Cape Coast Castle - Cape Coast, Ghana

Trip Start Mar 11, 2005
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Trip End Mar 27, 2005


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Wednesday, March 23, 2005

We arrive at the Castle and as usual, the driver says he will wait for us. We decide on the guided tour and pay our admissions and go in. It cost 50,000 each and another 5,000 for the camera. Throughout the 18th century, Cape Coast's economy was dominated by its role at the heart of the trans-Atlantic slave trade - at any given time before 1807 when trading in slaves was abolished by the British parliament, there were up to 1500 captured individuals awaiting shipment in the dungeons of the castle. Inside the three dungeons you can still see the desperate scratchings on the stone walls of those imprisoned there. Difficult prisoners or those that caused trouble found themselves in the suffocation chamber where they were left to die. Depending on their condition, it took anywhere from one to three days for them to die. There is a Door Of No Return through which the prisoners caught their first sight of daylight since being put in the dungeons. This is where the men and women were first brought together again after being captured. A couple of years ago a symbolic invitation was issued to two descendants of slaves, which saw them return through the door of no return, thus effectively breaking the chain. There is a sign on the other side of the door now that says "Door Of Return."
The picture that shows the letters on the wall signifies the "excavation" that went on recently to clean up the fort to allow visitors in. Where the letters on the walls are indicated, shows the level of human waste that was removed before the original stone floor was found - about 3 feet or more. Cannons Of Cape Coast Fort
Cannons Of Cape Coast Fort
 Up to 1000 men were kept in these conditions. It is no wonder many of them did not survive imprisonment. There is an interesting museum on site that was closed when we arrived as it was near closing time at the fort, but by the end of our tour they had reopened it for us. Some of the pictures were unbelievable. One shows how tightly the slaves were packed in the ships on their way to the new world. We stopped by the library that is housed in the fort and made a donation. This is the only "free" library available to children so it was nice to be able to give Ghana something back. The tour of the castle was very moving and something visitors must see. It sure puts the history lessons into perspective.

We were the last to leave the castle (after closing) and our driver was nowhere to be seen. We were immediately pounced on by vendors and taxi drivers as soon as we came out of the castle. Since we had not paid our driver yet, we were sure he would return, and he eventually did. On the way back to the hotel we bought some bananas and oranges out of the taxi window - just like real Ghananians! Back to the hotel for dinner but the restaurant was full. We ended up being served on the beach, which was fine. I'm still not happy with the ride we've arranged to get to Accra tomorrow. I don't think the hotel did a very good job of finding us a ride. Because there are 5 of us and we just have too damn much stuff, we're limited to what type of vehicle we can hire. The driver from the castle offered to take us in a borrowed van tomorrow for $90US and we're already sucked in to $150 US if you can believe that! What can we do, we have to get to Accra tomorrow.
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