Day 7 - Kakum National Forest and Cape Coast Castle

Today we had two big things on the agenda: a visit to Kakum National Park and a tour of Cape Coast Castle.

We went to Kakum National Park because they have a really neat suspension bridge that is about 350 meters in total length and appears to reach approximately 60 meters high in some spots. Also, the nature walk was recommended because it will help us learn about the surrounding wildlife and the materials that the local people use in fishing and foodways. The national park was about 30 kilometers from a main junction on the way to Cape Coast. We arrived at the visitor center and patiently waited for enough tourists to crowd the place before the tour commenced.

The suspension bridge was designed and built by Canadian engineers and is said to be very sturdy with the ability to hold 8 tons. Our guide said elephants could happily dance on it (this I would like to see). The suspension bridge certainly shakes and Tom and I had a good time swaying and bouncing. And this was not just one long suspension bridge; it was a network of a number of suspension bridges that entangled the forest that one could glide through.

Segments of the impressive suspension bridge.

The nature walk was even better. We meandered through a trail in the dense jungle and mostly our guide located trees. We saw an ebony tree early on. The bark of the tree is very coarse and the elephant loves to scratch its hide on it; probably the first take on ebony and ivory before the piano. Another tree locally known as Onyina or silk cottonwood can be used for paper and clothing. The tree is soft enough that with sufficient pounding it can be made into a fabric known as bark cloth. Another tree known as the Celtis has very long roots that extend further up the base of the tree like webbing and the top part of the root is long and round like a staff. This portion of the tree is removed and used as a pounder for cassava and plantains. By far the coolest tree was the Fagara which contains large spikes on the trunk and they gradually become smaller up the tree. This is the tree’s defense mechanism to keep away animals such as elephants and even the 5 species of primates that roam the forest such as the white colobus monkey.

Local tree known as Fagara with spikes on the trunk to protect it from animals.

After we arrived on the main road, we stopped at a local restaurant and I stuffed my face with more banku and tilapia. Mmmmm good.

Cape Coast Castle was the next important historic site that I needed to familiarize myself with. I have been to Cape Coast Castle a number of times already during my stay thus far as we do business with the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board simply to secure permission to conduct archaeological investigations in the coming weeks and rub elbows with the VIPs and curators. Cape Cope Castle was originally constructed by the Swedes in the 1650s and later taken by the Dutch in 1663 and the British took it a year later. The castle was an important administrative center for the British, more importantly in the mid-nineteenth century. It is a very important historic site for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Cape Coast Castle appears much larger than Elmina Castle with a large entryway and impressive courtyard. Similar structures also remain such as a holding cell for insubordinate slaves as well as male and female slave dungeons, but they are much larger. The male dungeon alone could likely hold 1,000 slaves at a time.

View of the courtyard inside Cape Coast Castle.

Before you enter the male slave dungeon a plaque commemorating current President Barack Obama’s visit to Ghana on July 11^th of last year is visible. Furthermore, the President took a tour of the castle with the first family and also gave a speech in the grandiose courtyard that overlooks the ocean.

Plaque commemorating President Barack Obama’s visit last year.

Deep inside the entrance is a huge dungeon. Our tour guide took us to a dungeon that had very little access to outside light and explained that this was one of the main portions of the dungeon that was stuffed to the brim with slaves during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Like most of these dungeons, they have been cleaned out. However, a portion of the accumulation of filth was left by the curators to demonstrate the amount of excrement that had built up over the years of dungeon use. Another gloomy feeling passed over me while thinking about the horrid and inhumane living conditions the slaves were put through.

A view looking out of the male slave dungeon.

A portion of the 5 cm of filth that accumulated during the holding of male slaves in the dungeon.

Another long day packed with many events...time to soak up some salt air and get some shut eye.

Day 6 - Elmina Castle and the Edina Bakatue Festival

Today was a much anticipated day. We are traveling down the coast to the village of Elmina to see another colonial castle that was part of the slave trade as well as the commencement of the Edina Bakatue Festival, which was highly recommended by our caretaker Phillip. Phillip was born and raised in Elmina and he was very excited to take us around his village.

We arrived at Elmina Castle greeted by many kids persistent to sell us trinkets and simply ask us for money. The castle is quite a site to see. The Portuguese initially built the structure in 1482 as it was known then as Castle Sao Jorge D’Mina (St. George being the patron saint of Portugal). It was later taken by the Dutch in 1637 and by the Brits in 1872. During World War II it was used as a training ground for Ghanaian troops readying for enlistment in the British army. Remember that Ghana didn’t gain its independence from Britain until 1957.

View of the entrance to Elmina Castle.

