Day 57: Bridges and Barricades

Kakum and Cape Coast - We started our day with a long drive to Kakum National Park.  Unlike the other parks we have visited which were more savannah, this one was an actual rainforest.  Surprisingly, I was not scared while walking the seven narrow rope and cable bridges called skywalks.  Some are as high as 40 meters off the ground, about 120 feet.  I simply followed some young people from Australia and did not look down.  We had climb about 78 steps/210 feet just to get to the skywalks.  At the top we met two Australians and their two adopted Colombian teenagers, one American and her Ghanaian friend, and a German woman with her Nigerian boyfriend.  It was a diverse group.  Afterwards we had lunch and purchased some souvenirs before heading to Cape Coast Castle.

Kakum forest canopy

Kakum sky bridge, one of seven

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Cape Coast castle was larger, more beautiful, and had almost no hawkers, beggars, and thieves.  We drove up with no hassle other than the man who "watches" your car for you.  We were sent to an upstairs museum where we ran into the German/Nigerian couple we met at Kakum.  After about 15 minutes of viewing the museum, we were assembled into a tour group of ten.  Again, a diverse group with respect to ages and nationalities.  Half the group was Ghanaian and there was one Belgian in our company.  Emmanuel our tour guide did a better job of explaining the fortifications, the materials used during construction, and in describing the experience of the captives in the dungeons.  He also regaled us with tales of how rebellious slaves were dealt with, both male and female.  Both Elmina and Cape Coast castles had inner courtyards where soldiers and the governor could view the female captives and make their selection.  In Elmina the rebellious females were chained in the inner courtyard and made to stand without food or water.  In Cape Coast there was a small windowless cell where they were locked away. Both castles had solitary confinement rooms that were unventilated where rebellious captives, already weakened from weeks of an overland journey, were locked away until they died.  Again, our guide took care to show us the church that was constructed over the male slave dungeons that actually had a hatch whereby the captives could be spied upon next to the church entrance.  Cape Coast Castle had a very long, undulating, unlit tunnel from the male slave dungeons to the door of no return, punctuated by lookout hatches used by the soldiers from up above.  This was to confuse and disorient captives.

Solitary confinement cell.  Emmanuel, our tour guide, locked us in.  This door is the only door left in the castle which is original to the slave trade era.

The coastline looking west from the Cape Coast Castle.

A group of Ghanaian school children touring the Cape Coast Castle.

One of the male dungeons, each of which held 200 captives awaiting shipment to the Americas.

This is one of the trenches built into the floors of the dungeons to carry human waste away from the cell and out to the sea.

Some of the wreaths placed in various places throughout the castle.

Castle defense.  Each of these canon had a range of up to 1 kilometer.

These are the steps leading from the infamous "Door of No Return" down to the dock where slaves were loaded onto ships bound for the Americas.

Brandi's dinner at the Sanaa Lodge.  Curry vegetables, salad, and rice.

Brandi's lunch at the Kokum National Park.  Ghanaian salad with boiled egg, macaroni, and beans.

 Brandi with local elders in Cape Coast.  Lee Mensah from the Volta Region, Supi Jojo Ansah, Philip Rwudi Bromyah, and Chief Nana Nyanful Obrenu VIII.

We visited four hotels before settling at the Sanaa Lodge.  I interviewed some elders posted up outside the Cape Coast Hotel.  Four elderly men drinking bitters shared with us information about how the food supply changed since they were little boys.  The Sanaa Lodge we finally ended up at was no lodge, but a moldy, uninhabited, cavernous sad excuse of an outdated hotel with another horrific road leading up to it.  I slept about an hour total as the scratchy bedding smelled of Detol and I kept wondering why they felt like they needed to use such a strong disinfectant on the blankets.  I mean, what was it you were trying to kill??  There was no TV though they claimed to have cable, but the room and bath were ginourmous.  We were told that this particular room was frequented by Members of Parliament.  (What century was that?) But the staff was exceedingly pleasant, bringing us dinner in our room and supplying us with extra Nescafe packets and a hot thermos of water.