We left Accra on Friday night and got into Cape Coast around
midnight. We were trying to spend as little money on a hotel as possible so we
stayed in a rundown little place called Sammo Guesthouse. My roommates went for
a little walk and as they got back the gate was locked. As they were waiting to
get let back in, a man jumped out of the alleyway and grabbed my roommate
Takeru’s camera. Luckily it was around his neck so the man didn’t get away with
it but the incident put everyone on edge. I was inside almost asleep so I was
less worried. The next morning we woke up early and took a trotro to Kakum
National Park. We took the canopy tour, in which you walk on rope bridges
through the trees. Unfortunately we didn’t see any animals but the views were
pretty great and it is always fun to be swinging a hundred feet in the air.
Afterwards
we went to Monkey Forest Resort, a couple of miles from Kakum. It is a small
monkey/animal sanctuary started by a Dutch couple 8 years ago. The couple was
incredibly friendly and loved the animals. We saw several different kinds of
monkeys, young crocodiles, civets (medium size tropical cat), antelope, and
even a baby python. The monkeys were so playful and loved to show off when
people were around. All the animals at the sanctuary were at one point injured
or orphaned and brought to the owners for help. In several cases the monkeys
would sleep in bed with the couple until they were old enough to be on their
own. At the end of our little tour we were shown inside the house where several
more monkeys were kept. The women in charge pointed out that the big monkey was
staring me down. She told me to walk outside and look in the window and sure
enough, the monkey was still looking at me. She explained that he would always
find the white male in the room and stare him down as a sort of dominance act.
He never broke eye contact with me. Quite a funny sight. We said our goodbyes
to the Dutch couple and trotro’ed back to Cape Coast. We had a good meal of
Fufu with light soup and Tilapia before heading to Elmina.
Sunday
we saw Elmina and Cape Coast castles. After finishing the second castle we
decided to try and go see an interesting rock shrine that the guide book had
mentioned, called Wassa Domama. But we got to the trotro station and were
disappointed to discover that the trotro was not running on Sunday. Next to the
station was a small stadium that appeared to have something going on so we
slipped in through an open gate and discovered it was a futbol (soccer) game.
It had been raining all day and the field was muddy but the fans loved every
minute of it. We caught the last 20 minutes of the game and then it went to
penalty kicks. After the final goal was scored the players and fans went nuts.
The barbed wire fence surrounding the field didn’t seem to deter them from
jumping up and hugging one another. It turned out that the game had been a
championship for the Division 2 Central Region of Ghana. We watched for another
half-hour as the fans and players partied on the pitch. Some players ran around
in their underwear, and some were lofted and carried on fans’ shoulders and
music and dancing ensued. We finally left, and got ourselves a rather nice
hotel with hot water, air conditioning and no spiders or cockroaches to be
found. In Ghana you can get a room for three guys for 40 cedi (that is a little
more than $20 USD). We went into town and watched the EURO league championship
between Spain and Italy at a local bar. Ghanaians are crazy about soccer so the
atmosphere was great.
We were
pretty tired on Monday but I was re-energized by my first hot shower in over a
month. We thought we would take a “short” journey to the Wassa Domama rock
shrine before heading back to Accra early. We were very wrong. We got up at 8
and on the trotro by 9 in the morning. But we proceeded to wait two hours for
the trotro to fill up (Rule #1: never get on an empty trotro). We finally left
but it started to rain hard on our journey and I realized that our trotro did
not have working windshield wipers. These impeded our progress a bit and made
for an unsettling ride. We slid up and down dirt (now mud) roads for 2 hours
before finally arriving in Wassa Domama. This should have been a sign to me
that we should turn back (but Rule #2: Never turn back on an adventure). We
were informed that the shrine was another 7 km (5 miles…ish) and that we could
take a taxi but it would cost us 30 cedi (I don’t think I have spent that much
money on a single thing in Ghana) so stubbornly I decided we would walk. It was
quite a walk; up and down hills, through cocoa forests with muddy trails and
steep trails, all in 90 degree heat, with some rain every once in a while. It
took us another hour to reach the shrine although I could have sworn it was 3
hours. As we finally arrived we came upon this huge natural rock shrine which
consists of one enormous rock balanced on two other enormous rocks. We walked
underneath it and then decided to climb to the top. Our guide showed us how to
use the vines growing from the trees to climb each rock. Yet again I knew for a
brief time what it feels like to be Bear Grylls. The top was about 70 feet off
the ground and had some great views of the jungle around us. We walked the 7 km
back to the town, caught a trotro to Cape Coast and then caught one to Accra.
Our “short day” started at 8 am and ended with us arriving home around 10 pm,
covered in mud, scrapes and bugbites and absolutely exhausted. All in all a
worthwhile adventure although I wouldn’t recommend it (or do it again myself).
We had
an insanely long weekend in Cape Coast and yet again saw some things I never
would have imagined. Sometimes you just have to do something that sounds
interesting regardless of how difficult or tiring it will be. There is no
better feeling than getting outside of your comfort zone and seeing how far your willing to go. Pictures coming soon. Now
for your Twi of the day.
Twi phrase of the day:
Wabre? (Wabray) Are you Tired?
Mabre (Mabray) I am tired
Ma mmbreye (Ma
mmbrayay) I
am not tired
