Sir David Attenborough – Where Art Thou?

I will start by saying that it is about 5:30 am in Nairobi and that the Canucks are playing to win the Stanley Cup right now. The local wifi is on but the code they provided does not work… I may go insane before the staff awake and I can access thei computer! J Go Canucks Go!!!

A four-day trip to the Masai Mara (finally spelt right! J) is only just enough time but if you can afford ($ and time) more you should do you best to spend as much time as possible out there! I imagine that this is going to end up reading like a rambling journey, which is somewhat appropriate as that is exactly what a great game drive on the Mara is like!

James & I having a picnic on the Mara River

My journey actually began at the 2011 ATLAS Africa conference in Kampala, Uganda. The first day of sessions a guy in his early 30s shows up in full Masai traditional dress (which is really just Masai dress once you get to the Mara but in Kampala it seemed more of a cultural statement/costume). He was dressed in the criss-cross cloth, covered in beads that played tinkling music as he walked, and even carried what I considered, at the time, to be weapons (they must have loved him at the security check that we all had to pass through!).

As luck would have it, Donna, Joy, and I sat beside him and after a while I simply had to strike up conversation…. When else would I get to talk to a real live Masai Warrior?! It turned out that: a) his name is James, b) he is a graduate student in the US who is currently doing his master’s data collection, and c) he is studying at Clemson University where my friend Greg Ramshaw teaches (Greg and I graduated from U of A together & James took a class from him). Well as any of you who have worked in communities, particularly in Africa, once you know someone that the other person knows… you have the inside track!!

Over the course of the next day I ended up having a photo taken with James and his friend William (also Masai) about 5 times (the conference provided a photographer that printed up the pics, complete with the conference name/date!). I also mentioned that I was hoping to go to the Masai Mara but that I didn’t think I would be able to… Enough said really! The next thing I knew James had contacted folks that he used to work with and made arrangements with William (who happened to be a driver/guide with a Land Cruiser 4X4…this will be important later) to pull together a package that fit into the very high end of what I could pay but at the same time was something that I really couldn’t afford not to do! Here’s what the deal was:

a)    Return transport from Nairobi to the Masai Mara,

b)   Day 1: Two game drives (morning and afternoon)

c)    Day 2: All day game drive

d)   3 Nights accommodation at Basecamp (and amazing eco-lodge).

e)    Total cost of the package: (approx) $1100

Oh yeah – I was the only tourist in the car!  So it was my schedule to follow and my photography needs that were met! Basecamp is an award willing eco-lodge and the food they serve (set menu) was at least 4 stars!! I cannot believe the food they served – breakfast stayed the same (sweet corn fritter, sausage, eggs and fried fungus if you wanted it) but lunch and dinner always changed! They were at least 3 courses and the soups starters were always amazing. I just about fainted when I got a salad… wait for it… with huge chunks of feta on it!! J I am still trying to get over my cheese deprivation in Ghana!

Other balloons getting ready to fly!

That other thing that I added onto my trip was actually a gift (best ever) from my parents, brother, grandmother, and Janay… a hot air balloon ride over the Mara! This was something that I had dreamed of doing for years (decades really but who wants to admit to having dreams that are literally decades old?) and thanks to those folks I had the cash to do so! William (again – it’s who you know) arrange a special deal with friends of his who have started a new company “Hot Air Safari” for me to join the morning ride two days ago. The experience was about 4 hours long (about 1 in the air) and it was worth the $400 USD and then some – I think the actual rate is somewhere between $450-$500 but this experience is one that anyone going to the Mara should do! I would also highly recommend Riz (our pilot) and Andrew (company director and another pilot) as they ran an incredibly safe and thrilling tour… and by now I am just a wee bit done with being toured!!

Okay here are the goods on my experience in the Masai Mara!

Day 1: Depart Nairobi for Basecamp – the journey takes the majority of the day but there are some pretty significant highlights for the first timer! After leaving the traffic and pollution of Nairobi behind, you head off to a more rural existence and start to see some of the familiar sights of rural life in Africa. There are small towns teeming with activity, men sitting under trees playing games or chatting, weekly market set-ups, and of course folks selling all kinds of products along the road (from veggies to souvenirs!).

The first major ‘sight’ is definitely the lookout to the Rift Valley that you get when driving down the escarpment to the valley below. The views are something that you get from high mountains but quite literally the valley opens up as far as you can see! The road down the escarpment is one that would have my grandmother’s knuckles and lips white and may turn the faint at heart into a raving lunatic! For those of you familiar with the Ice Fields Parkway it shares some similarity – a primary difference? Well trucks hauling fuel will pass on blind corners going up hill! There are also pull-off spots that folks (regardless of the direction they are driving) will pull into. These spots reminded me of the food sellers along the Cape Coast highway in Ghana – everyone sold exactly the same thing in buildings that looked exactly the same!

