Cape Coast

Holly and I enjoyed some time on the coast this past weekend. We had a chance to visit the Cape Coast and Elmina areas. We have finally moved on from the dry regions of desert/semi-desert/grasslands (at least during this time of year) and more
into tropical vegetation with lots of green (a great change from the dry brown experienced over the past month). The beaches were lovely in the Cape Coast area, although we did not spend too much time on them as we had reports that there had been a few lost cameras/cash from travelers who wandered too far down the beach. We had time to visit the Elmina and Cape Coast castles as well while in the region. They were both interesting experiences learning some more history for this part of the world.
Both the forts were originally built for trading goods (for gold), then unfortunately for the slave trade. Just touring around the dungeons and experiencing the stench (even without a few hundred people living in them) was almost gagging at times. Some of the stats that the tour guide gave were also unbelievable. The main point that stuck out to me was that of the 60 million slaves that were captured only one in three lived long enough to work as a slave.



Jon