Well it has certainly been a whirlwind few days. Yesterday we left Kumasi and went to Kakum National Park. Kakum is a giant nationally protected area of rainforest in the southern half of Ghana. The forest houses many rare plants that have medicinal implications. It also (so we were told) is home to many rare animals. Unfortunately we were there during a time of day when most animals seemed to be napping. And I mean who can blame them. It was so hot and sticky even 130 ft up in the canopy that all I wanted to do was take a nap. Too bad the bouncy tro-tro ride to cape coast kept me awake! Anyway, back to the canopy walk. I have never done anything quite so terrifying in my life. To reach the Canopy walk you stand for a really long time in line at badge control. Only so many people at a time are allowed up on the bridges (Thank God!). Once you get through badge control you make your way to the start of the canopy walk and climb a slowly winding staircase to the first viewing platform. From there you make your way to other viewing platforms via rope bridges that look like they fell straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.

Last night we stayed the night in Cape Coast, origin of the tragic slave trade with the west. This morning we went to the British fort that was once used to hold slaves before they were sent to the West. Cape Coast was crawling with white tourists. It is really no wonder that all the tour guides seemed bitter and angry towards the visitors. I found the dungeons where the slaves were shackled and held to be particularly disturbing. Perhaps though the most moving remnant was the Door of No Return. This is the door that leads from the dungeons to the harbor. For most slaves the last time they saw their families was as they were marched out of that door. Knowing the bleak American history of slavery made this experience much more intense for me. It certainly adds another layer of history to see the terrible conditions in which the slaves were treated before coming to a terrible future, and fate, in the West. The visit definitely zapped my energy just like the concentration camps did last year.

Well I am on a faster computer, so I am going to attempt to drop a few random African pics onto the blog before we head back to Accra. I can't believe my time in Africa is coming to a close. It seems like I just got here!