We didn’t make any stops until we hit the town of Narok where we met up with James and three other folks (a graduate of Clemson who also knew Greg and his travelling buddy, and a prof in Marketing from Narok U). We ended up staying for a quick lunch and I spent much of my time recruiting James’ classmate (who is Canadian) to come to VIU for the GIS program!!

Once leaving Narok we were quickly off the tarmac and it felt like my ‘real’ Masai Mara journey began. I started seeing the vibrant reds and oranges of the Masai men and women’s plaid blankets as they walked in the fields – herding the sheep and cows. Taking it all in was difficult as I felt a bit like kid in a visual candy story – too many choices of what to look at. The road itself didn’t help – William and James referred to it as the African Massage!!

Not too far along the bumpy (not as bad as some of the roads in Northern Ghana) road I started to see signs of wildlife. Thompson’s Gazelles and even Zebra… at that point I didn’t really know William and didn’t feel like I could ask him to stop and it was KILLING Me! Of course I had no idea what I was really in for so in retrospect I’m glad I didn’t ask him to stop!

About 1½ hours from our destination we came across a group of Greeks travelling together in a Mutatu (white mini buses that may or may not be 4 wheel drive – they are used as safari vehicles and taxis here) that had blown a fuel pump. Since our vehicles was empty (except for my luggage – which is not smallJ) we picked up the three wives as they had been sitting along side the road for 2 hours with only water to drink and had long since missed lunch! I thought it was interesting that William asked my permission – I’ve never been on a tour where as the primary paying client I get a say!! It was actually quite uncomfortable J.

The ladies were a nice addition and it turned out that one of them had been to BC and Spider Lake (20 mins from my house) of all places… it really is a small world. As we got closer to the lands that are actually part of the Mara ecosystem (there are community lands and protected lands on the Mara) we started to see more wildlife and as it turned out my game driving experience started when I spotted a herd of Elephants walking through the bushes on the hill across from us (this is where having a 4X4 comes in handy).

As I mention William and James are both Masai and it turns out that they have not only worked on the Mara for a long time but also grew up there so William was comfortable driving off the beaten path (outside the park and occasionally in) to get to the prime animal viewing locations. As we started driving through the bush I immediately got a sense of just how amazing this experience was going to be – we started seeing all kinds of large mammals!

Impala with weird horns

Big Daddy Elephant!!

On our way to that first group of elephants we came across: Impala, gazelle, topis (large antelope), elans (moose sized antelope that look like a cross between cows and deer), and then a small herd of Masai Giraffes!!!! J They are so beautiful and after seeing them in the wild I don’t think I could stand to see them in captivity! Eventually we found our group of elephants and it was simply AMAZING. When mom and I saw the herd of elephants last year I didn’t think that I would ever have such an experience but this trip – well the drive out was only the first of many times that I was surrounded herds of elephants (males and females) that included many young and old… there were lots of babies and some were so incredibly tiny!!!

Eventually we all agreed that despite the desire to stay with the elephants all day we should head off to our respective camps and before you know it I was checking into Basecamp!

View of Mara & Talek River from my tent

I will definitely have to post pictures of Basecamp as I’m not sure that my descriptions will begin to capture just how amazing this place really is! Everyone stays in Safari tents that are set-up on wooden platforms under thatched roof structures, but do not picture a tent like we would stay in at home! There are a couple of highlights including being met by a person holding a lovely warm and wet facecloth to help you remove the road dust! The rooms are spacious and contain a queen sized bed and shelving building in (hanging on the wall really) there is both a urinal, toilet (where they collect the urine for watering the trees) and an outdoor shower! There is also a lovely deck with a hammock and lounge chair and from both you can see the Talek River (Masai for Mosquito River) and the start of the Mara!!!! The best aspect of the place (other then the Masai Warriors that escort you around the camp at night) was definitely the food!! Any place that can feed me feta cheese in the middle of no-where is tops in my book!!

Do you really need me to tell you?

Of course the real reason for travelling to the Mara is the wildlife and that was like living in a BBC Planet Earth episode – all that was missing was David Attenborough’s voice given me running commentary on what I was seeing!! My experience in viewing wildlife in Ghana did not prepare me for what I would see and how close I would get when I was in Kenya! I saw 2 types of gazelle, 4 different antelope, lions (male and female), leopards, cheetahs, and more zebra, hippos, buffalo, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes than I could count! Some of the highlights were being surrounded by zebra and elephants (close proximity – like 10 feet! J) and getting to see hippos and lions create the next generation! That’s right – some good animal porn! J

Masai Mara from a balloon...with a local Masai!!!

