AAE recently had the distinct pleasure of visiting Ghana, a West African nation bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Guinea in the South, Cote d'Ivoire in the West, Togo in the East and Burkina Faso in the North.
The beautiful nation has been independent since 1957, having become the first sub-Saharan nation to break from colonial rule. Cocoa, gold and oil are among its key natural resources. It has a population of nearly 33 million.
One of our first stops was Kakum National Park. It is situated amid lush forest land that offers ample natural beauty.
The national park's key attraction is a series of suspension bridges that allows visitors to walk atop the canopy of the forest, providing a bird's eye view of the vegetation below. The walk might be challenging to those who aren't comfortable with heights, or those who don't like the surface they're walking on to be a little shaky. But if you can overcome those two concerns, it's a beautiful hike.
Pictured above is a view from the bottom of the staircase that led to the river. The inscription on the arch reads We Are Back Home, a symbolic message indicating that despite the site being called the Last Bath (the inscription on the arch as you descend the steps), people of African descent can now return and celebrate the triumph of generations of survivors.
Those who tried to escape were abused. And repeat offenders were taken to another dungeon where they were left to die, with no food or water. If there were multiple captives in that room, it was not cleared of dead bodies until the last person perished, forcing that person to spend their waning days suffering among death.
If captives in the main dungeons went on hunger strikes to try to prompt their own death, often their teeth were removed by hammer and chisel, and they were force fed by having some type of gruel poured down their throats.
Women were frequently raped by captors. In some cases, these attacks resulted in pregnancy. Depending on the wishes of the captor, once the woman gave birth, she could be allowed to spend the first two to three postpartum months in a house a few miles from the castle. After that, she would be returned to the castle and sent back to the dungeon. The fate of the baby would be decided by the rapist/captor. In some cases, the child was allowed to live at the castle. In others, the captor would give the baby his last name, but would still auction the child off into slavery, forcing the child to grow up without their mother in a strange land in the Americas or England.
Above is another view of the floor of one of the dungeons. The white spots were scraped many years ago, with the scrapings scientifically tested, tests which confirmed the human waste and other byproducts that lingered on the floors for many years. The only real cleaning that the floors received during the time that the dungeons held captives came when rain would blow in through some of the few windows that were present.
This model shows the vast expanse of the castle.
This plaque commemorates the visit to Cape Coast Castle made by U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in July 2009.
Shown above is a local market in Accra, the capital of Ghana. It holds many vendors selling a wide range of goods.
Another stop on our tour was the W.E.B. Du Bois Museum in Accra. Du Bois, a civil and human rights leader who was a key figure in the Pan-Africanist movement, lived in the home during the last two years of his life, 1961-1963. He and his widow, Shirley Graham Du Bois, are buried at the site.
Boti Waterfalls is located near a tiny rural village called Asiafo.
Asiafo has a local gathering spot called the Umbrella Rock, which offers shelter from the rain and a place to stop and enjoy the local scenery.
Asiafo also features the three-headed palm tree, another local gathering spot that also has rock seats at its base that allows visitors to make wishes for good luck.
Ghana's people, culture, scenery and food are incredible. If you have the opportunity to visit, you should by all means do so.
