I hope you’re having a great day today. This is a continuation(part 2) of my previous post about our fun trip to the central region of Ghana.
From the Kakum National park , we drove all the way towards the shores of the sea where more Ghanaian historical sites were situated. Our journey led us to ST. GEORGE'S CASTLE popularly known as the Elmina Castle. This castle is know to be the oldest castle in the history of Ghana. Built by the Portuguese in 1482 (542 years) right at the shores of the Elmina beach. The Elmina castle was built for the purpose of trade during the days of slave trade.
Right before you arrive at the castle, you come across a beautiful fishing area with numerous firshermen and fish mongers going about their daily activities with so much energy.
Right outside the magnificent castle, you come across natives from the Elmina community engaging in petty trading. Most of them sold these hand made artefacts they carved themselves to tourists who visited the castle. Others also sold beads, bracelets and all sorts of jewellery which represent Ghanaian culture. I was fortunate to get a shot of one of those beauties being sold by these natives. I hope you like it.
The castle looked really beautiful from afar and even more breathtaking up close. We made our way through the magnificent gates of the castle to the main compound. Once inside, we were made to divide ourselves into smaller groups and a tour guide was assigned to each group to show us around. This was actually my second time being to the Elmina castle but once again, I was a kid then so I didn’t really understand all that was being explained to us then.
This castle actually holds a lot of Ghanaian history than one can imagine. If my memory serves me right, these slanted walls on both sides of the castle from the inside were built to serve as extra support system for the castle walls. You could see from the look of things that the castle was built with a lot of attention to every little detail.
From the compound area, we proceeded to the dungeons which were very close to the main entrance. There are actually more dungeons upstairs and in other parts of the castle but these ones were right at the entrance. There were two dungeons in the basement actually.
One had little to no ventilation at all while the other had a window which served as a source of ventilation. The dungeon with little to no ventilation at all was used to house the slaves. There were no washroom whatsoever so you do everything of yours right in the little space. And you’d be surprised how many people they actually kept in there. These slaves were packed like sardines in that particular dungeon.
The other dungeon with a window was to house officials who were under punishment . Obviously, they were white. Their dungeon was more spacious also. Incase I forgot to add, there’s no source of lightening in there also.
From the basement, we made our way to an inside compound leading to the governors residence. The whole place looked like a maze cos you’d go through this path and come out from a very different path leading to a different part of the castle. Right in the middle of the governors compound was a well. This well was said to be very deep. I don’t actually remember if it is a natural or man made one. It was said that , at some point the well was no longer in use because the Portuguese believed that it had been contaminated by the local people.
Right opposite the well was a bomb I think. I don’t really know what it’s called but I’d like to assume it’s a bomb.😂
Inside the governors building were different rooms for different purposes and there were many staircases which were all made of wood. For a minute I was scared I was going to fall but then I still used it.😅
From there, we made our way through another path with white walls and that led us deeper into darker and smaller dungeons. I mean, who would be able to live in a place like this. You could perceive the smell of the bodies and the heat accumulated there over the years . These dungeons were used to keep slaves who were to be transported abroad. When it was time to transport these slaves, they were going to go through the GATE OF NO RETURN. This gate was named this way because anyone that went out from there was never going to return back to the country.
At this point, we were literally done with the whole tour. We made our way to the roof of the castle where we could view the entirety of the region. There were also some bombards on the roof which I guess we all know their use.
I think I’m writing too much now so I’m going to summarise the remaining part of the trip cos I don’t want to bore you out.😅 It was already past lunch time so we hoped on our buses and made our way to the coconut groove beach resort where we had our lunch, played some games, and did so many fun activities. At the end of the day, we were all worn out cos we arrived back to our residence at almost midnight. It was really a great experience for us all and I hope you also enjoyed this little tour from me.😅
Here are some more pictures, I hope you like them.
With love, Nhaji❤️
all images belong to me.