cape coast
(may 23rd)

Stretching along the Ghana coast is a wild, rough, strikingly beautiful seascape. But this "gold coast" not only has thriving communities dotted along it, but also a dark shadow of times past in the form of a string of slave trading castles.

much of the Ghana economy hasn't changed in hundreds of years, and folks still go out fishing overnight in their pirogues. These communities depend on the sea for their livelihood.

These are the quarters of the colonial administration, and soldiers. The slaves were packed into dungeons below the courtyard.

This is the "door of no return" where Africans were led out to waiting ships to be taken across the treacherous middle passage.

Street view in Cape Coast.

My friend from Paris, Alex, was down for a week and we bounced our way across the "canopy walkway" in Kukum National Forest. It was a bit distracting with others up in the trees with you, but it was also a rare experience not to forget.

The Cape Coast Castle.

This castle, unlike some others that started as trading outposts, was built by the British to trade slaves and bully their colonial neighbors. The tower behind the canon was the British governor's residence.

Rows of canon face to sea

I was reluctant to photograph the dungeons that lie beneath this courtyard. In a way, the overwhelming sense of inhumanity that you can witness, the spirits that seem to haunt the place, are beyond photographs and words. It's a sad, sad, vicious place.

A strange statue celebrating a local industry I guess.

Contemplating what most of this country must have looked like all those years ago.