We are back from our “relaxing” weekend in Cape Coast and Beyin. We have had some high highs and low lows.
The first indicator that this might be a rough trip began Saturday morning as we were attempting to leave Accra to go to Cape Coast. The attendant at the bus station took our baggage and told us to watch our bags and get on the bus when he told us too. In the meantime, our bus was over an hour late (which is becoming standard affair for Ghana). When we began to board, the lady taking tickets told us to wait- and that we didn’t have tickets to board this bus. After figuring out what was going on, we realized the bus attendant made us miss our first bus and was trying to put us on the wrong bus- which we didn’t have tickets for. He attempted to blame it on us, saying it was our fault we missed the bus, but Courtney persisted using her American culture to argue our way onto that bus. We had already been waiting so long!!!! Then they assigned Liz to a “special seat” in the stairwell- it’s really challenging to describe on the blog, but Courtney and Lori couldn’t stop laughing at situation. It was at least a good stress reliever from the earlier frustrations.
Then, the bus broke down leaving Accra and we had to turn around and get on a new bus that was even smaller than the original. We were worried that we were going to get kicked off this bus as well, and things weren’t looking good after getting kicked out of our seats 4 separate times. Fortunately, we were able to somehow stay on. At this point, we were about 4 hours behind schedule for our busy weekend.
We arrived in Cape Coast and quickly headed up to Kakum National Park. We took the taxi ride of our life up there- Lori kept having to tell Courtney to “just close your eyes” as if that was going to make the situation any more safe. Kakum itself was incredible. We went on a canopy walk in the jungle. There are only 5 canopy walks in the world, and the one in Ghana is the longest and highest. We basically crossed bridges made out of wood, nylon, and a little bit of steel- these were extremely high in the air over the jungle and very rickety. It was an adrenaline rush, but so cool! On our way home from Kakum, we had our driver stop at Hans Cottage to touch the crocodiles- yet another adrenaline rush. We were surprised to see that crocs hands look very similar to human hands.
That night we slept in an air-conditioned hotel room. Absolute bliss. Lori actually was unpleasantly cold for part of the night- something that none of us have felt for some time.
The final destination in Cape Coast was the Elmina Slave Castle- where the slaves were imprisoned and traded for. It was an extremely sobering experiences standing in a place where such horrible things occurred.
The next part of the adventure gets a little crazy- at least it was for our stress levels. We were trying to make it over to Beyin, which is the very western corner of the Ghanaian coastline. We taxied to Takaoradi where we were planning on taking a tro-tro the remainder of the way. We had settled on an adequate price from Cape Coast to Takoradi, but begin budget travelers we were unwilling to pay anything more. Once in Takoradi, we realized that tro-tros do not run consistently or often on Sundays. So now we were basically stranded here. With few options remaining, we bartered again with the taxi driver to take us to Beyin. It was much more than we wanted to pay, but we didn’t really have a choice. On our journey from Takoradi to Beyin, at one point Lori asks the driver if he knows where he is going. When she showed him on the map and he realized how much further it was than he originally thought, he was no longer willing to accept the price we previously arranged. That’s when all hell broke lose. Lots of arguing occurred and frustrating emotions was to be had. Still feeling like there was no options- and they were decreasing by the second- we concluded we would continue on despite the price.
Once we got to Beyin and saw the place we were staying and how beautiful it was we determined it was worth it. The beach was gorgeous, the weather was cooler, the water was warm, the food was amazing, and we had the place to ourselves! Like we said before, low lows lead to high highs.
In Beyin, we saw the local stilt village (a village built on stilts over the river) and got to relax on the beach.
Our journey back went a lot more smoothly- granted we had to get up at 4:30 am to begin the journey (making our way to the tro tro with a headlamp because the sun wasn’t up) but we thankfully had next to no issues. We are glad to be back safe and sound and grateful we had such an adventure filled weekend.
Today is AU (African Union) day. There are celebrations for Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, the first president of Ghana.
