I lived in Ghana (Accra) for 6 months in 1997, so my experiences may be a little dated by now.
I would agree with most of what William has written - the headlines don't change that much - but would add/augment the following.
1/ Africa is a big big big continent, and Ghana is a very large country. If you are thinking of taking in other countries then you need to think very carefully about travel times, travel reliability, visa and entry requirements - you would need a multiple entry Visa for Ghana which would increase the cost substantially, etc...I would recommend if this is your first time to stay in one country until you have experience of 'the African' way of doing things.
2/ If you are taking trips out then talk to the hotel about getting a driver - do not drive yourself (the roads are bad, and if you hit something/someone, there could be big trouble - there is no guarantee that the rule of law will hold). It is also worth getting a driver that can provide advice on when, where you can take pictures and, also, help in getting permission to take pictures from local people).
3/ Places to look at:
a/
Aburi botanical Gardens - These are to the north of Accra and were created in conjunction with the help of kew Botanical Gardens in London. In the same vicinity there is a large woodcraft village where locals make quite intricate carvings (for which Ghana is quite famous). I would check carefully that your purchases can be imported into your home country as some of the wood may be on prohibited lists - though I believe that they are more attuned to what can be exported.
b/ All along the cost from Accra to Port Tema can be quite pretty - especially around Elmina. As William pointed out Elmina castle is worth a visit (also there is a church on the hill opposite if I remember with good views). Worth being here for sunset. The tour guide gave a bit of a hard sell on the Slavery side of things, but if you have read any history on the subject it is nothing that will give you goosebumps.
c/ Kakum National Park - this is to the noth of Elmina. We did visit here, but didn't find too much to make hay with. Perhaps because we picked up a local from the side of the road that promised to track down some elephants for us, however, after 15 minutes of tracking in the jungle he turned back because he was afraid to be attacked by tigers!!!
d/ Somewhere near Accra are the
coffin makers - funerals are big business in Ghana and there are a number of manufacturers of speciallity coffins which catch the eye as you drive past.
e/Port Tema is more picturesque than Accra, though was very run down. Though if you go north of Tema towards Kumasi you will pass through the gold fields. The countryside around here is much more mountainous. You can't go into the gold mines themselves, but I do remember a roadside stop in the mining town where there were monkey's and interesting picture opportunities.
f/ Kumasi is the main Ashanti town. The Ashanti's are well known for there coloured fabrics and the town has one of the largest markets in Africa. There may be some opportunities around here though I didn't have much time to stop other than five minutes to poke head out of the van.
g/ I had some friends go up to Mole national park where they claimed to see Elephants - you may or may not get lucky.
h/ Lake Volta and the Akosombo Dam is a long drive from Accra - and if you have seen one dam, you have seen the template for many others. This one doesn't rate highly on the picture-o scale.
Other things to watch out for in Ghana that are not place specific:
1/ There is a veritable cornucopia of wildlife that you may not see anywhere else. As a for instance, we came across two tracks of soldier ants where (using there own bodies) they had created tunnels about 5 cm wide and 2 cm high, through which the worker ants were carrying leaves and other stuff. One night there was an explosion in the population of big flying bugs due to rainfall earlier in the day. The bugs did there thing that night and died by the next morning - but during the night the sky was thick with buzzy things.
2/ Whilst the towns and cities you will see relative wealth, in the countryside you will come across extreme poverty - i.e. of the no electricity, no running water variety (however, the probably will have a mobile phone ;-) If documenting this is your thing then there are plenty of photo opportunities. The North of the country is much poorer than the South, the North is Muslim Vs Christian in the South (though these to points are not correlated) - implication is that there is perhaps some interesting stuff up north, but no-one goes there except very few NGOs.
last advice - make sure that you get all your vaccinations and take some basic medicine with you (not always available). Be prepared for some rather un-inspired food, dark/early nights, and poor noisy air-conditioning.
Have a good holiday and show us some piccies when you get back - unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me so would be nice to see how it looks now.
