Day 10 - 12th March A drive back south to the coast, and a visit to a former slave fort

Photo above - the road South. More photos to follow below

We hit the road again

Another long drive today so we set off at 8am. We are driving back down south to the coast, to the fishing town of Elmina (population 34,000), best known for St George’s (or Elmina) Castle, the oldest European building in Africa, which was once used as a holding centre for slaves.

The day started as usual with a humid 30c. Driving out of Kumasi, the traffic was heavy as we have now come to expect in Ghana. Minivans packed with people going to work, school kids in their smart uniforms, trucks, tuk tuks, pedestrians, sellers and stalls, all packed the bumpy dusty road out of the city. We saw a few individual labourers with spades in hand in the middle of the road, ostensibly digging the road, but actually asking for money from vehicles as they went past. We also passed through a few random police and army checkpoints but were not stopped

A look at a local crop

Eventually we were back out into the lush green vegetation and rolling hills, with frequent small towns and villages. We stopped to look at some casava plants and some cocoa trees at the side of the road, and then a mile or so further on we stopped briefly at a cocoa bean packaging plant. They have very strong policies on fair treatment for employees, which was evidenced by the numerous posters on the walls.

The road today was a lot better than we have been used so far in Ghana. Out of the city passing through the rural areas it was well tarmarced and it was only when we passed through the bigger villages, that we were slowed down a bit.

Back to the coast

We made it to the coast after about 5 hours driving, to a place called Cape Coast. We stopped in a cafe for some lunch, right next to the local castle. The British used to have their Gold Coast administration here in the 1880s, based in the castle here.

After lunch we had a fantastic wander along the beach to see all the fishing boats. Lots of smiles and waves from the locals. Next we drove the short distance west along the coast on the international road to the small town of Elmina.

Stories of the slave trade

The town of Elmina is dominated by the whitewashed St George’s (Elmina) Castle, which dates back to the 15th century, and was built by the Portugese. The fort is a rather sombre place when you know that this is where slaves were held awaiting transportation to the new world, and the cells which they were held in still remain. The town has colonial buildings built by the Portuguese, Dutch and English. We arrived just at the time that the school kids were walking home. They were keen to chat and had good English.

Elmina is also home to the smaller Fort St Jago built by the Dutch, perched on a hill and overlooking the town, and we also visited a small 19th century Dutch cemetery.

We went into the castle to see the male and female dungeons where slaves were put awaiting a ship to take them away. They were fed once a day but kept in one room for maybe 3 months, with hardly any ventilation, living and sleeping together with maybe another 50 slaves, in extreme heat and humidity. Those who misbehaved were put into a separate cell and left to die.

After our short visit to Elmina Castle, we drove to our beach side hotel about 45 minutes away. Tomorrow we cross another border into Cote d'Ivoire.