Tours to Africa would be incomplete without visiting the forts here. Cultural and heritage tours are becoming very important in West African tours. There are many sites that can be visited in Western Africa and the coastal forts top the list of sites to visit.
Ghana is a great destination to visit in this part of Africa and is very popular as a slave trade site. It is said that President Obama first visited Ghana and the other slave forts in Cape Coast before he went to become the President.
The main slave sites in Ghana are the St; George’s Castle which is also called the Elmina Castle. This is actually one of the earlier slave forts here and lies on the Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is a very popular destination and is a pilgrim locale for many African American tourists. It has visitors from across the world and there is a guided tour that would lead you through the punishment cells and dungeons. There is also a slave auctioning room which is today a very small museum.
Then you have Cape Coast which has played a major role in the slave trade. It has guided tours organized daily into the slave dungeons too. There is Palaver Hall which is the grave of an earlier English governor. The castle was used as the headquarters for the then colonial administration of the British. The Museum has many objects that have been brought and stored here from around the wall. With the simple delights of artifacts, it is no wonder that Cape Coast is soon filled with innumerable tourists.
Gold Coast in Ghana is also bordered with old forts which are normally used by European powers during the time of the slave trade. Most of the forts here today have become guesthouses which give tourists also a respite. There are other forts like Fort Amsterdam which is found in Abanze and has many features that would give you an idea of what happened during the slave trade.
Then you have Donko Nsuo which is another river slave site at Assin Manso. Her slaves used to bathe after their long travels and thus get cleaned up. They get into the ships from here and never return to Africa. Donko Nsuo in Assin Manso is around an hour’s drive from the inland coastal forts and is a greatly exciting tour in this part of the world. There is a grave tour here wherein you could pray here for those who died here and also keep flowers and thus enrich their tours. There is a special room for prayer.
Then visit Senegal which is another great destination to visit in tours to Western Africa. the main feature here is the Maison des Esclaves or the house of Slaves which has been built by the Dutch in the year 1776. This is a major holding hub for the slaves and the house has been transformed into a museum and is open on all days except Monday. The tours here would give you an idea of the dungeons here and also show the places where the slaves are held and then either shipped or sold.
Then you have Benin where Porto Novo is the capital and it was established as a major slave destination in the 17th century. the castles here worth exploring and thus tours to Benin are very warm and reliable.
Here Ouidah is a place where slaves are captured and here you also get to see the History Museum or the Musee d’Historie d’ Ouidah. Here the story of the slave trade has been shown.
The Route des ESclaves is a long 4km walk on a road and it has statues and fetishes decorating the road. the slaves are said to walk down here finally and then enter the slave ships. There are many memorials here and tourists love to see all this and more.
Then there is the Gambia where you get to see the Kunta Kinte slave region. this is the place where Alex Haley had his roots and there many slave sites like Albreda, Jufureh, James Island to be seen here.
Africa is a land that is waiting to be explored by an enthusiastic tourist and visits to Western Africa would be incomplete without a tour of the coastal forts. Get the best of it and come back completely enchanted.
Enjoy the coastal forts tours in western Africa and experience a totally enchanting land.