The first indicator that this might be a rough trip began Saturday morning as we were attempting to leave Accra to go to Cape Coast. The attendant at the bus station took our baggage and told us to watch our bags and get on the bus when he told us too. In the meantime, our bus was over an hour late (which is becoming standard affair for Ghana). When we began to board, the lady taking tickets told us to wait- and that we didn’t have tickets to board this bus. After figuring out what was going on, we realized the bus attendant made us miss our first bus and was trying to put us on the wrong bus- which we didn’t have tickets for. He attempted to blame it on us, saying it was our fault we missed the bus, but Courtney persisted using her American culture to argue our way onto that bus. We had already been waiting so long!!!! Then they assigned Liz to a “special seat” in the stairwell- it’s really challenging to describe on the blog, but Courtney and Lori couldn’t stop laughing at situation. It was at least a good stress reliever from the earlier frustrations.
Then, the bus broke down leaving Accra and we had to turn around and get on a new bus that was even smaller than the original. We were worried that we were going to get kicked off this bus as well, and things weren’t looking good after getting kicked out of our seats 4 separate times. Fortunately, we were able to somehow stay on. At this point, we were about 4 hours behind schedule for our busy weekend.
We arrived in Cape Coast and quickly headed up to Kakum National Park. We took the taxi ride of our life up there- Lori kept having to tell Courtney to “just close your eyes” as if that was going to make the situation any more safe. Kakum itself was incredible. We went on a canopy walk in the jungle. There are only 5 canopy walks in the world, and the one in Ghana is the longest and highest. We basically crossed bridges made out of wood, nylon, and a little bit of steel- these were extremely high in the air over the jungle and very rickety. It was an adrenaline rush, but so cool! On our way home from Kakum, we had our driver stop at Hans Cottage to touch the crocodiles- yet another adrenaline rush. We were surprised to see that crocs hands look very similar to human hands.
That night we slept in an air-conditioned hotel room. Absolute bliss. Lori actually was unpleasantly cold for part of the night- something that none of us have felt for some time.
The final destination in Cape Coast was the Elmina Slave Castle- where the slaves were imprisoned and traded for. It was an extremely sobering experiences standing in a place where such horrible things occurred.
The next part of the adventure gets a little crazy- at least it was for our stress levels. We were trying to make it over to Beyin, which is the very western corner of the Ghanaian coastline. We taxied to Takaoradi where we were planning on taking a tro-tro the remainder of the way. We had settled on an adequate price from Cape Coast to Takoradi, but begin budget travelers we were unwilling to pay anything more. Once in Takoradi, we realized that tro-tros do not run consistently or often on Sundays. So now we were basically stranded here. With few options remaining, we bartered again with the taxi driver to take us to Beyin. It was much more than we wanted to pay, but we didn’t really have a choice. On our journey from Takoradi to Beyin, at one point Lori asks the driver if he knows where he is going. When she showed him on the map and he realized how much further it was than he originally thought, he was no longer willing to accept the price we previously arranged. That’s when all hell broke lose. Lots of arguing occurred and frustrating emotions was to be had. Still feeling like there was no options- and they were decreasing by the second- we concluded we would continue on despite the price.
Once we got to Beyin and saw the place we were staying and how beautiful it was we determined it was worth it. The beach was gorgeous, the weather was cooler, the water was warm, the food was amazing, and we had the place to ourselves! Like we said before, low lows lead to high highs.
In Beyin, we saw the local stilt village (a village built on stilts over the river) and got to relax on the beach.
Our journey back went a lot more smoothly- granted we had to get up at 4:30 am to begin the journey (making our way to the tro tro with a headlamp because the sun wasn’t up) but we thankfully had next to no issues. We are glad to be back safe and sound and grateful we had such an adventure filled weekend.
Today is AU (African Union) day. There are celebrations for Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, the first president of Ghana.
Lori and Courtney on the canopy walk at Kakum National Park. These pictures don't even do justice to the place!
Beyin Beach Resort- it was a beast to get here but so beautiful!
Petting the crocodile!
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