Weekend 5 weeks Ago: Cape Coast, Elmina, Kakum

Cape Coast in the central region of Ghana is a popular destination for tourists. Old European castles, the last stop on the African side of the slave trade, have been turned into museums. Slavery existed in Western Africa before the Europeans, but the conditions for the slaves rapidly deteriorated after the Europeans' arrival. Chiefs sold and delivered their slaves to castles like those in Cape Coast and Elmina.

The dungeons were creepy. On entry, the guide turned off the light. I swear you could feel ghosts bumping into you. Three dungeons just like the one to left were in the Cape Coast Castle. In total, 200 or more men crammed into these spaces where sleep, defecation, urination, and eating happened. The slaves remained here for months, awaiting the ships to arrive. Unimaginably, some survived this experience.

See the small cave in the wall near the ceiling? It was a lookout point for the spy. If slaves incited trouble, the lookout would inform the wardens. Instigators were either tortured or all were deposited in a smaller dungeon where they were left to starve/dehydrate to death.

Slaves exited through the Door of No Return onto a plank to board the slavers' vessels. To prevent runaways, a small panel was opened for the slaves who had to crawl through it one at a time.

I lucked out at Elmina. It was the annual Fante Bakatue Festival!!! It is a 6-day celebration of the 77 Gods of the land. The first night the gods run through the street, but all Fhanaians must not look. The next 4 days, the different Fante villages compete against each other in sports. The final day is the pan-festival day (this is the day I saw it). Everyone meets in Elmina by St.George's Castle.

The streets were filled with dancers like the one to the left. Children either joined in the dance, but some young ones were terrified!



All the Fante Chiefs came to the PanFestival fully garbed in traditional clothing and headgear. It was clear why Ghana was part of the Gold Coast! During the day cultural performances entertained the chiefs. At the end, there was a long procession, four men carrying the chiefs and their wives through the streets of Elmina we waved them bye-bye!

Pretty, pretty, fisherman boats line the estuaries of Elmina. Bright in color, each is decorated with different pictures, sayings, flags, and more.

Below is the view of Elmina from the Fort. St George's Castle [big white building :o)] passed through the hands of 3 colonial powers: Portuguese, Dutch, and then British. To the castle's right is under the yellow canopy sat all the chiefs. You can't see it but the canopy extended into a large circle, creating a sort of soccer-field-like stadium. On the streets are the Fante, tourists, and the dancing masked men.

Kakum is a short 40 minutes from Cape Coast. The four of us hired a taxi for the morning to do the canopy tour. Kakum is part of Ghana's Rainforest. It's a tourist center, with a seven-bridged canopy walk. It was truly breathtaking, though I wish we'd seen some monkeys!!!

Kakum has 7 bridges! this was one of the shortest.

Below: One of the tallest trees that anchored the canopy walks.
I had trouble photographing the depth of the forest, so just imagine this tree as being 3xs taller than the portions you see below.