Kumasi Zoo

When we woke up, it was overcast and cloudy. We had free time in the morning, and most people wanted to go to the market, which is the largest outdoor market in Western Africa,. Since we had done a lot of shopping the day before and didn't want to shop in the rain, Suzanne and I decided to go to the Kumasi zoo.

Only 11 acres large, the zoo had very few animals. Most of the animals were monkeys from the local forests, but there were also some porcupines, crocodiles, birds, squirrels, ostriches, and a camel. The cages were on the small side and made of chain link fence, but the zoo was better kept than I had expected.

I interviewed the head zookeeper and one of the tour guides in order to write a story about the zoo. Just as we got in our taxi, it started to pour. Unfortunately, our taxi had holes in the roof so we were both soaked by the time we got out.

Before heading back to our hotel to check out, we walked around central Kumasi. The Armed Forces Museum was closed, since it was Sunday, but we got to look at the tanks and planes that were lined up on the street.

The drive home took longer than expected (7 hours), and by the time we got home, everyone was hungry and cranky. Needing real food, we went to Mama Mia, a pizzeria run by an Italian ex-pat. Our pizza was cheesy and warm, and was the perfect end to a great weekend in Kumasi.

Group Activities

Another of our group, Alex, had an interview so he arrived early to Kumasi. At 9:00 a.m., the four of us left the Stadium Hotel and went to the Milklin Hotel where we would be staying with our group. The group was scheduled to arrive around 10:30, so we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and dangled our feet in the pool.

Once the group arrived, we went to the National Culture Center which is a traditional crafts center. We browsed the shops for souvenirs and ate lunch before leaving to visit the palace of the Ashanti Kingdom. The Manhyia Palace was the home of the Asantahene, the king of the Ashantis. The palace was built moderately recently, in the late 1800s, and four kings have lived in it. Peacocks stroll hte grounds as htey have since it was built, and the rooms have been restored to their original states.

Our final attraction was a stool village, where traditional Ashanti stools are made. A golden stool is the symbol of the Ashanti Kingdom because the Ashantis have traditionally been carpenters. We wandered through the village, which was filled with wood carvings and crafts, before leaving for dinner.

Although dinner was on our own, most of us went to a place called Vic Baboo's Cafe which Sam, Suzanne and I had discovered the day before. After delicious Indian food and creamy milkshakes (far better than Churcheese's) we split up for the evening. Six of us decided to go to a small jaz bar that we had seen earlier. AS the evening got late, we sat beneath glowing lanterns, listening to soulful jazz and croaking frogs.

Aburi: Take 2

Because of last week's weather, we returned to Aburi Gardens to take more photographs. Gerald, our instructor, gave us a list of photographs we should try to take: formal portrait, informal portrait, frozen motion, close-up, convergence, and a landscape. For my motion shot, I spent the day chasing butterflies and trying to capture them in flight. I ended up getting quite a few good shots, and I got to explore the gardens during the process.

Suzanne and I went into the woods and followed a little dirt path. I was really enjoying the hike, there were lots of birds; butterflies; and even a large millipede. Unfortunately, we had to go back for lunch.

We had lunch at Dynasty, an upscale Chinese restaurant in Osu. It was absolutely delicious and just the thing we needed after a morning of work. We spent the rest of the afternoon working on our final projects.

Cocoa Farms

After breakfast at the hotel, the three of us took a taxi to KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) to meet my contact who would take us to cocoa farms in the surrounding areas.

Once we met Elikem, we had to travel about 20 miles outside of Kumasi. We did this by taking my first ever trotro, a minivan that is used for public transportation. Once we reached the town of Kubease, we hailed a cab to take us over the bumpy dirt roads.

At our first stop, I interviewed Grace Dede who started farming two years ago with her husband. No one in the community spoke English, but we were all very polite. As the chickens ran through the yard she told me that she farmed cocoa as an insurance for the future since she had no education to get a better job.

After thanking Grace in Twi, Mada ase, we continued up the road. In a larger village, I spoke to Kofi Adjei who has farmed cocoa for twenty years. While I interviewed him with Elikem's translations, Sam; Suzanne; and our cab driver explored the small village. The children were extremely excited to see Obrunis (white people) and followed the girls all around the community, posing for pictures and pushing each other out of the way.

Because I had never seen cocoa before, Kofi took me into the forest. He hacked through the underbrush to a cluster of trees from which dangled bright green seedpods. One of the seedpods was infected with black pod rot, and Kofi chopped it down so it wouldn't contaminate the rest of the crop. He broke open the shell and showed me the small cocoa beans inside. These beans will be dried and fermented before being sold to become chocolate.

