Cape Coast is a town about an hour East of Accra along the coast. It is most notable for it's University, it's schools and of course Cape Coast Castle, a former slave trading post.

Construction began in the mid 1600's and the castle has passed from Swedish hands, to Dutch, English and most recently to the Ghanaian government. The English used it for trading large quantities of gold which was minted into Guineas in England. Eventually a new more profitable trade took over, the slave trade.

Visiting the castle is a disturbing experience. There are tours which include a video, a visit to the museum and a journey into the dungeons. In these tiny rooms hundreds of slaves were crowded together before being shipped across the ocean. The photos can't even begin to capture the atmosphere. The dungeons would have been crowded and completely dark except for a little light coming through a tiny window. The only sanitation came in the form of a small drain running across the stone floor.

Above is the door of no return that all slaves passed through before leaving the shores of Africa. Today as you go through the door of no return you see fishermen and traders going about their business, absorbed in the every-day, seemingly oblivious to the significance of this spot.