We arrived in Bolgatanga, one of the region’s main cities, early this afternoon after some more gruelling bus rides. Roads seem to be less developed in this part of the country, and that pretty much goes along with the fact that it’s one of the most deprived areas. One statistic I heard was that 75% of people in the North are living in poverty. Looking out at the passing landscape, there was evidence of this. The scene was a lot more barren and, while in Accra most homes are solidly-constructed in concrete or brick, most of the houses I saw from the bus were traditional mud-huts with thatched roofs.

When we arrived we met our host Moses, a local guy of about 23 years, who was well-dressed and impressive in his speech. He’s been working with Kwame for quite some time, and the basis of his current project was a workshop on “Peace Building and Conflict Resolution for Development” in Accra which was organised by GYAN a few months ago. It was very relevant to him, since the Northern region has been plagued by tribal conflict in recent years. There have been intervening periods of fragile peace, like the situation at the moment, but it only takes something small to flare things up again. For example, the last time a major confrontation took place, it was all started off by a dispute between schoolboys.

How are Moses’ projects linked to sustainable development? That was a big question for me, since I couldn’t see a direct link. The answer: you can’t have development without peace. Unless people are getting on with each other and not fighting, there will be no progress on anything like that. In the other parts of Ghana we visited, they’re lucky enough not to have this hurdle to overcome; the people are at peace and so can fully concentrate on development issues. Here, it is a different story. Kwame was telling me that, unless you’ve visited the North, you haven’t seen the real Ghana – both in terms of the way people live and the projects going on up here.

The weather is also very different: hotter. Today I think we missed out on the daily heatwave, but tomorrow is going to be another matter. Unlike in Accra and everywhere else I’ve been so far, I think there will be less breeze to ease the punishing temperatures. So we’re going to try and get the filming done as quickly as possible.

We arrived in Bolgatanga, one of the region’s main cities, early this afternoon after some more gruelling bus rides. Roads seem to be less developed in this part of the country, and that pretty much goes along with the fact that it’s one of the most deprived areas. One statistic I heard was that 75% of people in the North are living in poverty. Looking out at the passing landscape, there was evidence of this. The scene was a lot more barren and, while in Accra most homes are solidly-constructed in concrete or brick, most of the houses I saw from the bus were traditional mud-huts with thatched roofs.

When we arrived we met our host Moses, a local guy of about 23 years, who was well-dressed and impressive in his speech. He’s been working with Kwame for quite some time, and the basis of his current project was a workshop on “Peace Building and Conflict Resolution for Development” in Accra which was organised by GYAN a few months ago. It was very relevant to him, since the Northern region has been plagued by tribal conflict in recent years. There have been intervening periods of fragile peace, like the situation at the moment, but it only takes something small to flare things up again. For example, the last time a major confrontation took place, it was all started off by a dispute between schoolboys.

How are Moses’ projects linked to sustainable development? That was a big question for me, since I couldn’t see a direct link. The answer: you can’t have development without peace. Unless people are getting on with each other and not fighting, there will be no progress on anything like that. In the other parts of Ghana we visited, they’re lucky enough not to have this hurdle to overcome; the people are at peace and so can fully concentrate on development issues. Here, it is a different story. Kwame was telling me that, unless you’ve visited the North, you haven’t seen the real Ghana – both in terms of the way people live and the projects going on up here.

The weather is also very different: hotter. Today I think we missed out on the daily heatwave, but tomorrow is going to be another matter. Unlike in Accra and everywhere else I’ve been so far, I think there will be less breeze to ease the punishing temperatures. So we’re going to try and get the filming done as quickly as possible.

Our visit to Cape Coast yesterday is going to be the last leisure activity of this whole trip. Today it’s back to work; we’re travelling all the way to the other side of Ghana to visit projects in the Northern region. Right now I’m in the waiting room of one of the main bus stations in Kumasi; BBC News 24 is on quietly in the background and the surrounding benches each contain a sleeping person. Direct services to Bolgatanga only run on some days, so we’re using a different route. Maybe I don’t really mind that, even though it takes slightly longer – sitting for 14 or 15 hours in the same spot can be a numbing experience, mentally and physically.

I thought it would be better to relax in the day and travel at night, rather than spending the whole day in buses. Will write again tomorrow when we’ve arrived.

Our visit to Cape Coast yesterday is going to be the last leisure activity of this whole trip. Today it’s back to work; we’re travelling all the way to the other side of Ghana to visit projects in the Northern region. Right now I’m in the waiting room of one of the main bus stations in Kumasi; BBC News 24 is on quietly in the background and the surrounding benches each contain a sleeping person. Direct services to Bolgatanga only run on some days, so we’re using a different route. Maybe I don’t really mind that, even though it takes slightly longer – sitting for 14 or 15 hours in the same spot can be a numbing experience, mentally and physically.

I thought it would be better to relax in the day and travel at night, rather than spending the whole day in buses. Will write again tomorrow when we’ve arrived.

Since we got back to Accra at about 11pm last night after a draining experience, the order of today was relaxation.

Before I arrived in Ghana, Emmanuel had old me about one of the country’s main tourist (ugh) attractions in the city of Cape Coast where he is studying. So Kwame and I took a bus there at around midday. It had no opening windows or air conditioning, the perfect recipe for two hours of sweaty discomfort as the vehicle rattled down half-finished dusty roads.

When we neared the city our conditions became slightly more bearable: the road ran parallel to the coastline, a safe distance away from the risk of flooding but close enough for us to enjoy views of the palm-lined beach. It would have been so nice to dive in and escape from the sweltering ride, but our destination was not the seaside. And at any rate, this was no paradise. Stretches of poor housing lay only metres from the water for long periods, surrounded by accumulated junk and rubbish. What a typical site these days: outstanding natural beauty ruined by hideous man-made construction.

Another, more well-ventilated, bus journey took us from the town centre to Kakum National Park – site of Africa’s only treetop canopy walk. Built in only six months with assistance from Canadian expert climbers, the walk consists of seven shaky rope bridges of the kind you normally see in Indiana Jones films stretching over huge canyon drops. Not everyone’s idea of fun, but I thought the walk was spectacular.

We only just managed to get in, after arriving ten minutes late of the park closing time. It would have been tragic to come all the way from Accra and be turned away at the gates, I’m very glad that didn’t happen. We had a guide to take us along the rote, which involved some steep climbs and nervous moments on the first bridge before I got used to it.

Looking down from any of the raised platforms in between bridges, you could hardly see the ground. Sadly there were no animals around at this time of day – they are moved to another area of the park away from people – but the air was filled with sounds of rainforest insect life.

I was transfixed by the scenery. During our travels around Ghana for the last two weeks I have seen a lot of this kind of thing, but having an aerial view is completely different to being on ground level. The forest is vast. Green treetops of all kinds stretched as far as the eye could see. I wouldn’t want to get lost in there.

That was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to Ghana. I’ll never forget those views, the vast, untouched natural beauty of the rainforest. One of the worst crimes on this planet is cutting down this kind of landscape to make fast-food packaging; at the rate this happens, before long our world will be devoid of all its splendour and we’ll be left with nothing.