Kakum National Park and Elmina Castle

On my second day in Cape Coast my buddy Kofi (the taxi driver) brought me to Kakum National Park. It's situated slightly less than an hour north of the Atlantic shores. I took the so called Canopy walk. With a group of about 20 persons we walked through thick forest, apparently two different kinds of forest because we were going uphill. We entered the rain forest. Beautiful. But it doesn't end there... After walking for another five or ten minutes (running one part because ants had decided to go for a stroll across the path and the guide said run run because you will never forget it if you are stung by those, apparently the ant crawl into places where it is difficult to reach, like around your waist, their bites are nasty)... anyways, we reached the highlight of the walk, or what can be best explained as terror for some; a 350 metres narrow bridge (think the size of ONE wooden board) with nets on both sides. That in itself may not sound so long, but now consider you are walking 40 metres above ground! People have turned around when seeing it, even though all went this time. Basically there are six bridges hanging in between seven massive beautiful trees. You are walking on boards where a grown up can just put two feet next to each other, if you for some odd reason would like to do that, i kept one in front of the other! There is beutiful forest beneath your feet, and you have trees over your head, in the distance. Gorgeous. But i have to admit that it was not very pleasant in the beginning...The guide asked if i wanted to go first. and i thought i might as well get it overwith... No don't get me wrong i wanted to do it, the landscape is amazing, but being up there i once again got it confirmed how small we humans are as well as vulnerable. It was not until the fourth bridge was crossed that i could relax. I had enjoyed the view from the tree platforms, but not from the wiggly bridges. I tried though, but realised i had better focus on the next platform. This was (another) test. I'm already aware i'm not a big fan of heights, but i'd seen the pictures and i thought i have to try. I did and i survived! What doesn't kill you make you stronger, right? I'm glad i did it, but i have no desire to do it again! At least not in the same place...
Afterwards we drove to Hans Botel; a lake with poles sticking up and there is a restaurant and hotel built upon it... In the lake there are crocodiles, the ones i saw were about two metres or so long, part from the babies then. Me and Kofi walk around the place when i see a crocodile laying about seven metres away from us, mouth open, he was resting. At first i thought it wasn't real, but Kofi confirmed it was. Nice. Seven metres. We turn around and sit down at a table together with some friends of his, one of them works there, she's responsible for the crocodiles. While sitting there trying to solve my camera issue i see a crocodile coming up from the water just a few metres ahead and it's walking right towards us. Right. "Eeeh, excuse me, there is a crocodile coming towards us". Now that's a sentence you don't say everyday! The woman responsible for these creatures tell him to stop, to lay down, which he to my surprise did! The crocodile now lays about three metres from our table. One of the men suggest i touch it. "Oh i'd love to, but i have got enough adrenalin kicks for today" and then i told him about the hanging bridges. Not listening. He suggested he would walk up to it first, and then i could touch it, when i saw it's alright. Sure. He walked up to the crocodile, but when bending forward the reptile swiftly turns around and face him. Wow. The man took a few steps back, towards the tail and then tried again. No. The crocodile didn't agree and once again turn to face the man. He came back to the table. I laughed and said "so now you want me to go up to him after you have aggrevated him?!" The crocodile then started to walk towards us, and the woman in charge picked up a long stick and hit him on the nose. She said he is hungry. Oh nice. Luckily he turned around and placed himself a full three metres away from us. Grumpy creature.
It was time for lunch and on today's menu, suggested by Kofi, consisted of bushmeat, or grasscutter as it is called locally. It is served in a spicy soup, tender meat, strong "wild" taste, tasty. I told him i have heard it is a kind of a rat, and he said westerners normally describe it as such but why would Africans eat rat? He added that everyone knows the Chinese do that, not the Africans... I find it very interesting to hear about peoples' prejudices. That said, i am aware i too have prejudices, even if i try hard to become aware; it's a work in progress. Kofi had bushmeat as well. When i started eating i caught him looking at me, smiling. It was tasty. He thought the soup would be too strong for me, i might get stomach problems... Since i was going to Elmina castle afterwards i decided to take his advice. All of a sudden i hear a crunching sound. I asked him if he was eating the bones? He gives me a big smile while saying yes. "I don't know why you westerners don't." I told him neither do i, we just don't. I had no bone in my piece, but he said it is very good, strong rich flavour. Crunch. Crunch.
In Ghana you wash your right hand before and after eating (you eat with your right hand only). They bring a bowl with water, liquid soap is normally already in a bottle on the table. We washed our hands, paid and left. The place we went to is called a chop bar, best described as a local eating place. Much cheaper than a regular restaurant. I paid five Cedis for both, in best cases you get a meal for one person for that price excluding drinks.
We then went to Elmina; a fishing and salt producing village situated about 8 km west of Cape Coast. Along the coast lay pirogues; colourful long canoe shaped fishing boats, in them sit the fishermen mending their nets... It's a pretty little village, a bit worn down though but it is after all about 700 years old. But as we all do it has a past, the first thing is it used to be the core of the west African gold trade (cocoa was for a very long time the prime export good for Ghana, but has quite recently been overtaken by gold). The second is the Elmina Castle, a slave castle built by the Portuguese in 1482, and is apparently the oldest extant colonial building in sub-saharan Africa. Even if it looks very different from its original design. Later it was taken over by the Dutch, who among others converted the Portuguese chapel to an auction hall for slaves. Today it's a museum focusing on local history rather than the slave trade. I found it difficult to understand the guide unfortunately. He seemed very upset. I thought this tour was less good than the one in Cape Coast. Outside the castle young men approached me, but Kofi was walking beside me so no worries. Even the parking guard said to me "do not under any circumstances speak to these men". They were trying to sell things like bracelets, but what they normally want is money, your number and/or your address. Nevertheless, i find it impossible not to be affected by a place like this. Awful past. May it never happen again.
Another day had passed in this beautiful part of Ghana. I was considering to stay there longer. I found it to be a more relaxed athmosphere and the majestic Atlantic ocean is close... Water is powerful.

