In Search of the Perfect Wood Carver

A week ago Saturday we went to Aburi. Like many of our trips the point of this journey was to find the ever elusive perfect wood carver. Since we all have to take home the perfect memento we all look for the most skilled wood carver to create it for us. Each couple has their favorite. The preferred wood carver has shifted from Wisdom (yes that is his name) to Sam to Richard to Able, who resides in Aburi. Accordingly, the trip was worth it no matter how long or how far.


The wood carvers' craft.

Living in Accra you get the feeling that all of Ghana is flat. Aburi is about 55 kilometers from Accra and is in the mountains. On the way we encountered fog, a climatic condition I didn’t think existed here. There were multiple side of the road fruit stands. It kind of reminds you of driving up U.S. 89 in Davis and Weber Counties into Box Elder County in the fall in Utah except the pineapples, mangos, papayas and the bananas are better here. In any event we arrived at Aburi and found it to be the home of the actual wood carvers.


Actual wood carvers in Aburi, Ghana.

In the other markets you get the impression that the people you are dealing with are the middle men, used car salesmen who are between jobs, and that the actual wood carvers are in the back someplace, maybe as far in the back as China, but you never believe you see an actual person who cares wood. For all we know it could all have been imported from Camp Steiner in the Utah mountains. In Aburi you get to see people actually carving wood. While there are naturally some other shops selling clothes and trinkets most of the shops feature carved wood.


Checking out the merchandise.

In “the pit” and the Makola market there is some minimal sense of order in that there are paths between the shops but no uniformity otherwise. In Aburi the city fathers obviously had a plan. Each shop keeper has a section in the concrete buildings which gives the place a certain amount of order.


Shops at Aburi.

As with all the other places the owners are willing to make a deal with you, “how much you want to pay” is the reply after you say “too much.” After the opening bid from one of the shop keepers I borrowed a line from my father-in-law “you must be the richest man in the whole market” which brought a broad knowing smile from the shop keeper and a certain bond between the negotiators. We did have to buy some trinkets to make the trip worthwhile but so far we have not found the perfect wood carver. We know he is out there. We will keep searching until we find him even if we have to extend our mission to do it.


Closing the deal.


The shop keeper's daughter.



The finished product.



The real workshop at Aburi.