Any tourist or traveller visiting Ghana is told they simply MUST visit Cape Coast, and I am definitely in this encouragement camp. Home of the historic slave castle, more Rastafarians than you can shake a stick at, and lots of beachy goodness – Cape Coast is a great little vacation from the bustle and fuss of Accra.
First of all, I’d better tell you how to get there. I was a big fan of the tro-tros for transportation, firstly as a taxi would not take you there (not without costing you a blooming fortune anyway) and the slightly more expensive air-conditioned buses would (as of August 2012) cost you at least 5 cedis more than a normal beaten down tro-tro. Plus, you’d miss out on the hilarity of being squished into a vehicle that travels at approximately 120kmph the entire way. There’s no faster way to get to Cape Coast! When I went, it cost between 7 and 10 cedis to get there, which is approximately £2.33-£3.33, however as my last article suggested, it will probably cost loads more by now!
Once you get there, you have basically only one fun, cheap and easy option for where to stay – Oasis! It’s a cheap place to stay, around 10 cedis a night for a bunk bed in a 12 person dorm room, which is obviously very basic but good fun and comes with mosquito nets and lockable cupboards for your things when at the beach or out and about. It has a restaurant, is right on the beach and has some interesting (for want of a better word) entertainment on some evenings. The food is of a decent quality too, especially local products like tilapia – which I love!
It was here in Cape Coast that I first came across Milo, and fell in love with it! It’s an odd drink that calls itself ‘energy food drink’ on the tin and the proprietors at Oasis called it tea. In reality, it’s a hot drink powder that when mixed with water and milk tastes like hot chocolate. My friend and I had happened to choose a very strangely cold weekend to visit the Cape, and therefore hot drinks were welcome when sitting by the shore. We spent a few evenings right on the coast at the restaurant at Oasis, or at a restaurant right nearby the Slave Castle, looking out at the sea as it splashed around. It may sound dull to some, but to us it was exactly what we needed after hectic weeks living and working in Accra.
It is the ideal place to go for a break, with sightseeing opportunities aplenty. I’ll save the details of the Slave Castle and Kakum National Park for another article – and just leave you for now with the recommendation of a chilled weekend in Cape Coast.