Getaway (2) - Elmina Castle

Some pictures of the imposing structure of Elmina Castle also known as St George's Castle

Getaway (2) - The slave trade

Visited Elmina in the southern part of Ghana a couple of weeks ago. It's a small town famous for its castle built by the Portuguese. The castle is indeed awesome! From a distance you can see its white facade gleaming under the bright rays of the sun. But beneath its pretty walls lies a dark past. For over 200 years, it was used first by the Portuguese and later the Dutch as a centre for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The living conditions that the slaves had to endure is horrendous. Typically, a few hundred people will be crammed into a small, dark, damp dungeon and made to eat, shit and sleep there while waiting for the ships that is to take them to the new world. It could take up to 3 months waiting for those ships. Countless died in those dungeons. Many more during the journey. Those that left would never ever see their homeland again.

It never cease to amaze me the kind of brutality that Man are capable of. The trans-Atlantic slave trade is but one of them. Terrorism, genocides, wars and the list goes on. During this festive period, while we are enjoying ourselves, let us all not forget that somewhere out there in this world, there could be a mother crying over her dying malnourished child or a father weeping for his fallen soldier son.

Entrance to the dungeons

The dungeons

Through the 'Door of no return' - so named as all the slaves that passes through the door will never again see their homeland again

Never again

The branding room - this the place where the slaves are branded with a hot iron to allow the traders to identify which slaves belongs to them

Weekend getaway (1) - Day three

Woke up early on the last day to see turtles hatchlings emerge from their nest. Quite a sight that I will not forget for quite some time!

Fisherman fishing

Turtle hatchlings!

The coastal town of Beyin

Fort Apollonia

View of the beach

Cute children!

Weekend getaway (1) - Day two

The beach resort that we stayed in is a stone's throw away from the Nzulezu stilted community. It's basically a village built upon a lake. The funny thing is the villagers are mainly farmers and not fisherman. Wonder why they decided to live on the lake.

The canal that leads to the lake




























 

The canoe ride

 









Scenes of the wetlands




















The stilted village

Weekend getaway (1) - Day One

Went for a short weekend trip to the southern coast of Ghana last week with all the other interns. The place we stayed at was isolated but beautiful.

Here are some pictures from the Day one of the trip.

The journey to the place we were to stay took a bloody long time. It couldn't have been more than 400 km but it took us almost 10 hours to cover that distance due to the bad conditions of the roads here. Anyway along the way, we saw some kids playing volleyball and we decided to stretch our legs and join them in the game.  

View of the beach from the resort

The beach resort runs a local turtle conservation program. So for a small fee, visitors can join in the beach patrol at night and they might see mother turtles laying eggs or help to dig out newly laid eggs and bring them back to the resort's nursery for protection.