Not to be confused with the multi-restaurant entertainment complex of the same name in Accra, Afrikiko is an upmarket resort on the banks of the Volta river, an area perfect for a weekend break from the city or for an overnight stay on the way to the deeper Volta region. Considerable care has been taken over the garden, whose winding paths and flowerbeds lead past an L-shaped pool to a wooden pontoon on the riverbank.

Depending on your disposition, chief among Afrikiko’s problems is noise. The sound system rarely lets up at weekends, pouring out azonto and house music during the day, and syrupy Western ballads at night. It sits a little oddly with the upmarket positioning and tranquil location — Afrikiko is arguably at its best in the quiet of the morning, when you can sip coffee as the river chugs by and yellow-billed kites fish for tilapia.

Still, there is a competent kitchen serving stir-fries, pizzas and the usual Ghanaian specialties, and the pool area, its surrounding patio shaded by thatch-covered tables and arbors, is a lovely spot. Accommodation is clean, and the bedrooms in the executive cottages are tastefully decorated, with dark wooden floors, petal-strewn four-posters, and art on the walls. Only the bathrooms let them down — our door didn’t shut properly, and the drab tiled shower, powered by an ugly mess of pipes, offered the barest trickle.

Activities are plentiful – guests can get out on the river on a range of boats, play table tennis by the pool, or hire a taxi up to the Volta Dam, Ghana’s showpiece post-independence engineering project.