Ghana - West Africa - page 416

Kakum National Park
An easy day trip from Cape Coast, Kakum National Park ( 020-0420831, 033-2196146; admission
C1; 8.30am-3.30pm) is home to over 300 species of bird, 600 species of butterfly and 40
mammal species - on paper, that is. In practice, you'll be lucky if you see a monkey.
The park is famous for its canopy walk (adult/student C30/15) , a series of viewing platforms
linked by a string of bouncy suspension bridges 30m above the ground. The trouble is that
it is being sold as an attraction rather than a national park, with steep admission fees, rauc-
ous noise on visits (which are always done in large groups, with no insistence from
rangers to keep quiet) and, consequently, very little wildlife. The short nature walks (adult/stu-
dent C15/7) offered from the visitor centre are hardly more authentic.
If you would like to see wildlife, you will need to venture further into the park and
make special arrangements with a guide the day before.
The cafe at the visitor centre serves basic food, snacks and homemade ginger juice.
Kakum is easily accessible by public transport. From Cape Coast, take a tro-tro from
Ciodu Station (C3.50, 30 minutes).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Elmina
POP 32,800
The enchanting town of Elmina lies on a narrow finger of land between the Atlantic
Ocean and Benya Lagoon. Here, the air is salty and the architecture is a charming mix of
colonial remnants, elderly posubans , and an imposing historical legacy in the shape of St
George's Castle.
Sights & Activities
St George's Castle CASTLE
(Elmina Castle; adult/student/child C11/7/2, camera fee C20; 9am-5pm) St George's Castle, a Unesco
heritage site, was built by the Portuguese in 1482, and captured by the Dutch in 1637.
From then until they ceded it to the British in 1872, it served as the African headquarters
of the Dutch West India Company.
It was expanded when slaves replaced gold as the major object of commerce, and the
storerooms were converted into dungeons. The informative tour (included in the entry fee)