Cape Coast Excursion

This past weekend, we went on a trip to Cape Coast, which is about three hours to the west of Accra. Jon, Kiki, and I, along with Catherine (one of the consultants at Manye) and our driver and friend Emanuel, left Saturday morning and arrived in Cape Coast around 2pm.

We parked right by the ocean and had lunch at a nice restaurant and got to go down and stick our feet in the water while waiting for our food. After lunch, we went to the Cape Coast castle, which was one of the major centers for the slave trade until the mid-19^th century. The site was originally a small fort built by the Portuguese (the first Europeans to arrive in West Africa, in the mid-1400s). The fort changed hands several times as Portugal lost its footing in West Africa in the mid-1600s. First it was taken by the Swedes, and then the Danes (who knew!) and then the British took the spot around 1660. It was then expanded into the moderate sized castle it is today. Here is a picture of Jon, Kiki, and I on the castle’s fortifications, overlooking the ocean.

It was certainly worth seeing. We had a good guide and got to walk through the slave chambers, hearing about how 200 people would be crammed inside for 2-3 months, with little ventilation or food, and with waste piling up around them. We certainly learned about the horrors of the slave trade during elementary school, and this added a new and important layer to understand the horrors of that time. It was also interesting to hear it from the African perspective. The cruelties of the colonialists still anger Ghanaians today, although there is very little resentment against contemporary Europeans.

And I was also able to ask our guide about the African side of the slave trade. The Ashanti Kingdom (which controlled most of what is Ghana today) became richer and more powerful through alliances with the Europeans. Networks of slave traders brought people from all over West Africa through this port, but most slaves were prisoners of war taken in battles against enemies of the Ashantis. And even Ashanti people who committed crimes would be sold into slavery into the New World. Only a small percentage would actually end up in America, I was interested to learn. One-third of all slaves sent across the Atlantic went to Brazil. A second third went to the Caribbean. They said that there were 1.2 million slaves sent to the United States during the slave trade era – which is a large number of people, but small in comparison to the overall slave population, which I think was over 33 million.

We stayed in Cape Coast over night and then on Sunday we went to Kakum National Park, which is nearby. It is one of the few surviving rainforests in West Africa. These incredible ecosystems used to dominate this region, but expanding populations and logging has reduced the rainforests to tiny islands dotting the various countries in the region.

The highlight was the canopy walk – a series of seven suspension bridges made of rope, wood planks, and maybe a little steel. It was completed by just 8 people in 1995. It takes you high up in the trees, around 30-40 meters (roughly 100 feet) over the forest floor. It was a beautiful way to see this incredible place, that is still home to bush elephants (smaller than their savannah cousins), monkeys, antelope, and a multitude of bird, butterfly, and tree species. We didn’t see any wildlife, but the trip was well worth it. The bridge shakes a lot as you walk on it, so many of my pictures came out blurry. Here is one I took that I think best captures the sense of being up there.

So after that, we left the park and drove home to Tema. It was a really great trip and I’m glad I got to explore a new part of Ghana, especially as my remaining time here is running short. So I hope everything is going well with you and I will talk to you soon.