First Road Trip

Janna and I had our first trip together outside of Greater Accra over the October 26-28, 2012 long weekend here in Ghana. We spent the first night at a nice place on the beach just east of a town called Elmina. On the Saturday we toured two towns, Elmina, and Cape Coast, which was my first exposure to some of the colonial history here in Ghana. Cape Coast was the capital of Ghana until the capital was moved to Accra in 1877.  Both towns have varied histories passing between the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Swedes, and the British.

Here is a view of Elmina.

Elmina Panoramic View

And here is a view of Cape Coast.

Cape Coast Panoramic View

I will write more about these two towns in a future post especially their role in the transatlantic slave trade.

On the Sunday Janna and I visited our first Ghanaian National Park, Kakum. It is a beautiful remnant of the once extensive rainforest that could be found along the coastline here in Ghana. Our guide was great, explaining many of the botanical specimens we could see in the forest giving us an ethnobiological insight into how the trees fit into the Ashanti culture. We learnt about medicinal properties, uses for the different woods and even how on one type of tree you could bang on their buttresses in order to communicate over long distances via the booming sound that would result. The highlight of the visit though was the canopy walk which is a series of rope bridges that allows you to access the top of the rainforest canopy, at times greater than 40 m in the air. I loved it and could have spent hours up there.  Below is a video (not taken by me, you can find everything on YouTube) that can give you a taste of the bridges. Janna did really well on the bridges considering heights aren’t really her thing. I am really glad that we got to experience the rainforest especially as I have to date been immersed in the hectic urbanness of Accra.

Kakum National Park Canopy Walk