in a slightly awkward sleeping position, but since I was so exhausted it didn’t seem to matter. These seats also aren’t the most private in the sky, with only a small divider between them (there was no one sitting next to me on this flight). The bedding kept me very warm throughout the flight.

I appreciated the nice bedding, but it was almost too warm.

Food and Beverage

Because of the odd timing of this flight, passengers who joined it in Dakar weren’t given a full meal service, just a snack that was likely served as an appetizer with the dinner the other passengers had received shortly after departing Johannesburg. I was very hungry and tired at the time, and frankly didn’t pay much attention to what I was eating. It all tasted fine, but the warm parts of the snack did have a sort of rubbery texture. I really enjoyed the glass of South African red wine I was served, and how it helped put me right to sleep.

The snack was underwhelming. The wine, however, was excellent.

While the snack wasn’t memorable, the omelette I had for breakfast was. This meal was served about 1.5 hours before we landed in DC, and came with a delicious piece of sausage — just what I needed after an exhausting night of traveling. I ordered a glass of orange juice and a strawberry danish, which was also excellent. This was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had on an airplane.

This photo really doesn’t do justice to how great that omelette tasted.

In-Flight Entertainment and Amenities

I have to concur with TPG’s thoughts on the in-flight entertainment on South African’s A340 aircraft: it’s slow, outdated and the screen itself is very small. I would have preferred to have it mounted somewhere in front of me instead of having to pull it out from the side, as it’s hard to have both the tray and the IFE screen out at the same time and can lead to accidental spills.

The screen and IFE system could use some updating.

The IFE screen looked like it belonged on a jet in the 1990s, not something you’d see today.

The screen was anything but high-definition.

Even though the screen itself was very outdated, the IFE system was loaded with a decent amount of content and I was able to find a movie to watch before I dozed off.

The IFE actually had a decent selection of movies to choose from.

The headphones provided were nothing to write home about, but they did the trick for the one movie I watched on the flight. They also have the dreaded (in my opinion) three-prong connection, which made it difficult to plug in without being able to see the jack.

The headphones weren’t equipped with noise-canceling technology either.

Like I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t given an amenity kit when I boarded, but I’d received one on my flight to Dakar in business-class aboard the airline’s A330, and it’s the same kit that’s found across the entire fleet. The list of products wasn’t extensive, but I liked the toiletries from Crabtree & Evelyn of London.

The contents of South African Airways’ business-class amenity kit.

Overall Impression

My experience aboard a South African Airways A340-300 was certainly different than TPG’s when he flew nonstop from New York (JFK) to Cape Town (CPT) via Johannesburg (JNB). Despite it being one of the most unconventional flights I’ve ever experienced, I was able to sleep comfortably in the lie-flat seat. The flight crew were extremely friendly and accommodating, always eager to help out if I needed anything. If you’re traveling between the US and West Africa, SAA provides a perfectly comfortable option as long as you’re aware of the peculiarities that come along with joining a flight that’s already begun in another city.

Have you ever flown in South African Airways’ business class aboard the A340-300? Tell us about your experience, below.

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footballghana · 4 years

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Remembering how George Weah’s Liberia nearly took Nigeria’s World Cup berth

If narrowly missing out on the 1990 World Cup felt like a missed opportunity for Liberia, 2002’s absence will have been a real kick in the teeth.

Both disappointing endings to promising qualifying campaigns may have been 12 years apart, yet they rankled and may well still do so in the West African nation.

For a country not used to finding itself in such promising situations often, the twin absences have gone down as massive opportunities missed to make their debut at the sport’s greatest showpiece.

The Lone Stars lost out at Egypt’s expense in 1989, while they failed to get the better of Nigeria at the start of the millennium. There were similarities in both failures too: the Liberians recovered from false starts, cobbled together a few good results mid-qualifying to put them on the brink, only to run out of steam at the finish line.

George Weah featured in both unsuccessful attempts, one at the start of his illustrious career and the latter in his mid-30s.

