Cape Coast, Weekend #1

Week one was a bit of a shock to the system. We’ve been running around all over the place interviewing different stakeholders. Sometimes the instructions provided are like “Go to Building X (which is usually in a different suburb), and ask for Person Y”. Somehow, with the help of our ever patient driver, we haven’t gotten terribly lost as yet. On a more important issue, there aren’t any cafes near the office, so we routinely have to drive to Osu, a suburb that’s only 3 kilometers away but takes 20 minutes to get there in traffic.

For the weekend, the group decided to go visit the Cape Coast, a region, you guessed it, along the coast. It’s famous for its beautiful beaches and its plentiful supply of castles. I love a good castle. The Cape Coast is located a numbing three hours from Accra, but we ended up renting a large mini-bus which had plenty of space. Its off-roading abilities were dubiously tested with the last couple of kilometers to the hotel being on a dirt ‘road’.

Elmina Castle was our first stop. Initially constructed by the Portuguese to trade for Gold, it was eventually turned into a hub for slave trading. The lovely, well preserved building, lost some of its gloss when the tour guide described all the atrocities that had occurred within its walls.

Secondly, we visited the Cape Coast Castle, which is the better know of the two. Unlike the first castle, we weren’t bombarded with people trying to sell us personalised sea shells, which was a welcome change. This castle was specifically built for trading slaves, and featured some rudimentary drainage within the rooms.

After a sweltering hot visit to the castles, we headed back to the hotel for a well-earned swim at the beach.

The following day, we headed out to the Kakum National Park. It’s main attraction is the Tree Walk, which consists of a number of bridges strung between trees within the forest canopy. At its highest point, it’s over 40 meters above the ground.

(Adaeze & Francis)

The weekend was an amazing experience. I was however, well tired out by the end of it.