I am a big advocate of utilizing public transportation when I travel. It gives you a great insight into what daily life is like in a certain area; trains, buses and shared taxis are also a fraction of the cost when compared to hiring a private driver for the day. Traveling by shared taxi (or shared buses called tro tros) are popular ways to get around Ghana. Somehow each car will hold a minimum of six people, plus the driver; four will sit in the back seat and two people will share the front, passenger side seat. A shared taxi will not depart until all six places are claimed, although you can opt to pay for multiple spots to move up the departure time. (Personally, I always paid for two spots and took the front passenger seat for myself.)
The distance between Cape Coast, the former capital of the British Colony once known as The Gold Coast, and Accra is only 148km (92mi), but it can easily take 3.5 hours to travel the road between the two cities by shared taxi. It’s another half an hour north to Kakum National Park where I also wanted to pay a visit, and I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to complete a solitary day trip to Kakum, Elmina and Cape Coast relying only on public transit.
Enter Richmond, whom I now count as a wonderful friend. When I told some of the hostel workers at Agoo about my ambitious day trip, they suggested I hire Richmond, a trusted driver with his own car, who not only could whisk me there and back, but would also act as a tour guide along the way. I got to know Richmond very well on our adventurous car ride along the Ghanaian coast and this was an instance where the time saved paying for private transportation far outweighed any money saved by traveling in a shared taxi.
Kakum National Park
I initially had no preference as to the order in which we visited Cape Coast, Elmina and Kakum, but Richmond knew best and said we had to get to the National Park as early as possible. The park opens at 6:00 and can only be visited by guided tour with a park ranger; you can select the canopy walkway tour, a three-hour forest hike or a combination of the two. We left Accra quite early in the morning, and made it to Kakum in record time. I was able to join the 9:00 canopy tour, which only had eight other people; by the time our tour ended and the 10:30 expedition was about to commence, I counted nearly forty people huddled together in the next group. If you want a more intimate experience, it pays to get there early.
Kakum National Park is named after the Kakum River which originates within the park’s boundaries that cover roughly 375 sq km (145 sq mi) of ground. Kakum was founded in 1931, but only as a National Reserve and not a National Park, a distinction that still allowed lumber to be harvested from the forest. A great rainforest once stretched from Ghana through Côte d’Ivoire, northern Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Due to relentless deforestation in the 1970s, much of the forest has disappeared save for what fell under protected land in each country. Kakum was officially designated a National Park in 1992, but interestingly the initiative came at the behest of the local people and not by the government.
My guide at Kakum grew up in a village on the outskirts of the forest and he said he has spent everyday of his life working to preserve it. He seemed to have an inexhaustible knowledge of every species of plant and animal within the park, as well as the medicinal properties of each bit of flora we came across. (The local Ghanaian communities still rely on the natural medicine found within the park, which was one of the main reasons that fueled their desire to protect the remaining forest.)
Kakum is an animal lover’s paradise. There are 266 species of birds and over 600 species of butterflies, several of which are found only in Kakum. There is also an impressive collection of Diana monkeys, forest buffalo, African civets, bongo antelopes, dwarf crocodiles, leopards, red river hogs, crested porcupines and African tortoises. The most sought-after animal though is the forest elephant, of which 200 roam freely throughout Kakum. This is one of the largest herds of forest elephants found not only in Ghana, but the entire continent.
Even by mid-morning, it will have become too hot to see (m)any of these animals. The best way to spot one of the leopards or elephants is to book a bunk in the Tree House- yes an actual tree house built deep within Kakum- where visitors can spend the night. A guide will camp out with you, take you on a night hike through the rainforest and guard the lodging from any unwanted nocturnal predators. (Leopards feed at night, so beware!) Although I didn’t stay at the Tree House myself, some hostel mates did and really enjoyed the experience. Make sure to book this ahead of time as slots fill up quickly.
What is a canopy anyway? 60-90% of the life in a rainforest does not live on the ground, but rather up the canopy: the branches and tree tops that sit 30-50m (98-164ft) above the forest floor. Walking through the forest is beautiful, no doubt, but how can we partake in all the action when it is so far above us?
The canopy walk at Kakum was built by two Canadians in 1990 using only wire ropes, aluminum ladders and wooden planks. Netting was hung from the wire ropes to add some extra security for those willing to venture across the creaky pathways. Seven bridges, that span over 330m (1080ft) connect to seven different tree-top-vantage-point viewing stations. The walkways are 40m (130ft) off the ground and are not for the faint of heart. (The best selling T-shirt at the Kakum gift shop says “I survived the Kakum canopy walkway!”) My father, who is deathly afraid of heights, would be cowering like a baby, but I hope the majesty of the canopy would inspire him to press on and walk the plank, so to speak.