As for the ballooning – I simply do not have the words to tell you how amazing it was! We floated over the Mara seeing animals and landscapes in totally different ways! The quiet was occasionally broken by passengers pointing to animals and by the whoosh created by Riz firing up the gas to heat up the air! A cell phone did go off but after a threat of imminent death it was quickly turned off… Only in Africa would you get cell coverage 1000 feet in the air in the middle of the Masai Mara!!!

Masai Warriors - He who jumps highest gets the girls!!

While floating over the Mara I could easily see the damage done by vehicles moving off the set tracks (like people moving off the trails to avoid mud!) and the ‘cattle highways’ that are created by the thousands of cows that migrate into and out of the Park each night – in theory cows are not allowed in the park but in reality they go in (with the Masai herders) every day!!! Of course it is a risk as there is little herders can do to protect their livestock while in the park and as they are only armed with spears I think they have to be some serious levels of courage (and perhaps mental health issues J)!

Wildebeest

After the balloon ride we headed out to Entim – a lovely eco-lodge located right on the Mara River… you know the one that Wildebeest and Zebra cross while dodging Crocodiles!!! After our lovely champagne breakfast we headed down to the river where we saw hippos and crocs!! After breakfast we headed out on a game drive that would normally end back in Talek River but for me it was just the start of a full day game drive!

I spent the day with James and William driving all over the Mara – heading up Look-Out hill, driving along the Mara River to see hippos (even a couple making sweet sweet hippo love J), crocodiles (one was really fat and the guys speculated that it may have had a zebra for lunch), antelope, and so many animals that I didn’t know where to look first! We had an amazing picnic sitting on the banks of the Mara watching crocs swim up and down the river!

Leopard!

In the afternoon we started our hunt for Rhinos – the only animal of Africa’s big 5 (Lion – check, leopard – check, elephant – check, buffalo – check, Rhino - L) that I haven’t seen! I wasn’t lucky enough to see one but I did get to see Lion’s having sex… even caught the post-coital growling on video! J After that we saw tons of birds and mutatus… 15 passenger van like vehicles that one should NEVER go on safari with! I said that I would come back to the importance of 4X4’s!! When we were waiting for the lions to get busy (literally) we watched/heard a group of 4 mutatus roar down the main road, which just happened to be on the other side of a river, trying to get to where we were! Fortunately they were unable to cross the river on the path that we took (an official path but 4x4 needed to pass).

Later on we headed over to the Park Warden’s place to seek permission to stay on the Mara later than normal (6:30 pm exit = sundown). While over there we caught sight of what the Mara must be like in high season – over 5 mutatus were parked next to a rather sick looking male lion and another 4 were just down the road parked next to a leopard who was trying to sleep in the shade! It made me realize that I would be less likely to enjoy life on the Mara during the high season and that I think some tourists (particularly those who can afford $10,000 camera/lens sets) really should consider what they are purchasing – why would you come to the Mara and travel in a vehicle that cannot go most places on the Mara???!!!!

Well I know that I have not begun to share all my experiences but since I went on this part of my trip I’ve made it to Tanzania, gone to the Serengeti National Park, visited the Ngorongoro Crater, and made plans to leave for Zanzibar tomorrow! On the plus side I’m now officially on vacation so will have more time to catch you up and post some pics!


A selection of pics from the Masai Mara:

Cranes

Buffalo

Spotted Hyena 

Simba - no really it is!!

Sun set on the Masai Mara

Hippo!

Kickin' It in Kenya!

Words cannot begin to describe the experience I have had in Kenya… and I’ve only been here 3 days!!! My arrival was not the greatest – late flight from Entebbe into Friday night traffic and throw in a heavy rainstorm for a bit more fun! What should have taken about 30 minutes of driving took almost 2 hours!! That is where the ‘not so much fun’ stopped!

I spent two nights and one day in Nairobi and man did I shove a lot of stuff in! I arrived late on the 10^th of June at the Wildebeest Camp – a green oasis in the middle of a modern (i.e., congested and smog filled) city of Nairobi, Kenya. I was quickly shown to my ‘tent’!

About the size of a canvas wall tent (like dad’s hunting tent or the ones I slept in during JFR’s so many years ago. The primary difference is that this tent is made of heavy rubberized material (perhaps canvas) and includes a solid floor. These are built up on wooden platforms and mine was equipped with solar lighting and a queen-sized bed!!! Oh yeah – camping luxury style!! The site is completely walled in so you have a (false?) sense of security despite what the guidebooks say!