On our way back to Kumasi, we hit an unexpected roadblock. Local farmers had cut down a tree to use for firewood, but it was lying perfectly perpendicular to the road! The five of us got out of the cab and watched as they cut up the tree. Elikem and our cab driver helped them move just enough of the tree to allow our cab to pass, and then we were on our way back to our hotel.

To Kumasi!

In order to visit the cocoa farms in the central region, I left Thursday night for Kumasi. The rest of the group was coming up early Saturday morning, but Suzanne and I packed our bags and left immediately after class.

We stopped at Koala before going to the bus station and stocked up on the necessities: a loaf of bread, tea biscuits, snickers, and diced fruit. After a last visit to the ATM, we stuffed ourselves and our bags into a cab and said "STC (State Transport Company) bus to Kumasi, please."

We bought our tickets and boarded the green and white bus. With air-conditioning and movies, the five hour ride over dirt roads didn't seem too bad. Admittedly, the films were from Nollywood, the Nigerian Hollywood, meaning they were soap operas stretched to last one hour and fifteen minutes. But Final Kingdom 1 and 2 were enjoyable enough, and I did sleep through the other two.

We arrived in Kumasi at 11:30 and took a cab to our hotel. Our friend Sam had arrived at the hotel earlier and had already checked into our room. We were all exhausted and needed to get up early, but that didn't stop us from having a sleepover. We pushed the beds together, watched An Officer and a Gentleman on Sam's laptop, and stayed awake until 3:00 a.m. talking.

It's the Rainy Season

For photojournalism class, we had planned a trip to Aburi Botanical Gardens located an hour outside of Accra. We drove up through the hills outside the city (the other Coloradan and I thought we were going west, but who knows), and into the forest.

It was late morning, and the fog covered the botanical garden. We took off in groups to capture the misty trees and flowers. While we were taking pictures, the rain started to fall. We dashed to the little restaurant and barely made it before it began to pour. We had a nice breakfast, but the rain never let up enough to keep shooting.

The rest of the week has been spent doing interviews for my project. I spoke with someone from the Ghana Wildlife Society. I had an amazing two hour interview and learned a lot about cocoa farming and biodiversity. When I was finished, I asked him for other contacts. It turns out that a member of Conservation International was in the building. I hitched a ride to their head office to interview the coordinator.

During the ride, I was squished into the back with a three women who all spoke French. I followed much of the conversation (they were speaking about the Ghanaian and U.S. elections) mais elles parlaient tres vite!

After another great interview, I set up a visit to some cocoa farms in the central region. Since the group is going up there on Saturday, I'm planing to leave a day early. It's an adventure!

Harrison-Ford and the Case of the Missing Electronics

Suzanne and I roomed together during the night, and when we woke up she couldn't find her iPod to check the time. Since she had left it in the bed with us, we pulled apart the sheets looking for it. We couldn't find it, so I said I'd check my phone which I had zipped away in my bag right before going to bed.

It was also missing, along with my iPod and camera. While we were sleeping, someone had broken into our room and stolen two iPods, two cameras, a phone, and about 40 dollars. The doors were all locked, and the only open window was directly above our bed, not to mention that we were on the second floor. Still, our stuff was gone. No wonder Big Millie's boarded their windows shut.

We walked to the village to file a police report. The station was an open cinder block building, and the police officer wasn't in yet. So we wrote what was missing and our contact information (minus my phone number) on a piece of notebook paper and left to go back to Accra.

Five minutes outside of Kokrobite, the receptionist called to say the police officer was in. Our cab turned around, while the other continued home since Suzanne was felling ill. Our police officer's name was Harrison-Ford, and he commandeered our cab back to the hotel with Aisha while Sam and I waited in the lobby.

While they were gone, I called home to let Mum know what was going on (thank you for waking up at 4:00 a.m.). When I started crying, the receptionist's niece came over and crawled into my lap and made everything better.

Harrison-Ford returned about an hour later with the security guard, whom he had arrested. Harrison-Ford explained that some security guards will let their friends in during the night to steal, but I don't know if that was what happened. At this point, Sam; Aisha; and I all filled out police statements, writing to the margins and leaving no paragraph spaces so that someone else could not add additional information. At least this post was easy to write, since I've had so much practice explaining what happened.

Finally, we were on our way back. After skipping breakfast and lunch because of an emotionally exhausting morning, all we wanted to do was eat. We went to Melting Moments, and I ordered Mac and Cheese, the best comfort food in the world. On the bright side, we finally found good cheesecake, splitting two slices between our table.

While everyone else went out for the night, our group of 5 rented movies and made spaghetti. It was a frustrating day, but at least I have good friends who are good in a crisis.