Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Cape Coast

We caught the sunrise


Two and a half hours later, we got to Cape Coast (record timing) and found our hotel


Cape Coast is one of the first cities settled by colonizers, and used to be the capital of Ghana when Ghana was still called the Gold Coast. It´s not the capital anymore, but a lot of the colonial infrastructure remains. 


We first decided to head to the city´s infamous Slave Castle, where Africans from all parts of West Africa were held before being auctioned and shipped to the Americas. On the way we saw some people sweeping the street...which we thought was kind of weird.


It later turns out that they were part of an organization that had organized a project to paint some cool blue fish on the street


It further turned out that the fish were meant as a walkway for children going to school in the morning to ensure that they would get there safely. It looked nice


Before we got to the castle, we were distracted by the beach


I love the ocean


We climbed on the rocks


Played in the water


I tried to carry some plantain chips on my head


We met up with Miss Emma Lalley´s friend Elena from Occidental!


Then we headed to the castle


It was difficult to find it beautiful as we heard all about its history




We toured the male and female dungeon. There were no lights, no ventilation, and only a tiny window as a source of light. 1000 slaves were cramped into a tiny space. 


This is the port where ships would load the slaves. The Door of No Return leads out to the port. On the outside, they recently hung up a new sign: The Door of Return



The tour was great. We were also told that the Obamas had visited the castle in 2009 and held a ceremony for some Americans who traced their heritage back to Ghana through this port. Too bad we missed them. Our guide also told us that the castle was also used for prisoners, but that the society decided that it wasn´t right to imprison people there given its history, so they were moved. The next day we headed to the Kakum National Park


The Kakum National Park is a popular tourist spot because of its Canopy Walk. To get to the Canopy Walk, you take a short hike through the rainforest



I love these trees


This was our tour guide. He disappeared once we got to the Canopy Walk, but he brought us there safely


Canopy Walk!


It was love at first sight. Probably one of my favourite experiences in Ghana so far






After a lot of photos, we made it to the end, and headed back down. We found this huge bouquet of bamboo


And this lizard


We were hungry, so we headed to this nearby lodge to eat


<3



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Ok I guess it´s kind of cute


There were a lot of cool birds



This one being my favourite


They petted the crocodile


Back to the beach!



There are always a couple people playing soccer


We got smoothies


I wanted to mix them



We had a big feast to accompany our smoothies and last night in Cape Coast. We encountered a street drum circle. On our way home, we decided to visit Cape Coast again soon


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