The sharks circled below as the prisoners of Elmina Castle walked across a small wooden plank to their new home for three months, a slave ship. After four centuries of people falling, the water below their feet had become a breeding ground. The future slaves, often with shackled feet, had just as much a chance of tripping and being eaten by a shark as dying on the ship.

Around 12 million Africans walked out the same 1-foot wide and 5 feet tall door in Elmina, which they called “the door of no return”, to the ship and never saw their homes again.

For the next few months, they were jammed into small compartments with no sunlight, no toilets, and very little ventilation. Only one out of three of these people survived the trip across the Atlantic. For the four million that survived, they faced a life of slavery in a new world.

Today, their African-American descendants are coming to Elmina, and the rest of Ghana, in record numbers. According to a study from Georgia State University, around 10,000 visit a year and the number appears to be growing, especially after the publicity around President Barack Obama’s visit in July.

The appeal of this West African country for visiting African-Americans, and the 6,000 that have decided to stay permanently, isn’t just that this is where their ancestors took their last breath of African air. Many feel a spiritual connection.

“This is a site of pilgrimage,” said Walter Rucker, 38, a professor at Ohio State University “Because of what happened here…we see it as sacred ground.” Rucker was in Ghana’s capital, Accra, for a five-day West African Diaspora conference. He is currently looking to buy land in the Cape Coast region, where Elmina Castle is located.

Rucker’s friend, Leslie Alexander, also a 38-year-old professor at OSU, said coming to Ghana was a “spiritual homecoming.” “African-Americans, in particular, should have the experience of visiting [Elmina] dungeons,” she said. “They have this site to commemorate their ancestors.”

The large white wall walls of the castle dominate the landscape of the village, Elmina, surrounding it. Life in the village has changed little since the Dutch first began the slave trade in the late 1600s.

Strong men struggle with worn fishing nets - either packed or near empty – depending on how the day went. The homes that look like shacks to Americans are scattered around the nearest port where wooden boats are docked.

The palm trees swaying in the wind and white sandy beaches are a tourist's dream. Even with the unforgiving African sun, the cool breeze from the Atlantic creates an average temperature of 82 degrees. But, the residents are too busy fishing and working to enjoy a playful swim in the Atlantic.

In the center of the castle is a Portuguese church – the first Roman Catholic church in West Africa. British soldiers, whom took over from the Dutch, trained here in the open spaces while slaves were confined to small dungeons. If any of the slaves fought back, they were shoved into a tiny cell with an ominous skull and crossbones above it. Then, they starved to death.

The stench of cells where slaves were forced to defecate, sometimes bleed to death, sleep, and live for months in, still fills the air.

With the credibility of DNA testing for tracing ancestry somewhat in question (at least among academics), it gives places like Elmina Castle a greater importance for African-Americans.

Although much of the statistics from the Atlantic slave trade are only estimates, even conservative calculations of the amount descendents from Elmina Castle prisoners are over 10 million people in North America today.

Many Ghanaians are eager for their ancestors to return. “The [African-Americans] need to come back to their roots,” said Akeem Yebua, 25, of Accra. “Their people are suffering.” Yebua makes about $6 a day selling acrylic paintings in the Osu shopping market.

Unemployment in Ghana is estimated to be as high as 25 percent and nearly one third of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Moses Qyanin, a 31-year-old computer teacher from Ghana’s Central Region, said it is “very, very important” for African-Americans to come to his country. “I hope they will come with jobs,” he said.

For many African-Americans, Ghana will only be a tourist destination. Garin Flowers, a tall 23-year-old student from the University of South Florida, visited this summer and didn’t think he could adjust to living there. “Coming from one of the greatest countries in the world, I am accustomed to a certain way of living,” he said.

Flowers’ most powerful experience in Ghana was visiting Elmina Castle. “Walking through the same path that possibly my ancestors went through immediately touched me,” he said. “It sort of felt like the end to a long story and a piece of me has put the issue of the slavery to rest.”