The first part of the tour is navigating through the Portuguese church, which lies in the center of the castle in the courtyard. Our tour guide took us to a number of jail and housing cells as well as male and female dungeons. Much of the bodily excrement and other discarded waste has since been cleaned out, but some of the smell still lingered, especially in the female dungeon, which some of the castle’s curators didn’t want to clean up so that people would understand how terrible it must have been to be crammed in these dungeons tortured and on top of other people lying in your own feces. Some of the holding cells were used before sending slaves to the dungeon but others were made to house insubordinate slaves that never got out alive. The female dungeon had a courtyard of sorts that the governor of the castle could overlook and the soldiers would remove females from the dungeon that the governor might be interested in having sex with.

The courtyard and catwalk adjacent to the female slave dungeon.

Those Europeans chosen to be governor of slave fortifications did not bring their wives and raping local women was conducted in their quarters on a consistent basis and taking them as concubines. A trapdoor linking the courtyard with the catwalk to the governor’s quarters demonstrated how this practice was carried out.

The trapdoor in the catwalk leading to the governor’s quarters.

We toured the rest of the castle, eventually exited and I left it with a somber, disgusted feeling. We saw Phillip as we exited and I expressed this. The general tone I get from Ghanaians is that the slave trade is a part of their history, whether they like it or not, and it seems that they have forgiven but certainly not forgotten. Some individuals might think to destroy these slave trade castles and forts as they are just gaudy representations of such heinous crimes against humanity. However, these forts attract tourists, both foreigners and native Ghanaians and Africans alike, and bring money into the country and the villages. Ghanaians recognize that these forts are important for their countrymen and women to see as a part of their heritage and trying to ignore it and casting it aside is not the proper thing to do. More so the right thing to do is talk about it and see these ghastly sites so that it is remembered and racism and prejudice is prevented in the future. Ghanaians also discuss important things that resulted from European occupation such as the implementation of Western education, health and human services, administrative and government infrastructure as well as religion. I’m not condoning slavery whatsoever, but if this is the general tone of many Ghanaians, then I think some of the gap between black and white relations is bridged here.

Next we toured the town of Elmina with Phillip’s guidance. Elmina is the name of the town resulting from a corrupted form of Portuguese meaning “the mine.” This name was given because precious metals were found here and the rest of the coast (why it is known as the Gold Coast), yet the true treasures of this town on the Gulf of Guinea is fishing and salt production.

The Edina are the tribe indigenous to the area and fishing for them, as well as other local Ghanaians living in Elmina and elsewhere, is an important part of subsistence (especially for protein), occupation, and way of life. The Benya River runs through the village and fishing can be done even here instead of venturing out along the gulf.

View facing west overlooking the Benya River in Elmina lined with fishing vessels.

Today is Tuesday, locally known as the day of rest for fisherman. Traditionally fishermen recognize Tuesday as the day the gods are restocking the waters and thus it should not be fished (though some still throw down a net or two). An annual celebration dedicated to the beginning of the fishing season (and on a Tuesday I might add) is the Edina Bakatue Festival. Around the late afternoon, locals in dugout canoes and other vessels parade the Benya River, doing tricks, dancing on their boats, clapping their hands or clapping with small wooden planks and singing local songs.

One of the vessels in the festival with locals singing and clapping while navigating the Benya River.

Man doing balancing act on a bicycle on a boat.

Thousands of people line the riverside to watch the spectacle and the river festivities end with elders placing leaves and other materials in the water as a sacrifice to the fishing gods followed by a youth casting a net out three times and attempting to catch a fish. We stood on a local fishing vessel and watched the progression of the events from afar. News and media coverage of the event is widespread. I was too far away to see, but I was told that some fish had been caught; a sign of a good fishing season!

The next phase of the opening of the festival was a parade through the village streets by the important members of the Edina tribe. People lined the streets to get as close to the action as possible. Our driver Peter recommended we sit on the bridge to see the procession, but Phillip, the native of Elmina, in seeing how many pictures we were taking thought we should be closer to the action and line the street with the locals. The first procession was the sons and daughters of the chiefs and high council elders as well as head fishermen. They walked through the street with the chairs of their elders on their heads.

The children of the chiefs and council members of the Edina tribe bearing their elders’s chairs.

Next were the head fisherman and the high council members. Most were in dugout wooden seats held up by men. The leaders were dressed in traditional garb and wearing ceremonial jewelry with some holding decorative machetes. Drummers followed each of the chiefs, council members and their wives. They would wave and make postures to the crowd, and if the procession was halted for a moment, the men holding the Edina member in the air would move around in circles as the chief or wife danced in their seat riling up the crowd and many of the locals witnessing would cut a rug themselves.

One of the head fishermen.

One of the Edina chiefs/council members.

The grand finale of the parade was the procession of the top chief. The onlookers became more enthralled by his presence and the crowd pretty much turned into a mob with very little room to move. People of all ages were crammed together to get the best view of the high chief and so many kids were around me and all I tried to do was hold onto my camera and my camera bag.

