Friday in Ghana: Kakum Rainforest and Elmina

We were back on the bus again very early Friday morning - this time to visit the rainforest in Kakum national park and then to witness one of the largest castles in Ghana where African men and women waited in dark dungeons (sometimes for months) to be transported worldwide and sold as slaves.

But first, the visit to Kakum was the excursion I had been looking forward to. Kakum is a large rainforest that is home to hundreds of species of vegetation and wild animals. While it was too late in the day (and we were too noisy) to see any monkeys or other mammals, we did go on a hike part way up the mountain and bravely walked over the seven hanging, shaky, wooden plank and rope walkways. The hanging bridges allowed us a magnificent view of the rainforest from about 100 feet above the forest canopy. We also saw deciduous trees, ferns, bamboo and lots of other plants and shrubs that I'm not able to name but could still appreciate. I wished we had been able to hike up further, but we still wanted time to see the castles.

Cool tree trunk and yes, we all walked across that scary looking hanging bridge!

After the hike through the rainforest, we had lunch at the rainforest cafe.
I had "Red Red and plantains" - a popular African dish ... and a coke :-)

After visiting the rainforest, Emmanuel, our fast but talented driver, took us to Elmina Caslte. Elmina lies on the coast in a little fishing village that was just teaming with Viking-like boats and hardy fisherman. The bustle of this little town was amazing. When we got out of the bus, we paused to watch several of these big uncovered boats be guided out to sea.

There were also lots of people milling about trading goods in a big market place. In the middle of the town was a large, dusty red clay soccer field where children were busy playing "football" in the hot sun.

The tour of Elmina was heavy and emotional. We had an guide who introduced us to the history of the slave trade in Ghana and explained what life was like in the castle for slaves, government officials, soldiers, and traders.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and passionate and, therefore, didn't spare us the details about what kind of suffering went on in the place over two centuries ago. The two African-American students among our group later identified this excursion as being the most meaningful one to them.

On Saturday, our final day in Accra, I rested (I was up part of the night with a stomach illness) and packed and prepared for our long trip to Dubai.