Having lost a week to stupid malaria, I was keen to make up some time, and with a following wind and some good roads (finally) I was making good progress until
a tropical thunderstorm stopped me in my tracks (eventually - I initially tried to carry on but soaking wet and unable to see I had to concede defeat). I stopped into the nearest hotel, which turned out to be an amazing little beachside resort, but as nice as it was there was no time to savour it and I was on the move early the next morning.
Back when the slave trade was at its peak, Ghana was one of the key areas for the traders and along the coast they built around 40 forts to protect their interests. While most of these have fallen into disrepair or been reclaimed by the sea, there are still plenty to visit, and so I started off at San Antonio (more of a fort than a slave trading centre) and then Dixcove (where the local 'guide' gave me some fairly outlandish stories about undersea tunnels and virgins being buried alive as part of the construction process). By the time I made my way over to Elmina (where the largest of the slave forts was) it was getting late, and as I stood by the side of the road looking for suggestions on where to stay in my guide book, a couple of guys on a moped showed up to look at my bike. We got talking, and that is how I ended up with an invitation to stay the night in a nearby psychiatric hospital. Alas, I wasn't sleeping on wards full of howling comic-book villains, I was in nurses accommodation instead (the guys on the bike were nurses) but they were so nice - I got a free bed, and they bought me dinner too!
Elmina castle was built by the Portuguese in 1482, initially as a trading post and protection for the gold trade, but later extended out to accommodate the more lucrative slave trade. The stories from the guide were as grim as you might imagine; arbitrary beatings and murders, institutionalised rape and sexual abuse, and prisoners kept undournourished and unwashed for up to 3 months in the dungeons before the (even worse) slave ships arrived to cart them off to the Americas (most ended up in Brazil). As brutal as the white regime was, they didn't always fare well, with huge numbers succumbing to malaria shortly after arriving. It was a very sobering experience, walking around the dungeons, punishment cells and seeing the door of no return, but the guide was excellent and was definitely a highlight of the trip so far.
Cape Coast castle was similar, though built with slavery in mind from the start. Stacked full of guns, and with dungeons that were designed for a few hundred slaves (but frequently held in excess of 1500), the history was equally terrible. The forts along the coast all changed hands numerous times between the Dutch, Portuguse, British, Swedish and others, and while the British can claim the crown of being the ones to lead the abolition of slavery, they had made plenty of blood money before then.
Accra was the next stop, although as I tend not to like cities that much it was more of a transport hub than a destination in its own right. I had intended to see the museum and get a curry (both recommended in the guidebook), but both were closed so after one night in a 'reggae hostel' (with entertainment supplied by the local drug dealer in the form of the worst a capella reggae freestyle ever) and a quick visit to Independence Square (standard Socialist concrete parade ground) it was off to the Volta region.
Formerly part of German Togoland, Volta region has Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in the world by surface area thanks to the huge hydroelectric dam built in the 1960s. Unfortunately, as spectacular as it is in terms of size, it can't compete with the likes of the Hoover dam in terms of looks, so you just have to read the numbers and be impressed. Volta is also home to Ghana's highest waterfall (Wli falls); actually two drops (90m lower and 70m upper). After camping in a German run campsite with terrific views, I took the short hike to see the lower falls, though the highlight wasn't the falls but learning from the guide that the bats that live there sometimes engage with mortal combat with the local hawks (the hawks predate the bats, but sometimes as they sink their talons in the bats twist around and sink their sharp teeth into the stomach of the hawk; both then fall to the floor, unable or unwilling to let go, until both eventually die).
From the campsite, I learned there was a short route over the mountains to Togo, so after the falls off I went...
a tropical thunderstorm stopped me in my tracks (eventually - I initially tried to carry on but soaking wet and unable to see I had to concede defeat). I stopped into the nearest hotel, which turned out to be an amazing little beachside resort, but as nice as it was there was no time to savour it and I was on the move early the next morning.
Back when the slave trade was at its peak, Ghana was one of the key areas for the traders and along the coast they built around 40 forts to protect their interests. While most of these have fallen into disrepair or been reclaimed by the sea, there are still plenty to visit, and so I started off at San Antonio (more of a fort than a slave trading centre) and then Dixcove (where the local 'guide' gave me some fairly outlandish stories about undersea tunnels and virgins being buried alive as part of the construction process). By the time I made my way over to Elmina (where the largest of the slave forts was) it was getting late, and as I stood by the side of the road looking for suggestions on where to stay in my guide book, a couple of guys on a moped showed up to look at my bike. We got talking, and that is how I ended up with an invitation to stay the night in a nearby psychiatric hospital. Alas, I wasn't sleeping on wards full of howling comic-book villains, I was in nurses accommodation instead (the guys on the bike were nurses) but they were so nice - I got a free bed, and they bought me dinner too!
Elmina castle was built by the Portuguese in 1482, initially as a trading post and protection for the gold trade, but later extended out to accommodate the more lucrative slave trade. The stories from the guide were as grim as you might imagine; arbitrary beatings and murders, institutionalised rape and sexual abuse, and prisoners kept undournourished and unwashed for up to 3 months in the dungeons before the (even worse) slave ships arrived to cart them off to the Americas (most ended up in Brazil). As brutal as the white regime was, they didn't always fare well, with huge numbers succumbing to malaria shortly after arriving. It was a very sobering experience, walking around the dungeons, punishment cells and seeing the door of no return, but the guide was excellent and was definitely a highlight of the trip so far.
Cape Coast castle was similar, though built with slavery in mind from the start. Stacked full of guns, and with dungeons that were designed for a few hundred slaves (but frequently held in excess of 1500), the history was equally terrible. The forts along the coast all changed hands numerous times between the Dutch, Portuguse, British, Swedish and others, and while the British can claim the crown of being the ones to lead the abolition of slavery, they had made plenty of blood money before then.
Accra was the next stop, although as I tend not to like cities that much it was more of a transport hub than a destination in its own right. I had intended to see the museum and get a curry (both recommended in the guidebook), but both were closed so after one night in a 'reggae hostel' (with entertainment supplied by the local drug dealer in the form of the worst a capella reggae freestyle ever) and a quick visit to Independence Square (standard Socialist concrete parade ground) it was off to the Volta region.
Formerly part of German Togoland, Volta region has Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in the world by surface area thanks to the huge hydroelectric dam built in the 1960s. Unfortunately, as spectacular as it is in terms of size, it can't compete with the likes of the Hoover dam in terms of looks, so you just have to read the numbers and be impressed. Volta is also home to Ghana's highest waterfall (Wli falls); actually two drops (90m lower and 70m upper). After camping in a German run campsite with terrific views, I took the short hike to see the lower falls, though the highlight wasn't the falls but learning from the guide that the bats that live there sometimes engage with mortal combat with the local hawks (the hawks predate the bats, but sometimes as they sink their talons in the bats twist around and sink their sharp teeth into the stomach of the hawk; both then fall to the floor, unable or unwilling to let go, until both eventually die).
From the campsite, I learned there was a short route over the mountains to Togo, so after the falls off I went...