Remember, under that board is only an aluminum ladder! Walking across the boards feels like stepping onto a trampoline, its gentle bounce lifting you up and down with each step. I don’t know if our guide was trying to scare us or reassure us, but he told us that he personally walks the canopy each morning to make sure the walkway is secure and not ready to snap, sending us to a certain death below. He needed someone to be brave and go first; obviously my hand shot up, eager to be the victim, I mean volunteer. One woman got about 10 feet onto the walkway and started freaking out, saying she wanted to go back. Still, she persevered and eventually finished the course with the rest of us.
One could easily spend a week or more exploring Kakum, but I had a busy day ahead of me and a trip through the canopy was all that time would allow. Coming to the national park was a great way to start the day, but it was time to move on to Elmina Castle, where the lighthearted tone of the morning was about to take a turn for the dark and serious.
Elmina Castle
After heading back south towards Cape Coast, it’s a short 12km (7.5mi) drive west of the former capital to Elmina, a small fishing village of about 33,000 Fante-speaking people. Before the Portuguese arrived in 1471, Elmina was the center of the Fante Kingdom and the Fante language and culture still is going strong in the 21st Century.
After the Portuguese witnessed the robust gold trading routes between the Fante tribes and Arab merchants, they decided to build in a fort and take control of all commerce in the region. Elmina Castle, also known as St. George’s Castle, was built in 1482, making it the first European building erected south of the Sahara and the oldest European settlement in West Africa. In order to build the castle, the Portuguese had to demolish half the Fante village, as well as destroy several sacred rocks believed to contain powerful spirits. This caused a centuries long feud with the Fante that continued when the fort changed hands with the Dutch in 1637.
The Portuguese initially only traded gold, spices and other metals with Europe and the newly “discovered” North and South America. Gradually this transitioned to African slaves becoming the main commodity that passed through the fort; at the height of the slave trade, the Dutch were sending 30,000 slaves a year to the Americas. In total, an estimated 3,000,000 people were sold by the Dutch and another 1,000,000 people died from disease and starvation at Elmina awaiting the ships that would take them across the Atlantic. The bodies of those who died were unceremoniously dumped into the Gulf of Guinea. Of the 3,000,000 slaves sold, 300,000 were sent to the United States, while the remainder were shipped to the Caribbean and Brazil.
At any given time, 1,000 men and 500 women were kept chained and shackled in separate dungeons underneath the castle. There was no room to lie down and there were no toilets or sewage systems. Feces and urine covered the floors of the dungeons and many became ill and died due to the terrible conditions. Every night a group of women were taken out into the courtyard and the Governor of Elmina, who resided in the castle, would select one woman to come to his quarters where she would be raped before being sent back to the dungeon below. The men and women would be held for 2-12 weeks in the dungeons, depending on how long it took for the next slave ship to arrive. Before entering the ship, the slaves were given their only bath, so that they would be presentable to future owners at slave auctions in the Americas.
After the men and women were separated, they would never see their family members again. At auction, women would be torn apart from their child and people from different tribes would be sold together to hinder communication and chances of rebellion. Men and women who passed through Elmina were brought from as far as Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo and Guinea. Those who did disobey at Elmina Castle were placed in a pitch black cell that had no windows. Many died in these cells from suffocation, a warning to others who were thinking of escape or revolt. Those who survived the cruel treatment at Elmina Castle passed through the Door of No Return, which is the last time they would see Africa.
In the upper levels of the fort life carried on, detached from the horrors occurring below. Portuguese and later Dutch officers and their families lived and played in the rooms above the dungeons. There was a chapel where services were held every Sunday, oblivious to the hypocrisy of the crimes against humanity committed on a daily basis. The governor’s quarters have high ceilings, yellow walls and stunning vistas of the Atlantic Ocean, a far cry from the conditions that the 1500 African men and women were forced to endure below.
In 1979, Elmina Castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site; eventually all slave forts along the West African coast achieved protected UNESCO status and many are being outfitted as museums as I write this post. Elmina castle can only be visited by guided tour, which each tour lasting about an hour and obviously exposing truths that are rather difficult to process. The horrors perpetrated here are beyond comprehension and yet they continued for centuries until the Dutch outlawed slavery in 1814. The British eventually took control of the castle in 1872 upon their establishment of the British Gold Coast. Elmina Castle was finally handed over to the Ghanaian government when Kwame Nkrumah declared independence from his colonizers in 1957. The fort was heavily restored in the 1990s before opening as a museum in 1996.
Today Elmina is primarily a fishing village, although the castle and a few museums do bring in enough tourists to generate a healthy secondary income for its citizens as well. The brightly colored fishing boats are a sight to behold as they return back to shore after a long morning of amassing their haul.
After such a heavy experience at Elmina Castle, it was time for us to grab some lunch. Richmond knew just the place to take me in Cape Coast: the all-vegetarian oasis called the Baobab House.
Baobab House
This is just a teaser for my upcoming post about Ghanaian cuisine, but let’s just say that Red Red is one of the my favorite dishes I’ve ever had on my travels. This vegetarian delight is made from black-eyed peas cooked in palm oil, peppers, onion and tomatoes, served with a side of plantains. The spices are so delicious and unique- I truly don’t know why this dish hasn’t taken off all over the world!
