The last few days that I spent in Cape Coast have been the most eventful of my trip so far and my time there was both fun as it was sobering. I had an incredible time at the Kakum National park where I ventured across the famous canopy walkway and went bird watching. But my mood quickly dampened the next day when I visited Elmina Castle, Fort St Jago, Cape Coast Castle and Donkor Nsuo (The Slave River) at Assin Manso.
Kakum National Park
The Kakum National park is one of the most known national parks in the country. It covers an area of 357km2 and consists of the best preserved region of virgin rainforest in the country.
My number one reason for wanting to go to Kakum was to attempt the canopy walk. But before my arrival there I had always assumed that there was just one walkway set up between two trees. I did not realize that there are actually seven!
It is set up like a circular tour, seven different bridges (made of cargo net, aluminum ladders, and wooden planks), swaying high up above the forest floor. The bridges are upto 40 meters off the ground, and the entire course runs over 330 meters in lenghth. And the circular design, essentially means that once you start, you must complete the course (to get back where you started) – there is no turning back! Truly the experience is not for the faint of heart; the creaking planks, the swaying ropes. The best advise would be to “not look down”, but you are literally suspended above the rainforest, and the view below is just too spectaular, to resist!
{There I go - I'm on my way, but taking the bag wasn't such a good idea!}
{Elephant skull at Kakum}For more info on Kakum National Park please visit: http://www.ghanatourism.gov.gh/regions/highlight_detail.asp?id=&rdid=65
Ghana and the Atlantic Slave TradeGhana was formerly known as the Gold Coast, and early European traders flocked to its shores eager to prosper of the region’s gold. The trade in gold, however, was soon replaced by a trade in human beings. Africans were being captured and shipped across the Atlantic to be used on plantations in the Americas and the Caribbean. The trans-Atlantic slave trade became very profitable and subsequently lasted for over 300 years.
{On the walls on Fort Prinzenstein, Keta}
Ghana became one of the primary centers of the trade and its mark has been left along Ghana’s coastline. “Of the 45 forts and castles built by Europeans on the West African coast, 32 were in Ghana and no less than 96 fortifications were built along Ghana’s coast.”
As a very young child I remember playing with my cousins in an old abandoned building along the beach in Keta. Its solid walls and many dark rooms made it perfect for playing hide and seek. It also had a large, wide balcony, which we would climb and hold competitions jumping off onto the sand below. It was not until just recently, that I realized what this building which had served as our “playground” actually was and the history that it held. These and several hundred other sites (remnants of the slave trade) remain scattered all over Ghana. They stand as reminders of a ghoulish past that humanity must never see repeated again. I could not come to Ghana and leave without visiting some of these sites.
{Old Fort, Keta}
Torwoli S. Dzuali © 2007
The Last Bath - Donkor Nsuo (The Slave River) at Assin MansoFrom their places of capture many enslaved Africans were then brought to the slave market at Assin Manso. At a time when there were no cars, trains, trucks or airplanes their only means of travel was by foot. So they would walk for days, weeks, sometimes even months, shackled and chained, with stocks around their necks until they reached Assin Manso.
{Window looking out into the forests at Assin Manso. In this forest there are mass graves, containing the remains of captives who could not survive the journey beyond Assin Manso}
{Walking down path in forest to the "Last Bath" river} Upon their arrival there, they (those who had survived the journey) would then be sorted out; the children from the adults, the men from the women, the strong from the weak. Then the buying and selling would begin as the slave raiders (who were responsible for the capture) negotiated with the slave traders (who would take the captives across the Atlantic).
While at Assin Manso the captive Africans would also be marched down to the river to take a bath. This would be their very “last bath” within African shores. From there they would then begin the march toward Elmina or Cape Coast Castle, where they would remain, locked away in dungeons, until a ship arrived to take them across the Atlantic.
{River where captives took their "Last Bath"}
{Tour guide collecting some of the water for me to take back with me}
{Some young children I met at Assin Manso}
Torwoli S. Dzuali © 2007
Elmina Castle
Elmina Castle is the oldest existing European building in sub-Saharan Africa. The castle was originally built by the Portuguese in 1482 to be used as a trading post in what was then a very booming trade in gold and other minerals being extracted from Ghanaian lands. Its strategic location gained the Portuguese a trade monopoly and it was highly sought after by other European powers. Many battles were fought for control of the castle and subsequently ownership also fell to the Dutch and then the British.
