AFRICA SLAVE CASTLES PROJECT;

Proposed Itinerary
December 29,2009

This is very tentative, expecting to be modified.

• Day 1: Depart Tulsa, OK, USA, arrive in Ghana, Lodging in one of many hotels in Accra. Frankie’s Hotel.   
  
  
• Day 2: Meet dignitaries in Accra. Begin photography of the three castles in Accra; Osu, Ussher and James Fort. Frankie's Hotel
  
  
• Day 3: Additional photography of Osu, Ussher and James Fort, Frankie's Hotel
  
  
• Day 4: Travel to Senya Beraku, site of Ft. Good Hope, arriving midday. Photography of Ft. Good Hope. Lodging in the Ft. Good Hope “rest house”.
  
  
• Day 5: Travel to Winneba, possible remains, at or near the Methodist Church in Winneba. Travel on to Apam; site of Ft. Patience, aka Ft. Keydsaamsheid. arriving midday. Photography of Ft. Patience. Lodging at the Ft. Patience rest house (no showers).
  
  
• Day 6: Travel to Saltpond; site of Ft. Amsterdam, arriving midday. Photography of Ft. Amsterdam. Lodging at Palm Beach Hotel.
  
  
• Day 7: Travel to Anomabu, Site of Ft. William and an unnamed ruin. Arriving midday. Photography of Ft. William and ruin. Lodging at Weda Lodge.
  
  
• Day 8; Cache Day
  
  
• Day 9: Travel to Moree, Site of Ft. Nassau. Arriving midday. Photography of Ft. Nassau, travel on to Cape Coast in the evening. Lodging at one of several hotels in the Cape Coast area for the next several nights. Cape Coast the town is the location of Cape Coast Castle, Ft. William, and Ft. Victoria. Cape Coast Castle is a large extensive castle, a World Heritage preserved site listed with UNESCO.
  
  
• Day 10: Photography of Cape Coast Castle, research at the museum and archive at Cape Coast Castle. I visited this site in 2004.
  
  
• Day 11: Photography of Ft. William, Ft. Victoria. Lodging in the same hotel used the two previous nights.
  
  
• Day 12: Travel to Assin Manso arriving midday. Neither a castle nor fort, this is the preserved site of a “slave camp” on the banks of the “Slave River”. This was a midway point in bringing slaves from the interior, down the river to the castles on the coast. Research says this should be covered but shouldn’t require an extensive amount of time. Photography of camp and river, conducting research on site. Travel on to Kumasi, lodging at the Ashanti Gold Hotel.
  
  
• Day 13. Travel to Mole National Park, Mole Park Hotel
  
  
• Day 14. Mole. Mole Park Hotel
  
  
• Day 15. Mole and travel Larabanga, Larabanga Mosque, on to Paga. Paga Crocodile ponds, Pikworo Slave pond. Kubs Lodge
  
  
• Day 16. Return travel to coast. Coconut Grove Bridge House.
  
  
• Day 17: Short travel to Elmina, site of St. George’s Castle and Ft. St. Jargo. This is also an extensive castle complex, with a small museum on site and a fishing village nearby. I visited this site during 2004. Lodging at Coconut Grove Bridge House.
  
  
• Day 18: Cache day. Rest and Archive.
  
  
• Day 19: Travel to Old Komenda. Ft. Vreedenburg and Ft. English, photography of these two minor castles. Traveling on to Shama, site of Ft. St. Sebastian. Lodging in Hotel Applause.
  
  
• Day 20: Photography of Ft. St. Sebastian, conduct local research. Travel to Takoradi, then on to Sekondi, Shooting Fort Orange. Lodging in Animens Hotel.
  
  
• Day 21: Travel to Busua, then to walk to Dixcove. Photography of Ft. Metal Cross. Lodging at Ellis Hideout.
  
  
• Day 22: Travel by foot to Butre( 3 km E. of Busua). Photography of Ft. Batenstein. Return to Dixcove, lodging at Ellis Hideout same as previous day.
  
  
• Day 23: Travel to Akwidaa(10km SW of Dixcove). Photograph ruins of Ft. Dorthea aka Ft. Akodaa. Travel on to Prince’s Town. Staying at Ft. Gross Friedricksburg.
  
  
• Day 24: Photography of Ft. Gross Friedricksburg. Travel to Axim; Site of Ft. Sao Antonio. Lodging in Ankobra Beach Resort; about 3 miles west of Axim.
  
  
• Day 25: Travel to Beyin; Site of Ft. Apollonia. Lodging in the guesthouse of Ft. Apollonia. This is the western most point of the costal route.
  
  
• Day 26: Complete photography of Ft. Apollonia. Travel east back to Accra. Lodging in Accra hotel.
  
  
• Day 27 Cache Day, rest and archive.
  
  
• Day 28:Travel east from Accra to Keta; anticipates shooting two minor forts along the way; Ft. Vernon and Ft. Fredensborg. Lodging at Keta Beach Hotel.
  
  
• Day 29: Ft. Pridzenstein, near Keta. This is the eastern most point of the costal route. Return travel west to Accra. Lodging at Accra hotel.
  
  
• Day 30: Visit Dodowa. Henderson met the King of the Shia tribe, who resides in Dodowa in 2004. This visit is a personal one and not crucial to the project. If schedules or budgets run short, this could be eliminated.
  
  
• Day 31: Leave Accra, Ghana, flying to Dakar, Senegal. Lodging in Dakar.
  
  
• Day 32: Travels to Goree Island, about 2 miles from Dakar. Photography of Goree Island, Lodging in a guest house on Goree Island.
  
  
• Day 33: Return to Dakar then travel by car from Dakar, Senegal to the Gambia border. Gambia is a tiny country that has three sites consequential to the slave industry, all within a few miles of each other on the Gambia River. They are: 1) James Island, the slavery fort where Kunta Kinte, the character in Alex Haley’s Roots passed on his way to the United States, 2) the village of Jureh, Kunta Kinte’s ancestors still live in this village, near the mosque 3) Albreda, a village. Lodging in Gambia. The bus ride to Gambia is expected to take most of the day (six to nine hours) Lodging in Barra, Gambia is not recommended. According to the travel guides a better option is to spend the night at Kaolack, Senegal.
  
  
• Day 34: Cross the border into Gambia and travel on to Barra. From Barra, Take a taxi on to Jureh, then walk to Abreda, about one mile away. From Abreda or Jureh we should be able to hire a boat to James Island. Lodging in Abreda or Jureh.
  
  
• Day 35: Complete photography of subjects in Gambia, returns to Dakar, Senegal.
  
  
• Day 36: Cache day.
  
  
• Day 37: Return travel to the USA.
  
  
• Day 38-40 Rest
  
  
• Day 41-50 Concentrate on work projects in the US.
  
  
• Day 51-90: Photos edited, Research compiled, Rough drafts of book layout in progress. Dialogue with publisher and external editors.
  
  
• Day 90-119: Final drafts, Edits, Layouts completed. Proofing,. Continuing Dialogue with publisher and external editors.
  
  
• Day 120: Four months after leaving for Africa; Deliver completed book project to publisher or printer.

RETURN TO TOP.
RETURN TO CASTLE HOME
RETURN TO DOUGLAS HENDERSON HOME PAGE