The camp comes equipped with an amazing kitchen – the buffet dinner had so many veggies that I almost cried in delight! There is also a TV viewing area, a pond (complete with fish), two resident dogs and a tortoise. The wifi is pretty fast (good enough to up load pics) and the gift shop helps support local artisans and charities… too good to be true? They also higher locals (owners are Aussies) and have a number of cabbies/guides to take you safely to the local sights!! Overall I would give the place a huge endorsement and I can tell you that I’ll stay there whenever I’m in Nairobi (like I’ll be there a lot J). These guys aren’t in the Lonely Planet yet but I can’t figure out why and they have multiple housing options (from tenting to self-contained tents…I shared a toilet and shower) and are really socially conscious and eco-friendly!

My one-day in Nairobi was totally action packed but I didn’t really feel like I was doing too much! The day started off on a tour with Alyson, Runa, and Andrew (Mom & two kids from the UK who are currently living in the Sudan where Alyson works) with Challe (a great cabbie/tour guide). We headed out to the Kazuri Beads shop a great employment/social enterprise for men and women in Nairobi. The beads are handmade and painted at the shop using Kenyan clay. The finished products are then sent all over the world including Canada (Ten Thousand Villiages).

After Kazuri Beads it was off to the Giraffe Breeding Centre where a Giraffe will kiss you for the right bribe (food)! A very interesting place and it serves a good purpose but the habituation of animals is not something I’m really into! I was more interested in the Giraffes that were walking around the fairly large compound eating the trees. The location is interesting as you can see the skyline of the city in the background! The Giraffes there were the Rothschild subspecies that are distinct from the Maasai Giraffes (you can tell from the regular pattern of the Rothschild and the irregular pattern of the Maasai).

After the Giraffes it was a quick ride into the Nairobi National Park to visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – a rescue and rehab centre for orphaned elephants! This is one of the most amazing places that I have ever visited! The elephants are only available for viewing one hour a day – the purpose of this place is to be able to release the Elephants into the wild and as such they don’t want them to be habituated to humans. The handlers are like surrogate mothers and they live with and train the elephants how to be good members of a herd! They stay from between 2 and 3 years and then are released back into the wild. BBC did a documentary on this centre called the “Elephant Diaries” – it also showed on CBC and if you can watch it you should!!

After this we visited a ‘village’ which was in fact a develop picnic area complete with a lake, games/activities for kids, a good restaurant and the African equivalent of a petting zoo (number of crocodile ponds and a fenced area with Ostriches and a giraffe)! It was a weird place but we had fun with the kids and watching a GIANT wedding party show up for pictures! I think there were at least 12 attendants for the bride… made me happy not to be paying for that one!!

You are probably thinking that after that adventure I headed back to Wildebeest and collapsed for the night! Well you are almost right! J I headed back for a short rest and then headed out for what can only be considered a Forbes’ family dream (or at least Weighill’s & Biro’s)! I went to a restaurant named Carnivore for dinner! Some of you may have seen the TV footage of the Canadian Tenors eating at a place in Nairobi known for serving meat – well this is the place!

I was really hoping that Carnivore would be serving meats from game that roams the plains of Africa but sadly they are no longer allowed to do that! In stead I had a meal that included: Ostrich meatballs, roast lamb, lamb cops, beef sausage, pork sausage, beef short ribs, chicken gizzard (nasty), kidneys of something (didn’t actually eat that), chicken wing, roasted turkey, roast beef, and OX BALLS! Yup, I tried fried Ox balls!! Can’t say that they were really all that impressive but they were not as nasty as the chicken gizzard!

The concept of the place is quite interesting. There is a set menu and you get no choices except to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the meat as it passes by. The meat is all cooked on large skewers or swords (depending on the size of the meat) in a central (and open) cooking area near the main entrance of the restaurant. When you arrive you are escorted to your table and quickly provided a steaming hot towel to wash your hands (common in Kenya!) Then your appies and sauce tray arrives.

The appies (small piece of roasted corn and quiche, and a local drink to doadoa (vodka, lime, soda?) are provided to stimulate appetite. You are also provided with a small bowl of soup (it was great). They also bring out your sauce tray with about 8 different sauces from masala to mint to add to the meat – it also contains a few types of salads but I wasn’t there for the veggies!!

