Cape Coast Tagestour mit Ekow

The Cape Coast sights were wonderful, but we have some feedback for Viator that we hope will be helpful. First, it would be helpful to know that transport is not included on the page where you book the tour, and at least approximately what it will cost (we ended up paying GHS 250 for a private taxi round trip, plus tip). I wrote into the Viator help chat a few days before our tour to inquire about this, was told it would be followed up on, and never was. Second, Viator apparently never alerted our guide that our tour was booked. We called him about half an hour after what was supposed to be our start time and he rushed out to meet us, which we appreciated, but he said he had never been alerted that he had a tour booked that day. Third, our guide asked what we had paid on Viator, and then said that that was a fraction of what he "normally" charges. Then he asked us to "top up" what his actual fee is, which was significantly more. It was very unclear if we were being taken for a ride or not, but because of the other miscommunication between Viator and our guide, and because it felt like we couldn't say no in the moment, we gave him the additional money he asked for. Viator needs to straighten out what the cost of tours are with their guides because the fact that we ended up paying three times what we originally agreed to is completely unfair. As for the tour itself, it was fine, especially since it was basically the only option we could find to pre-book a tour that was based in Cape Coast instead of Accra. The guide provided some interesting conversation and background about things we passed on the drives between sites, other than that it kind of felt like we could have had about the same quality experience if we had only hired a taxi to drive us around. Last thing, our guide posted pictures of us with our names on his tour company's FaceBook page, which is fine, but he didn't ask permission and it's nice to be asked first before your image is used.

This is a must for a tourist to Accra. The guides are so knowledgeable and eloquent. They narrate the history of slavery, about the exploitation and cruelty to women. How female slaves where used to pleasure the masters. They explain the origins of the death chambers, where there was no air. Deemed troublesome slaves were locked here and died within a few hours. The slaves were crammed into a tiny space and died in large numbers. Many were moved to tears. They explain how the gate of no return came to be. This is a clear demonstration of the inhumanity of slavery. Does differences in pigmentation justify such insensitivity and inhumanity.

Although this was a heartbreaking and sad tour, the guides were remarkable explaining the atrocity of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Their explanation allowed us to emotionally experience and understand the suffering of the Africans kidnapped into slavery. The Cape Castle and Elmina Castle are horrific even in their ruined state.