As the trans-Atlantic slave trade grew and the trade in human beings became more profitable, the “storerooms of the castle were converted into dungeons” to house African captives. Captured men and women were brought to Elmina from all over Ghana and other parts of West Africa. After several weeks, sometimes months, of walking (shackled in chains) they would finally arrive at Elmina. Here they would be packed into the dark, cold dungeons, several hundred at a time, with absolutely no room to move, let alone enough air to breathe. These grueling days spent at Elmina would be their final days in Africa.
{Draw-bridge @ Elmina entrance}
{On my way into Elmina}
A visit to Elmina will leave you with chills. The castle’s bright white exterior stands in contrast to the great darkness concealed behind its walls. Walking through the tunnels and dungeons I was overcome with emotions I am still unable to describe. It is one thing to read about and to view pictures, but the actual experience is another. And knowledge of the great evils perpetrated there will leave you haunted for days.
That human beings can commit such evil against each other is a wonder. Yet the greatest irony of it all is the presence of “religion” within the castle walls. There is a church at its very centre and all through the rooms (in the quarters where the slave traders lived) are inscriptions quoting bible verses and statements asking God to “Bless” those who dwell there.
{One of the dungeons where female captives were kept - that small gap was the only source of air}
{Ball and chain, used to punish captives}
{View from where the govenor would stand, and below the female captives would be brought out for him to choose those he wanted sleep with}
{Tunnel at Elmina}
{Looking Out}
{"Gate Of No Return" - final door through which captives would pass 'one at a time' before being marched onto ships waiting to take them across the Atlantic}Outside one of the dungeon doors a newer inscription has been made. It is a plaque that reads:
“In Everlasting Memory of the anguish of our ancestors. May those who died rest in peace. May those who return find their roots. May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. We, the living, vow to uphold this.”These words are monumental.
But has humanity learnt its lesson?
Torwoli S. Dzuali © 2007
Cape Coast CastleOriginally built as a fort by the Swedes who named it Carolusburg after King Charles X of Sweden. It was later captured by the Danes and then the British. The British rebuilt the fort transforming it into a castle. Millions of Africans were kept in dungeons here before being shipped to the Americas and the castle became the second largest slave trading post in the world, after Elmina.
Fort St. Jago (Coenraadsburg)
This fort is the “oldest purely military architecture of the Gold Coast". It is within walking distance from the Elmina Castle, standing on a hill directly opposite it. It is from this hill (St Jago) that the Dutch successfully launched their attacks against the Portuguese and gained control over Elmina Castle. After their victory, the Dutch built the Fort Coenraadsburg (commonly known as Fort St. Jago) to be used in defending the castle. The fort was only used for military purposes and as quarters for soldiers and officers on guard at the castle (Elmina).
{Fort St Jago}
{Elmina Fishing Fleets}
For More info on Ghana and the Atlantic Slave Trade please visit: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n6_v23/ai_12658627
Torwoli S. Dzuali © 2007
{This is a coal pot}
We were just sitting around one day, and out of nowhere this bull comes strolling down the street !! - no owner in sight.
It was already a hot scorching aftrenoon - and then this silly man (a neighbour who was visiting Ghana from the States) decides to set this huge fire in his yard !
It soon got out of control.
{House where Anne Frank's family was hidden}
{There are many beautiful peacocks like this roaming around the park}
{Komfo Anokye’s sword} 
{Mother and Child}
{A set of triplets that I met in the town od Dzodze}
{Young girls playing} 
{Aunt's house in Dzodze}
{My great-grandfather}
{People relaxing on Keta Beach}
{Keta Lagoon}
{Sun setting over Keta}
{My friend " Peace "}
{My little sweetheart - Cousin Kobe}
{Cosuin Dodzi}
{My baby nephew K.K}
{Cousins Senanum & Noel}
{My favourite Uncle Tsidi !}
{My lovely niece "All Nice " - and that is her actual name!}
{Cousin Shorla}
{Cousins chatting in my aunt's store}
