Cape Coast

This last weekend we left Accra and drove to the Central Region of Ghana to Cape Coast. We stayed in a nice hotel overlooking the ocean (!!!) and were all kinda hoping for our first hot showers in a month but most of us didn't get it...

On Saturday the program broke into 2 groups and visited either the Cape Coast or Elmina Castle. I chose to go to the Cape Coast Castle. Both of these historical sites were major slave trade centers during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and "housed" slaves before they were taken on the ships to the Carribbean, South America, and the "New World." We started in the castle museum, which had displays about early Ghanaians, the rise of European power, and the subsequent slave trade that captured Africans from all areas of western Africa to be brought to designated shipping posts. The museum display that amazed me the most was of the actual chains and shackles used to capture and immobilize slaves as they were brought to the castles and kept there while awaiting deportation. The tour began in a dark dungeon, which housed all the male slaves, sometimes as many as 1,000 at once. Slaves were made to sleep, eat, urinate, and defecate in the same room, often without enough room to sit down. Several feet above the dungeon floor there are security windows, which allowed the guards to spy on the slaves at all times. All human excrements were pushed into a tiny canal that piled up in one of the walls, and at the time created a terrible smell. Conditions were very similar in the female slave dungeon.

The tour guide led us through tunnels that slaves were forced to travel through to the ships that would take them away from Africa, and eventually led us to the "Door of No Return." This is the door that allowed slaves to get from the castle to the ship. When the guide led us into the condemned cell (where slaves were sent to be killed), he showed all of our tour (about 60 people) into the small, suffocatingly hot, and completely dark dungeon, and then turned off the lights. He told us that numerous slaves were taken into the dungeon at a time, and none of the corpses were removed until every last person had died. We spent about 5 minutes in there before everyone wanted to get out, and were told that some slaves had spent several months there.

The setting of the castle is deceiving. It's a beautiful, well-constructed white castle that sits on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and looks out onto the town of Cape Coast and the boating regions. It's absolutely beautiful. When we travelled to the top of the castle to see the Governor's Office (where women were taken to be sexually assaulted and raped) it was weird to see the amazing quarters he had and his view of the Atlantic. It was completely contradictory to the true nature of the castle, and had a very eery feeling about it.

Following the visit, our program held a debriefing conversation to allow people to talk about their experiences and anything they felt while they were in the castles. The entire group was exhausted by the end but I think everyone took something very meaningful from the experience.

On Sunday we drove to Kakum National Park to do the canopy walks!!! By far one of the best things we've done in Ghana. There are 7 canopy walks probably about 100 feet off of the ground in the middle of the rainforest, and from the walkways you can see miles away. That was definitely an Africa moment, when you realize exactly where you are and how vast and beautiful it is. The adrenalin during that walk was amazing, and we even got to see a monkey running through the trees. We have some ridiculous pictures!

This weekend a bunch of us are making the looonng trip up to Mole National Park to see the elephants!!! (and a ton of other animals but I'm really excited about the elephants!!!) I'm trying to avoid all the transportation of coming home and just pick one up and ride it back to Accra. I hope that works.

*** I just read a travel warning that said that warthogs often raid the trash cans at the campsites, so we should be careful about the food we discard. AHHHHH THAT'S AMAZING!!!