Cape Coast is just one of those places you have to
visit when visiting Ghana. It has a different feel than Accra, probably because
it contains of some of the country’s most historical sites including Cape Coast
Castle and Elmina Castle. It’s about a three hour drive from Accra and isn’t as
crowded but it is just as busy. I arrived in Cape Coast by bus (can I also say
that the coach service to get across Ghana is pretty good) really late on a Friday
evening. After being stranded for a few hours because all the hotels were fully
booked, feeling tired and hungry, I asked the taxi driver just to take me to any
hotel because at that point I was even ready to go back to his place and crash
for the night. Luckily,he ended up finding a reasonably priced hotel not too
far from town.
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| Family of three and their 'home' across the hotel |
The next day, I happened to meet someone in my hotel
and as we got chatting he asked if I wanted to use his friend who was a personal
chauffeur to show me around Cape Coast which I was really chuffed by. I know I
shouldn’t trust strangers, but judging by half the things I got up to in Ghana,
this was calm. The driver/friend first took me to Kakum National Park where the
guide told us about the history of the park and I was able to do the famous
canopy walk.
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| En route to Kakum National Park |
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| Doing the Canopy Walk |
It was seven bridges and each one took you higher and higher giving
you amazing treetop views of the forest which was brilliant!
The driver then took me to Cape Coast Castle.
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| Parts of the castle |
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| Male slave dungeon |
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| Female slave dungeon |
To see
what was left of the castle that served as a port for millions of Africans
leaving Africa through the ‘door of no return’ was really emotional.
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| Once the prisoners left walked out of 'the door of no return' the ships would be waiting for them this side |
Our tour guide
himself got teary as he explained the conditions the slaves were kept in as we
went into their cells including the one believed to belong to the Queen Mother
Yaa Asantewaa.
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| Some of the shackles used recovered from the castle |
It was a bit of an eerie moment but he was very informative. I
was really impressed with also how well the Ghanaians had kept this part of
their history alive and maintained it enough to have a regular stream of
tourists to not just the castle, but the city.
Oh yea, and the driver took me all the way back to
Accra J and even bought me the sweetest pineapple I've ever tasted along the side of the road.
