Revellers throng beaches to cool off
Beaches, particularly those in Accra, are often the destination for holidaymakers when the opportunity presents itself, and during the Easter holidays, they showed up in their numbers.
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Since 2021, the post COVID-19 era, attendance at the beaches have been fluctuating but this Easter most of the beach revellers returned, with most of the beaches in Accra witnessing a very impressive patronage.
Families and individuals from different parts of the country visited the beaches to relax and to participate in various activities and outdoor games. During a five-day visit to some of the beaches, the Daily Graphic observed that the beaches were not only packed during the day but even at night, with some revellers entertaining themselves from Thursday evening to Friday morning.
As early as 11 a.m. on Good Friday, revellers started queueing at the La Pleasure Beach and the Laboma Beach to pay gate fees while others who had been there the previous night started leaving.
The Borla Beach behind the Black Star Square was, however, closed to the public due to some construction works. This mounted more pressure on the facilities at the beaches at La.
The Akapoko beach close to the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel also became a centre of attraction for many people as the gate fee was relatively lower compared to the La Pleasure and the Laboma beaches.
While there were no organised fun activities at the Akapoko beach, hundreds of revellers who visited the place mainly engaged in football, while others only swam as there were no mini canopies mounted for relaxation.
Activities
Activities such as horse riding, barbecue, quad biking on the shores, musical jams, football, among other games, took place at the beaches. The various pubs at the La Pleasure Beach had a variety of entertainment with musical gigs dominating.
The Laboma Beach on the other hand commenced the holidays with a “Sand and Waves” Easter bash from March 30 which featured face painting, sip and paint, among other fun games for children.
Beach costume vendors, food and beverage sellers, as well as drivers on various ride hailing services took advantage of the numbers to cash in, leading to a gridlock on the La-Teshie road.
The Administrator of the Laboma Beach, Jonas Nikoi, attributed the increase in the number of revellers to the various individual investments such as the Alora Beach Resort and others that had been made at the beach.
He added that the beach sold more tickets compared to previous years. He disclosed that since the beach was a family beach, many of the revellers brought in their own food, a situation which reduced patronage of food while increasing that of beverages.
Revellers
A reveller, Richmond Oduro, who had come all the way from Lapaz, said he decided to visit the beach for relaxation at night because he had spent more time at church and at home during the Good Friday.
Anastasia Anikey, on the other hand, said she had come to the beach to have fun and reconnect with a few of her senior high school mates. On why she chose the beach over any other place, she simply said they were tired of visiting eateries in the capital and wanted a feel of the sea breeze since it was warm.
“The weather has been very warm and so apart from coming to the beach for a change with regard to spending time with the family, it is also a better place to cool off with the sea breeze,” Miss Anikey said, a reason also given by many of the other revellers interviewed.