The top chief appealing to the crowd.

After the high chief passed through, the density of the crowd died down. I noticed that a kid was somewhat attached to my backside and I swiftly pushed him away. I moved a few paces and Phillip introduced me to one of his old classmates. After shaking the man’s hand and bidding him farewell, I began walking towards our car. It is then that I noticed my right front pant pocket had been slashed and the cheap Nokia phone that I had purchased in Ghana was gone (Ah, my cheesy little soccer game is gone!). I quickly checked my left front pocket: not slashed and my American networked phone was still there. I reached around to my wallet back pocket: thank goodness it was still there; but, that pocket had been slashed too. That crummy little kid had stolen my phone and was trying to grab my wallet at the very end as well! Not to worry, I wasn’t cut by the pocket slashing and so I wasn’t injured, but quite a damper on the evening. I will just have to be more aware of my surroundings in the future. Also, I didn’t expect to be in this type of crowd and I certainly wasn’t prepared for it, otherwise I would have put all my belongings in the false bottom of my camera bag.

So my pictures of the high chief cost about $30 US. Oh well, hope everyone enjoys the pics.

Day 5 - The trek to Anomabo and Fort William

Today we woke up very early to head southeast along the coast from Accra to Anomabo. The village of Anomabo houses Fort William, a colonial fort that was part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and actually used as a prison up until about 15 years ago. It is at Fort William where we will set up tents and this will be our lodging and study headquarters as we travel to historic Kormantse to excavate.

View of some of the hillside along the Accra-Cape Coast Road.

A few unforeseen errands and miscues in West Adenta caused us to get on the road a tad bit later than we had hoped and we sat in terrible horrible knucklehead traffic for some time. Luckily car ride conversation was lively and a soccer game on my cheap Nokia phone I bought in Adenta two days ago kept me occupied when I was bored. I had a sleep for about an hour and a half and I woke up not seeing the ocean quite yet and we stopped for breakfast. Our standard breakfast has been eggs boiled, scrambled, or fried, usually with onions and sometimes green pepper and a spot of tea. There was only about 30-45 minutes until we arrive in Anomabo and Fort William.

We arrived in Anomabo around half nine and moved through the village waving at curious onlookers seeing a bunch of white people. Tom has worked in this location for a few years prior and people waved at him, especially people he knew or recognized by name such as shop owners and village elders.

At the end of the street at a bend lies Fort William. We parked outside, exited the car, and entered the fort. We were greeted with much delight by a Ghanaian man named Phillip, which Tom has sometimes referred to as Uncle Phillip. Phillip is the caretaker of the fort and the other site known as Fort Amsterdam near the village of Abandze. He was very happy to see us and we met his family. He and Tom were both speaking Fante, the local language along the coast in this area.

View from inside Fort William. You can see our tents in the upper right corner.

We pitched our tents and headed to Cape Coast, a larger town further southeast to run errands. We stopped by Cape Coast Castle to initially meet with some Antiquities and Monuments board personnel, purchase some gear for our stay in the fort, and made a quick trip to the University of Cape Coast to talk with a professor who has conducted a study of local shrines as well as some of his students.

Shortly thereafter, we took a needed lunch break.

My stomach was feeling very well and breakfast went down nicely. I was anxious to try Ghanaian food. I wanted to eat the fufu but our driver Peter had recommended I try banku first instead to get my stomach used to pounded cassava. Banku is pounded cassava that has undergone more straining than fufu thus reducing some of the starchiness and is softer and more dough-like than fufu. And consequently, this is much easier on the stomach. I had banku with tilapia with plenty of onions in a crushed red pepper sauce that was extremely spicy.

When one orders fufu, banku, or light soup dishes, a bowl of water and soap arrives at your table to wash your hands because you are not eating these dishes with a fork; actually you are washing the right hand predominantly. Just as in parts of the Middle East, the left had is seen as dirty, so it should not be used to eat the banku in the case as the left hander would be seen as filthy.

The food arrived and the banku looked like a pile of dough with the pepper sauce underneath and a whole tilapia toppled with onions. To eat this dish, the banku is grabbed and molded into a bite-size ball and dipped in the sauce with onions. Unlike the fufu, one can politely chew the banku. You can add some fish to the morsel before consuming it as well or just pick at the fish solely. The banku went down easily and the whole dish was rather delicious. I loved it! No real eating of the stomach meat, head meat, or eyeballs of the fish like the locals…but for some reason I feel compelled to try it before I leave.

After the late lunch, the banku was like a huge weight in my stomach and a well needed nap and relaxing evening of reading and writing ensued….or merely playing the soccer game on my phone and enjoying the sound of the crashing waves.