Picture this . . . .You’re suspended in the middle of a narrow swinging rope bridge 100 feet above the floor of a tropical rain forest inhabited by wild animals, with a petrified six-year-old unable to move in front of you, while gripping a screaming and kicking toddler under one arm and trying to manage two other bags on the other.
This was my unfortunate – but now I can admit quite funny – circumstances on our visit to Kakum National Park in the city of Cape Coast, Ghana, where I was born.
Kakum National Park is ecotourism at its best. It is a tropical rainforest which spreads over 145 square miles and is home to many animals and indigenous plants and flowers. If you consider that the entire island of Barbados is about 166 square miles in size, this gives you a better perspective on just how large this park is. Presently, Kakum is the only park on the continent of Africa with a canopy walkway.
This impressive aerial track over the forest is more than 1 000 feet in length and is made up of a series of swinging rope bridges that connect seven tree top platforms, which offer visitors a spectacular view of the animals and foliage in the park.
Among Kakum’s animal inhabitants are elephants, monkeys, antelopes and hundreds of different birds and insects, including the white breasted guinea fowl, which is currently on the international list of endangered species. Other rare animals that live in the forest include buffalo, dwarf crocodiles, civets and leopards
Aware of the long list of wild animals that reside in the park, and the height of the roped canopy, you can better appreciate why I was so terrified and stressed, as I swung for what felt like hours but was really just about five to ten minutes and tried to calm my scared children and get us safely off our rocking, above-ground perch.
As I did this, I could hear the taunting echoes of my brother, who along with my husband and father had moved on to the other six bridges: “I told you not to bring him.”
Thankfully, a group of students who started the tour with us caught up and held my bags, as I instructed my son not to look down and to move side to side like Spiderman gripping the roped edges of the suspended bridge until we made it to the first treetop viewing location.
Understandably, the children and I opted not to finish the course and took the thankfully sturdier rope bridges to the exit of the walkway – at which point my son Kyei, who had clearly put his fright behind him, danced and shouted with delight “I did it, Daddy. I went over three bridges.”
I, on the other hand, was a sweating, nervous mess, and was still shaking from the whole experience and repeating over and over in my head “Never again!” It took a few drinks at the park restaurant and bar, before I could smile and admit, it wouldn’t be too bad to try it again – minus kids, of course.
So how did we our mid-air adventures begin? After paying the entrance fee, we took a stroll around the onsite wildlife education centre and there we met our friendly tour guide, who issued us with badges and gave us our instructions before we started our uphill hike through the forest to the rope bridges.
This was more strenuous than I expected, especially as I was carrying my 20-month-old daughter who felt heavier with every step and refused to go to anyone else. The air also got thinner as we got higher. As we arrived at the first platform and caught our breath, our guide shared the history of Kakum National Park and described the complex ecosystem of the forest. He also shared how some of the traditional plants were used as medicine by locals.
As he wrapped up, he warned that the first rope bridge is an extreme example of what to expect as you move around the aerial walkway. If you were uncomfortable on this bridge, he advised us to turn left and make our way to the exit; if you were unfazed, turn right and enjoy the view.
Other memorable moments of our time in the seaside town of Cape Coast were our tours of some of the many schools in the area, as well as visits to the historic Cape Coast and Elmina Castles located on the waterfront, both of which are World Heritage sites. Cape Coast is a major tourism centre and fishing town and was once an important shipping port in the 16th century.
It was considered the “gate of no return”, where most of the slaves were held before they were placed on ships to destinations such as England, North America and the Caribbean. In addition to having a thriving fishing industry, Cape Coast is also home to many prestigious academic institutions and schools.
These include The University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast Polytechnic and Wesley Girls’ High School, where my mum taught in the early 1970s and the reason I was born in Cape Coast where none of my family originates or resides. In Ghana, many of the country’s top secondary schools are boarding institutions scattered around the country.
Cape Coast Castle, which was originally built by the Swedish, was expanded by the Dutch and again by the Swedish in the mid-1600s. The town of Cape Coast grew around this castle which is one of about 30 “slave castles” located on shorelines around the country. Unfortunately, as we started our journey so early in the morning to avoid traffic, the castle was not open and with our limited time, we were only able to walk around its outskirts.
At Elmina Castle, which was built by in 1482 by the Portuguese and was captured by the Dutch in the 1600s and the British in the 1800s, we were able to take a full guided tour. The castle is majestic but its rooms, corridors and dungeons are haunting as our guide shared tales of horror inflicted on the slaves who sadly passed through its walls before their trans-Atlantic journey.
One particular story that stood out as our tour group stood in a courtyard and listened to our guide was the fact that the Commander of the castle would come out of his room every evening which was on the third floor of the castle and look down in the courtyard where all the naked, starved female slaves were herded from their cramped, dark and dirty dungeon rooms on the bottom.
He would then choose an unwilling victim to host in his room for the night. This slave would be bathed, perfumed and fed. She would then be dressed and taken to the commander’s room for the night. As our mixed group of white, black and Hispanic people, stood and listened to this and other tales of atrocities committed and looked around the now empty and musty rooms, I took a moment to consider the major strides we have made with racism, discrimination, intolerance and abuse. I then silently prayed that things continue to get better for my children and the generation to follow them.
In some of the rooms around the castle were the remnants of artificial floral tributes which were purchased from conveniently located florists to remember and honor the memory of the thousands of enslaved men and women who would have been killed, ill-treated and imprisoned in the castle.
On one of the walls of Elmina next to a dungeon door, there is plaque with the following pledge and tribute. “In everlasting memory of the anguish of our ancestors. May those who died rest in peace. May those who return find their roots. May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. We, the living, vow to uphold this.”
This closes the chapter on what I hope were interesting reflections of what was truly an eye-opening and wonderful vacation. As we packed up and returned to London at the end of our two and a half weeks in Ghana, with so much left to see and do, I made up my mind that we would return soon, not just to visit family and friends but to take in all of the numerous other attractions and sights we were unable to experience.