Liberia’s talisman scored what he hoped will be an important goal in the final game of Group B at Sierra Leone in 2001, but Nigeria’s resounding 3-0 success over West African neighbours Ghana threw a spanner in the works. The final standings had the Super Eagles on 16 points, a hair’s breadth in front of the lowly aspirants on 15.

For context, Cameroon in Group A finished on 19 points, six ahead of Angola. Tunisia (20) beat Ivory Coast by five points and South Africa ended with 16 points, four ahead of Zimbabwe in Groups D and E respectively. Senegal’s superior goal difference was what denied Morocco a plane ticket to Korea/Japan in 2002, as both sides in Group C ending 15 points apiece.

However, while it will have been the Atlas Lions’ fifth participation at the finals, and third on the spin, Liberia were gunning for a first elusive appearance, and had they succeeded, they would have been among the smallest countries to ever reach the grandest stage.

Interestingly, Weah netted just twice for the entirety of the qualifiers, in matchday five’s 2-0 success against Sudan and the final group encounter with Sierra Leone.

The former was responsible for a faulty start by the lowly West Africans, defeating the Lone Stars 2-0 in the opening group fixture. However, Liberia’s tenacity fired them to four straight wins and that doggedness took them top of the standings after matchday five.

That unforeseen run included successive wins over Nigeria and the Black Stars, before sealing it with an impressive 2-0 win against the Sudan team that got the better of them in the opening round of games. If anything, Liberia’s success showed how much they’d grown since the matchday one reverse.

After five games, Weah’s troops led the way with 12 points. The Super Eagles with seven points were trailing by five and a disappointing Ghana had mustered a sole win and two draws in their matches.

The Sudanese, on nine points, were joint-surprise packages alongside the group leaders, and it was that colossal triumph for the hosts at the National Complex in Monrovia that separated both sides atop Group B.

With three games to play, Liberia’s tails were up. Admittedly, they still had to come through two games against Nigeria and the Black Stars unscathed, still, there was reason to retain optimism nonetheless.

They held a three-point lead over Sudan, with a healthy goal difference to boot, while they’d already stunned Ghana 3-1 in Accra in round three. So, theoretically, all the Lone Stars had to do was avoid a heavy defeat at the hands of the Eagles, repeat the trick against Ghana, and pick up a win over bottom Sierra Leone.

Nigeria, with failure staring them in the face, turned the screw with a 2-0 win over Weah and his teammates to close the gap to two points in the hope that Liberia will cave…and they did.

The Black Stars defeated the group leaders 2-1 in Monrovia to pick up their first away win of the qualifying campaign, ending the Lone Stars’ three-game winning streak on home turf in the series.

Playing later in the day, the Super Eagles knew a win was non-negotiable in Sudan if they wanted to supplant the surprise leaders at that point. Jay-Jay Okocha scored with half-time approaching, then Yakubu netted twice either side of Julius Aghahowa’s strike to see to a whopping 4-0 victory. That turned out to be the Falcons of Jediane’s only blemish in Omdurman.

Going into the final matchday, the table had changed: Nigeria (13), Liberia (12), and Ghana (11) were the top three. The nation from Northeast Africa had nine points, so qualification was already out of reach.

The 1995 World and European Player of the Year netted as the Lone Stars defeated cellar-dwelling Sierra Leone 1-0 in Freetown and now hoped the seemingly resurgent Black Stars would do them a favour in what was billed to be a tight game in Port-Harcourt.

Nigeria, though, were in no mood to show their rivals mercy: three first-half goals at the Liberation Stadium by Victor Agali and a Tijani Babangida brace saw the hosts race into a 3-0 half-time lead, and en route to topping the group.

With three games to go, Liberia had been on course to register a truly historic qualification, only for their composure to desert them in the final three games.

Credit must go to Nigeria for exerting pressure with three wins on the spin, but Weah and co. just needed a win over the Black Stars to secure their nation a historic place in the global spectacle.

The upshot of their failure was one of Africa’s greatest players never featuring at the World Cup, and perhaps Weah still thinks about what might have been had the Lone Stars held their nerve in that clash with Ghana and denied Nigeria's magnificent generation their spot at the 2002 tournament.

Source: goal.com

source: https://footballghana.com/

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