Weekend Trip to Cape Coast

Weekend Trip to Cape Coast

This weekend was my first real trip away from Kasoa. With Monday off for a national holiday, our small group of volunteers caught a tro-tro to the city of Cape Coast. Cape Coast is a tourist beach town which has relaxing beaches, historic slave trade castles, and a major national park. We arrived on Saturday afternoon after a 2.5 hour tro-tro ride. I “slept” or at least tried to sleep even with the blaring dance music you would expect at a nightclub, pot holes that could drown a full grown adult, and enough leg room that even gumby would have struggled to be comfortable, nevertheless we arrived ready and excited to explore the town.   

After we found a hotel (a four person room for 40 cedi or $10.75), we went to explore the castle. The slave castle at Cape Coast was a very busy place several hundred years ago. Many slaves from all over West Africa were brought to the castle to be loaded onto ships headed for the United States, the Caribbean, and parts of South America. Even though we studied the slave trade in school, it was a very different experience to see the first leg of the triangle trade. We arrived at the castle late and before we knew it, the crowds were gone and we were enjoying the castle all by ourselves. From the walls, we watched the sun fade away and listened to the waves break on the rocks below.

That night, we met up with several Ghanaian volunteers near the University of Cape Coast. School is just beginning, so they had one last weekend to come hang out before getting back to their studies. For dinner and drinks, we went to a “gas station” just outside of town. This was not your typical gas station even though there were pumps and you could fill up your vehicle. On the side of the station there was a stage with a live band as well as two outdoor bars for drinks and food. Behind the station there was a DJ playing the top Ghanaian dance hits which is where we hung out for while outside enjoying the beach air.

The next day was our beach day so we decided to check into a new hotel that was right on the water (a little quieter that the previous night where a combination of roosters, street venders, horn happy taxi drivers made sleeping slightly difficult). The waves were very similar to the west coast which was a shock for the two Italian volunteers who were use to the Mediterranean. A combination of swimming, reading, and talking filled most of our day as we relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful African coast.  

We decided to use Monday to explore the National Park of Kakum. Monday is a national holiday in Ghana to celebrate the birthday of the nation’s first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. After visiting his memorial in Accra, I have an appreciation for the man as a leader and servant to his community. Our celebration of this man’s birthday started quite early as we caught a 45 min taxi ride to arrive at the park before it officially opened. The national park is huge (around 400 square km) and looks like how I would have pictured an African Jungle. We had unique view of the jungle as we explored the park from the canopy on a series of hanging bridges overlooking the vast forest. After paying a guide an extra 5 cedi ($1.50), we were able to enter the park early and walked the bridges free from any crowd or screaming child. After viewing it from above, we then traveled along the forest floor on a one hour hike learning about the uses of all of the trees and plants which many Ghanaians still use in the local villages. After our hike we visited a crocodile park to eat lunch before returning for one last afternoon on the beach.

It was a wonderful weekend trip and allowed me to recharge before returning to the normal schedule of teaching and community outreach. Each week becomes easier and more comfortable and now that I am beginning to explore the country more Ghana feels more and more like home.