Canopy Walkway and The Cape Coast Castle

     Students on study tour. Photo:by Agatha Fältström.

Walking on the canopy walkway at Kakum National Park is one thrilling experience I will never forget in a hurry. A 330-meters-long series of hanging bridges made of ropes all connected together by the trees, all some 40 meters off the ground. I was so scared to go all the way but took courage when I saw some young school children going all the way. I decided to put on a brave face and walk over the tropical rainforest.

  Kakum National Park is a rainforest located in the central region of Ghana, about 20 kilometers North of Cape Coast. The entire area is covered with tropical rainforest.  If you are into hiking and a bit of thrill seeker, Kakum National Park is the place to be.

  

Kakum National rainforest. Photo: by Agatha Fältström.

From Kakum National park we went to The Cape Coast Castle, an historic building with lots of scary stories about what went down there and how the blacks were treated, turned to slaves in their own land controlled by the Portuguese and Dutch before the British took over.  

 

Cape Coast Castle. Photo:by Agatha Fältström.

The tour around the castle will give you goosebumps with the horrifying history of slave trading and the brutality of slave traders.  You can actually feel their presence when you are there in the Condemned Room where rebellious slaves were punished and The Door of No Return from where they were taken onboard ships that would take them to the Unknown World.

You just cannot help but wonder that this beautiful magnificent castle in the heart of a little town overlooking the sea and the coconut tress dancing to the wild that blows has been hell on earth for most people and a black page in global history. It’s a definite must-see.

Cape Coast town. Photo: by Agatha Fältström.

 Getting there

You can get a Bus from Accra's main station on the Ring Road to Cape Coast, costing around GH¢11, and around GH¢14 in an airconditioned bus. The journey takes between two and three hours. From Cape Coast take a taxi to Kakum National Park. The taxi will need to wait for you, if not you will not get a taxi back. The same taxi will take you to Cape Coast Castle and any other places you want to go around Cape Costa. The taxi will cost about GH¢5.