10/18/08
Today was such a wonderful day--we planned and packed it full of activities. Yesterday, we made arrangements with Ali, the taxi driver who took us from (the pink) Sammo Hostel to Cape Coast Castle, to take us around ALL DAY today. It was a pretty sweet deal ($45 split between us 4 girls for 8 hours).
After a delicious breakfast at Sammo's (cooked by Essey), we rode to Kakum National Park, where we ran into our friend Caroline (from Penn State) and her dad, uncle, and uncle's flight attendant friend. It was SO refreshing to spend time with American adults and parents!
We hiked up to the canopy walk and walked across 7 suspension bridges over the forest's beautiful canopy tops. It was beautiful and we saw some breathtaking views!
More info on Kakum (what would we do without Wikipedia?):
Kakum National Park is one of the best known national parks in Ghana; it is in the southern part of Ghana, in what is known as the Central Region. The Park was first established in 1990 from an area of 350 square kilometers to the north of Cape Coast and Elmina near the small town of Abrafo. The entire area is covered with tropical rain forest. The park has a unique tourist attraction: the only round tour over a hanging bridge in the forest canopy level in all of Africa. The Canopy Walkway passes over 7 bridges and runs over a length of 330 meters.
After sweating and swinging and completing the canopy walk, we went to a crocodile restaurant that was build on stilts, for lunch. The restaurant is built on top of a marshy swamp filled with all sizes of crocs. After lunch, Kenz and I braved it enough to PET a crocodile---crazy, I know. It might have been one of the scariest things I've done here so far.
We traveled about an hour back into the Cape Coast area to visit Elmina Castle. Elmina and Cape Coast Castle were two of the largest slave castles during the Transatlantic/Triangular (slave) trade. Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine) Castle, also known simply as Mina or Feitoria da Mina) in present-day Elmina, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast). It was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea, so is the oldest European building in existence below the Sahara. First established as a trade settlement, the castle later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Dutch seized the fort from the Portuguese in 1637, and took over all the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1642. The slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1871 when the fort became a possession of the British Empire. Britain granted the Gold Coast its independence in 1957, and control of the castle was transferred to the nation formed out of the colony, present-day Ghana (Wikipedia).
In my words, the Portuguese came to Ghana, in search of gold on the "Gold Coast", in the 15th century and began trading goods, such as weaponry and spices for gold, which eventually involved the trading of humans: slaves. The castle served as a trading post. The Dutch heard about the Portuguese ruling, grew jealous, and came to the Coast, eventually ruling the Castle, followed by the British, until the English abolished slavery. The castle held at least 1,000 slaves at a time.
The tour of Elmina Castle (bigger and prettier view than Cape Coast) was much more detailed. One of the things that stuck out to me the most was when Richard, our tour guide, led us into the women's dungeon. He explained that the women were held captive there for up to 3 months at a time there where they had to defecate, urinate, menstruate, eat, drink, and sleep (well, that is only when they were actually given food and water) in the same room. I seriously cannot fathom the horrid conditions. He pointed out that the room still lingered with the horrible stench from human waste.
Before the tour, I didn't realize how common it was for the Governor of a slave castle to have "relations" with his "chosen" female slaves. Our guide showed us to the set of stairs that led to a trap door, linking the staircase to the Governor's living quarters. The women that got pregnant were immediately shipped off to America and were warned to never return. The guide said that this was the origin of "mulatto" babies.
One of the rooms that I will remember the most was the slave trading room, where slaves stood as they were auctioned off to European buyers. Slaves were auctioned off at whatever price the Europeans could pay--in spices, guns, etc. Could you imagine being auctioned off for the rest of your life?
After touring Elmina Castle, we set off for Anomabo Beach Resort (Becca went with her parents last weekend and raved about how beautiful it was).
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