Cape Coast Side Trips

Cape Coast Castle

This place was one of the “must see” destinations on my itinerary. It was one of the main trading forts in the Trans Atlantic Slave trade. The Gahnian people have chosen to make it a place of reconciliation, much to their credit. The question that haunts me is how did one group of human beings convince themselves that inflicting this upon others was acceptable? I need not go into the horrific details of the slave trade, but two things particularly struck me. After the British abolished slavery, the dungeons were left untouched, until opened in 1974. The floors of the dungeons had been usurped by a four inch layer of petrified human remains, straw, sand, urine and fecal matter. Clearly, hundreds of years of the slave trade went by without these places ever having been cleaned. There was a window at the top of the dungeon, so the guards could keep an eye on the slaves. There is also an Anglican chapel within the castle near the dungeon. It would have been impossible for the residents of the castle to get to church without passing that window and exposing themselves to the sound of the unspeakable human suffering going on beneath their feet as they toddled off to church to worship God.


Kakum (kakoom) National Park – Hans Botel

I took two side trips from Cape Coast, both of which made me question my sanity.
The first was to Kakum, mostly so I could keep a promise I made to myself. The reasons for that promise elude me. You see, I am afraid of heights and Kakum National Park boasts a canopy walk that soars 120 feet above the jungle floor. The canopy walk is essentially a series of rope bridges with a narrow wood plank walkway. I took some solace in the fact that it was built by Canadians, and even more solace in the fact that it is maintained by the people of Ghana. Suffice to say, I survived and the diaper I was wearing was completely unneeded (just kidding).

Next stop was Hans Botel. Hans Botel is an hotel built on an alligator infested lagoon. The whole thing is on stilts and it feels like walking on a dock. As we arrive, my driver (by the way I love saying “my driver”) shows me a few alligators swimming about. People are feeding them and I am entranced by the speed with which there jaws snap at the food. Densu (my driver) directs me into the restaurant where we can buy some bread or chicken to feed them. Instead, a beautiful lady there says to me “if you want, I will let you touch them” .I reply “you will let me touch them, but will they let me touch them?”. I kinda figured that if your going to call your blog “goyestoeverything” then a moment will come when you have to back it up. This was one such moment. So I follow the lady through a gate and suddenly I am in an area with a six foot alligator. Thank god Dusan is with me, because I was sure that if this alligator decides to bite my leg off at the hip, he'll at least be able to wrestle it down to my knee. The lady puts a leaf on a long stick and the alligator jumps up to eat it, like a very dangerous puppy begging for a treat. Then she tells me to touch his tail, which involves me sneaking behind a rock to get at his tail. Dusan takes my camera so I can get that Kodak moment. I sneak around and touch his tail, knowing that this animal could bite my wrist off before I could blink. It takes seemingly forever for Dusan to take the pic, which is clearly reflected in my expression in the picture. A millisecond after the pic is taken, shortlived relief pulses through me. Someone shouts at me “look out, there's another one”. Another alligator has made its way from the lagoon and sits about 18 inches from my calf. Given that my calves are one of my best features, I head for cover.

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