Weekend in Western Ghana

June 9^th, 2013 5:41pm

Today I got back from four days in the Cape Coast/Elmina area of Ghana.  It is a coastal area that is very popular with tourists and is also where the majority of the volunteers and missionaries spend their time off.   The weather on the trip was wonderful, it did not rain once, the same cannot be said for my return to Accra, it was pouring rain and we had no power.

The first night was spent in the rain forest just north of Elmina at a place called Hans Cottage.  I went on a canopy walk high up in the rain forest in Kakum National park and saw some crocodiles and a lot of birds, sadly no monkeys or elephants.  There are monkeys and elephants in the rain forest north of Elmina and sometimes you can get to see them, they do have caged ones at the zoo but that felt a bit like cheating so I decided not to bother visiting it.

The rainforest

The rainforest canopy walkway, it was very shaky and could use some much needed maintenance

A few of the many birds I saw around the rainforest

A crocodile

Elmina is a fishing town and was the first place Europeans set up a base to trade for gold and ivory.  Cape Coast was the British seat of power while they ruled the Gold Coast of Africa.  I stayed in Elmina right across from the Elmina castle (castle of St. George), it is the oldest European built building south of the Sahara.  It was built by the Portuguese to trade for gold and ivory and then it was taken over by the Dutch and used as their base for the slave trade.  After the Dutch the British took over and used it as a trading post for gold, ivory and salves.  I also visited the Elmina fort (St. Jago fort) and the Cape Coast castle.  The Cape Coast castle was the largest of the castles built for the salve trade on the west coast of Africa.  It was constructed by the British and was used as their seat of government up until 1877.  One of the best parts of the Elmina/Cape Coast area is all the outstanding fresh seafood that was available and at very reasonable prices.  I had sole, red snapper, lobster, prawns and calamari and all were exceptionally fresh and well prepared.  I also spent some time on the beaches of Elmina and Cape Coast as well as a very interesting morning at the Elmina fish market.  It was very interesting watching the fishing boats leave in the evening and the watching them all return in the morning.  As the ships return people line up along the dock and they immediately start buying and selling the fish before it has even made it to shore.  A fisherman will hold up their best catch and the buyers on shore will start yelling out their bids.  As soon as a price is settled on the fish is tossed on shore and the taken to be cleaned of cut up to be sold in smaller pieces.  As more and more ships return from the night of fishing they start docking three or four deep and people have to carry the fish across the other ships to get to the fish market all the while watching for bids and other people trying to get the ships ready to head out for another night of fishing.  

The castle at Elmina and a few of the fishing boats getting ready to head out for the night at sea

Tuna at the fish market

The bridge to Elmina which has been closed to traffic because it is falling apart and has holes in the road, so you have to walk across and pick up another taxi if you want to get to Elmina

Fishermen returning from a night at sea

The Elmina fish market on the far side of the river

The beach at Cape Coast and the castle

The fort at Elmina as seen from the Elmina castle

Cannons at the Cape Coast castle

Johnny