24 Apr 2024
The car picked us up from the hotel promptly at 5:30am. We thought it was going to take us to a central meeting point to meet up for a bus transfer, but turns out this tour was literally just us, which was a pleasant surprise. We first drove to Assin Manso, which took about 4 hours. At Assin Manso, we were the only couple there, so the experience was totally private. The guide, Kofi, was excellent and the experience was very personal, powerful, and framed the rest of the trips to the castles.
The drive to the castles took about another 1.5 hours. We ordered lunch from the restaurant menu first, then went to Cape Coast Castle, which was another powerful experience. We then ate lunch, and drove about 15 minutes to Elmina Castle. While bigger, Cape Coast had a bigger impact for us, and I'm glad we did the sequence the way we did. The sights, the smell, the feel of the heat and difficult ventilation in the dungeons made the experience all the more impactful when you consider what it must have been like. Lunch at the restaurant was tasty. The drive back to the hotel took over 4 hours and we didn't return until after 7:30pm.
Overall, we were so happy we chose the tour that included Assin Manso instead of the national park. This was the best part of the tour and shaped the whole experience. It was a pleasant surprise that it was truly a private tour, but our guides in the car did not tell us that much about the sites. They didn't want to take away from the guides at the individual sites, but they answered a lot of questions we had about life in Ghana and thoughts about different things.
What could have been improved - the car was not that big and having to sit in the back seat for almost 10 hours became very painful on my knees. A SUV would have been better. Also, the roads are terrible and if my wife hadn't taken Dramamine, her car sickness would have been really bad. Having to leave so early meant we missed breakfast and we didn't know if we would stop anywhere to eat. It would be good to bring food or snacks. Also, we thought more cold water would have been available, but you have to pick it up off of hawkers on the road as you go. Overall, we would recommend this tour, but be prepared to spend 10 hours of a 14 hour tour in the car.