Cape Coast was like a bigger, more commercialized form of Elmina. It was the first capital of Britain’s Gold Coast colony back in the day and the abundance of colonial style buildings attests to this. Cape Coast had a really wonderful vibe of a big, bustling city crossed with a beach town. We often ate our meals on the streets, trying different foods from the street vendors and site seeing as we went along. Nicole and I discovered some delicious fried coconut balls and Morgan was a big fan of the octopus you could buy ridiculously cheap and take away in a “rubber” (black plastic bags they put everything in). Cape Coast also has a slave castle which initially was a fort built by the Sweeds and later was renovated by the Brits first for trading goods, then for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Brandt book notes that at any given time in the 18th Century there would have been up to 1500 captured individuals awaiting shipment in the dungeons. The tour of this castle was interesting, though equally dismal to the tour of Elmina’s Castle, and there was a museum attached that provided a very educational overview of the history of the slave trade and the how the culture of African Diaspora in the Americas has evolved.
During our stay at Cape Coast we were also able to make a day trip to Kakum National Park, the largest protected rainforest habitat in Ghana. Kakum features an extensive suspended bridge system that allows you to walk along above the tree line of the rainforest. It was a pretty amazing view up there and despite my fear of heights, I didn’t have much trouble on the narrow rope and wood bridges. Our group was a little too loud to for many wildlife sightings, but we found a phenomenally large spider on one of the ebony trees when we were hiking back. Cole, you missed out!! On the way home from the park we stopped for lunch at Hans Cottage Botel, a very unique restaurant and hotel near the park. The Botel was all done up in Christmas decorations and we were treated to familiar Christmas carols for the first time during the trip. The most exciting part was the small lake and mote system built around the restaurant that had about 10 crocodiles residing in its waters. A small girl near us was leaning over the bridge calling to us whenever she spotted one.
After our last night in Cape Coast we made our way to Accra and were faced with decision time- should we go for broke and try to make it to Lome, Togo for New Years, or settle for a beach resort near Accra?
To be continued…
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