Anyway, back to Baobab House, this vegetarian restaurant/hostel/school is run by a non-profit of the same name that gives children in Cape Coast an arts and culinary-based education. Students are taught how to make clothing, jewelry, artwork and bamboo furniture, all of which is for sale in the adjoining shop. All profits from the restaurant (the food is prepared by the students too), the hostel and the shop are funneled back into the school. It’s a great organization and one I was happy to support.
Cape Coast Castle
After an enjoyable lunch at Baobab House, it was time once again for a sobering experience with a tour of Cape Coast Castle. The Portuguese first built a trading fort in Cape Coast in 1555. The Swedes eventually took ownership, trading timber and gold with merchants in Europe and the Americas. By 1664, the year the British captured the castle, the property had been on a merry-go-round of colonial powers with the Danes and Dutch also wresting control of the fort at one time or another. All of Europe was fighting over the Gold Coast, but none of them had an ounce of regard for the inhabitants who lived there. Why has Africa had a tough go of it? The answer is a simple one: colonialism truly fucked up Africa and most nations have had to spend the past fifty years attempting to pull themselves out of the mire that colonialism left behind, untangle the mess and start anew, all the while carrying the baggage of what happened to their peoples for generations. It easy to think about slavery as this abstract concept that existed in the past causing abstract pain to millions of people. But then you visit the slave forts, suddenly the abstract becomes very real and you see how the repercussions can still flare up centuries later.
In 1757, the French attempted to seize Cape Coast Castle and almost succeeded in totally destroying the fort. After the battle, the British rebuilt the castle, greatly expanding the dungeons, which the British called “slave holes” due to their lack of light and ventilation, as well as the officer’s quarters above. The dichotomy of a luxurious heaven on the top floor and a hellish nightmare below was hard for me to wrap my head around. The cruelty was so immense and yet the Europeans were seemingly unphased by it all. This is the ultimate manifestation of racism: the total disregard for someone’s feelings and well-being due to the color of someone’s skin, resulting in those people being tortured and sold as property to other men.
The so-called Door of Return has been a modern addition to Cape Coast Castle. When slaves exited the fort they passed through the Door of No Return which led them to a ship bound for the Americas. The journey, known as the Middle Passage, was a perilous one and 15% of all slaves died while crossing the Atlantic. For those who did survive, they were told that they would never see their homeland again and the Door of No Return would be their last image of Africa.
Today, Ghana has led the way in welcoming the descendants of slaves back to West Africa and aids in anyone’s desire to retrace their roots. This is symbolized by the Door of Return, telling the diaspora that Africa is always waiting with open arms, beckoning Black people all over the world to come home.
The United Kingdom outlawed slavery in 1807, almost sixty years earlier than it was banned in the United States, but it took until the 1840s before all the slave forts along the Gold Coast could be decommissioned. George Maclean, Governor of Cape Coast at the time, was tasked with this project, and he and his wife remain buried in the courtyard of the castle to this day.
Like Elmina, Cape Coast generates most of its income from fishing and tourism and has more of a Jimmy-Buffett-song-come-to-life vibe than that of a haunted graveyard due to the millions of lives destroyed in the city. Despite the past terror and horror, life continues to move forward and progress is made.
Having Cape Coast Castle declared a UNESCO site ensured its preservation, but nothing has brought more attention to the former slave fort than when US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle visited Ghana in 2009, making a special stop at Cape Coast Castle. After touring the site, President Obama made a speech, a portion of which I will excerpt here:
It is reminiscent of the trip I took to Buchenwald because it reminds us of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil. One of the most striking things I heard was that right above the dungeons in which male captives were kept was a church, and that reminds us that sometimes we can tolerate and stand by great evil even as we think that we’re doing good.
You know, I think it was particularly important for Malia and Sasha, who are growing up in such a blessed way, to be reminded that history can take very cruel turns, and hopefully one of the things that was imparted to them during this trip is their sense of obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears, and that any group of people who are degrading another group of people have to be fought with whatever tools we have available to us.
But also to be able to come back here in celebration with the people of Ghana of the extraordinary progress that we’ve made because of the courage of so many, black and white, to abolish slavery and ultimately to win civil rights for all people, I think is a source of hope. It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it’s also possible to overcome.
Barack Obama, July 11, 2009
Richmond
Thus it wasn’t my canopy walk in Kakum, my delicious Red Red at Baobab House or my enlightening visits to Elmina and Cape Coast Castles that claimed the highlight of my day. The real treat was getting to spend time with Richmond, learning about Ghana, each other and building a friendship that has lasted to this day. The Europeans referred to the Americas as the New World, but this is the real New World. Two people with completely different upbringings who don’t share the same race, religion or passport, who can come together and be great friends across the globe. To paraphrase President Obama, we must change the world with the tools we have available to us. I have no power to change laws or upend the economic systems that have a stranglehold on struggling people, but I do have the power to bring friendship and love and kindness into this world wherever I go. I’ve learned that it’s not the places I go, but the people I meet along the way that make the most lasting impressions.