Cape Coast Castle

After a night of hardly any sleep due to people singing halleluja and chanting around the corner of my hotel i was more than happy to leave Accra for Cape Coast. It is a beautiful area, think white beaches and palm trees... But it has a dark history. I found a cheap guesthouse just outside Cape Coast, away from the noise... I slept like a princess both nights. But first things first. After arriving i had a nice lunch and dozed off in a chair... Then i decided to go out. Whenever a guest has to go somewhere they call a taxi driver named Kofi (which means he was born on a Friday). He was a nice relaxed person, and a good driver! He brought me to an internet cafe and afterwards i went for a short walk to Cape Coast Castle. Today it is a World Heritage Site but once it is supposed to have been one of the largest slave-holding sites in the world during the colonial era. The Ashantes (ethnic group from the Kumasi region) traded Ghanaians to the British and in return they got alcohol and guns. The captives were placed in the castles' dungeons before they were placed on ships heading mainly to South America (Brazil in particular), but also North America to some extent. The Swedes constructed the original building in Cape Coast in 1653. However, it was made out of wood and they soon realised it wouldn't last in this climate, with the Atlantic at its doors... Today there is nothing left of the wooden building. Instead, there is a gigantic white and to me beautiful stone building. But knowing what has happened inside those walls sure removes the good feeling you may get when first laying an eye on the building. After the Swedes came the Danes, then the British in 1665. Before joining a guided tour i visited the museum where one can read about the origin and how the slave trade worked but also how it later inspired leaders such as Martin Luther King. Then it was time for the tour. It was... rich. Rich in information, rich in emotions and by just being in a place with such a dark past is overwhelming at times. It was approximately 15 persons in the group and i was the only white. As you know, being in Ghana has made me and my surroundings very aware of my skin colour. But the athmosphere walking around the castle, it got a bit difficult at times and i was close to tears several times. When we entered the last room, a dungeon, i saw the marks of the chains which the prisoners were attached to... The persons who had been placed in this dungeon would never get out of there alive. They were sentenced to death. No water. No food. The air in this small room (with only one small window facing the court yard) was very bad. Standing still. Today there was only one door to the room, but when the castle was in use for slave trade it had three doors. The air supply was in other words even worse then. And i was in there for less than five minutes... The guide was brilliant though. When standing in that room he suggested we all would take our neighbours' hands while taking 20 seconds to think about the people who had suffered in this place. Looking at the floor before closing my eyes i saw the chain marks.
We walked out, all taken by the tour. The guide finished the tour by stopping in front of a sign on the wall that in words recognise what has happened here in Cape Coast. He said: the castle is not here to create bad relations between people, it is here to remind us that we can never let such cruelty happen again. Ever. We thanked him.
I called Kofi the taxi driver and went outside to wait for him. I was approached by so many people, mostly young men and that is difficult as it is but after this tour it was too much. I came up with the brilliant idea to call Carles, and that did the trick. Kofi arrived and drove me back to the nice and comfortable guesthouse and i thought about my first day in Cape Coast.