Sunday, January 27, 2008

Touring

Did an ambitious day of touring yesterday. A colleague and I hit the canopy walk at Kakum National Park and the castles at Elmina and Cape Coast.


The canopy walk is a narrow rope and board suspension bridge strung between platforms mounted on existing trees in Kakum. It enables visitors to walk through the forest canopy instead of just on the forest floor.



My colleague and other visitors make the walk.



The view of one walk from another.



Ghana Ghana Ghana Ghana Ghana ghameleon. These are all over the place.



It just goes to show you: everyone loves patio furniture.




Elmina town.



The beach market at Elmina.



Boats docked at Elmina.



A boat sailing by Elmina.



We had assumed that the boats were all for fishing, but we did spot some blocks of frozen fish being offloaded from one into a waiting truck. They must have been sailing out to a ship offshore to take on this cargo because Elmina is too shallow to dock ships.



Local fisherman.



Mending nets in Cape Coast.


Years ago I worked with a guy who did tourism development. He had recently done a lot of work in Ghana, and he was effusive about its potential. It's got a zillion miles of fantastic beaches, a well-deserved reputation for being friendly, it's very safe, and unlike most African countries, it has structures of historical interest in good shape that can be visited. There's only one problem:


...the structures are slaving castles, and the Club Med crowd finds that kind of a drag.



This is Elmina Castle. Built by the Portuguese, captured by the Dutch and then the English, it was used to trade in gold, ivory, and then slaves for the New World, bought from tribes who captured them and marched them down from further north.



It's a beautiful building, but grim, grim, grim.



The Door of No Return at Elmina. Slaves were marched through this to waiting boats to servitude in the New World, or death on the journey.



Same deal at Cape Coast Castle, where this cannon helped defend against enemies foreign and domestic.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Microenterprise in Ghana, Part One


A local dining spot.



When it comes to security, trust ninjas.



Sounds like the title of a chick lit novel.
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Monday, January 21, 2008

We're Ghana Win

Ghana won their first match of the African Nations Cup last night with what was literally a last-minute goal, and there was much celebration.


One of a number of groups we saw dancing in the street.



These kids on the side of the road were among those shouting of their approval at passing cars.
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Streets of Accra

I'm in Ghana for a couple of weeks helping to start up a new project. It's my first visit to West Africa, so I'm looking forward to adding to my collection of intestinal microbes.


Street scene downtown.



Some of the local architecture. The African Cup of Nations soccer tournament is taking place here, and Ghana are one of the favorites to win, so flags are everywhere and football fever is running high.



The Makola market downtown.



Another shot of Makola market.



Hilariously good, or hilariously bad? Note the cutout of a sumo wrestler in the left of the photo, which is amusing, but not hilarious.



This-is-not-a-bathroom signs of Ghana, part 1: in an underground parking garage.
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