Once you are done the appies – or at least when you look like you might be done – they bring you a hot cast iron plate and the parade of meat beings! Sitting on top of your sauce tray (about 12 inches high) there is a small wooden block that holds your Carnivore flag. When the flag and stand are upright it mean “bring on the meat”, when the whole unit is on its side it means “I need a breather”, and when you pull the flag from the stand and lay it down it means “I surrender to the meat!!” After being fairly meatless for so long I am sad to say that I surrendered quite quickly!! J The waiter then brought me some lime sherbet that was so tart that I couldn’t eat it with a straight face and some German drink that is said to cure hangovers and indigestion… I can understand that hangover, as it was 40% alcohol!!!

All in all my day in Nairobi was a memorable one! When I reached the Wildebeest Camp the power was out (another storm rolled through) which gave me the perfect opportunity to hit the sack as the next morning I was heading out for 4 days on the Maasai Mara with William and James (who I met at the conference in Kampala, Uganda).

Ghana – The final reflections

Apologies for taking so long to finish up my reflections on the Ghanaian Adventure. This year’s study tour was extremely busy and for the most part Internet access was crappy so it was easy to push off the writing!! J Of course I’ve now moved on from Ghana and am just about finished my Ugandan adventure so will post a final section on Ghana and then move onto writing about Kampala and the ATLAS Africa conference. Tomorrow I leave for Kenya but that’s another story!!

The primary purpose of this year’s trip was to explore the relationship between community-based ecotourism and poverty reduction – with a primary focus on the costs/sacrifices and benefits experienced by the people who live adjacent to protected areas. To do this, the students and I spent a week at the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary and two weeks in Larabanga and Mole National Park (10 days in Larabanga) where we talked to people who worked in the protected areas and who lived in the communities surrounding them.

This was a great experience for the students as they got to apply their knowledge of research – more importantly they got to experience how ‘messy’ field research can be! I was so incredibly proud of the way that they learned from each experience and move forward to the next interview! It was great to have Aaron and Michael join us in Larabanga and Ebenezer join us at Wechiau – the students did such a great job that it allowed KAS and I to hold a series of higher level meetings and to sit back and observe how the process went! Three giant cheers for students!!

The best part of the entire research process for me was the reporting out session that we ran in Larabanga. The first thing you all need to know is that we were not going to deliver a happy message – in fact we essentially ‘called out’ the leadership and the youth of the community on their conduct! Nothing like that to get the blood flowing! Our research clearly showed that: a) unless the leadership of Larabanga can settle the internal conflict and be ‘allowed’ to offer tourism, nothing can be done and we are not in a position to be able to help, b) their current structure of offering tourism services (management structure) was open to corruption but more importantly it caused folks to seek out ‘unauthorized” forms of tour guiding as it did not allow for individual benefit at all, and c) the unemployed youth of the community (mostly males 16 – 25ish with a little education, decent English skills, and a desire to be ‘western’ and not farmers) and their aggressive behaviour towards tourists were a huge problem!

The meeting was held at 5:00 pm next two the ‘new’ central Mosque. The elders for that section sat on the raised platform, where they could be found most days in between prayer sessions at the Mosque. The rest of the community leaders sat on multi-coloured plastic prayer mats which are surely imported from China (must of Ghana looks like a dollar store exploded), wrapped up in head scarves and wearing long tunics and trousers that illustrate their Muslim faith and African heritage. They formed a half circle that is quickly filled in by multiple rows of adults, men and women, sitting thigh to thigh on a circle of wooden benches that keep all of us (the research team) in a small corner on plastic chairs (FYI: Wooden benches do not promote Swass…think about it…like plastic chairs do). We were quickly surrounded by a group of children who spent much of time trying to get close to the ‘brunies’ in the crowd.

The meeting started off with some cultural dancing and drumming and before you know it I was out in the middle of this group doing my best to not look like a total ass! This was all before I reported out to the community that our primary finding was that they needed to get their act together and stop the infighting or tourism would never work. I also stepped into the fray and called out the ‘Larabanga Boys’ who have not quite single-handedly destroyed the reputation of the town with their predatory behaviours towards tourists. I believe that the analogy I used in the meeting was “that the boys approached tourists like hyena on a dead guinea”! Overall the heard the message well – although there was some quick talking from the local elected assembly man when I started talking about the amount of money we had spent in the community over the ten days!! J

Overall the success of this year’s study tour comes down to two things for me – an amazing group of students that adjusted well, worked hard, and most importantly did their very best to adapt to tough situations with humour and adventurous spirits, and a wonderful Ghanaian team lead by KAS and Jones at S-Poly! KAS did a fantastic job of picking Ghanaian students to join our team (and we became a team) and Jones, along with Vincent and Aminu, did a great job coordinating our transportation and Sunyani accommodation logistics! Thanks for the great work team!

As you may have guessed I have run out of steam talking about Ghana – why? Well for the past two weeks I’ve been in East Africa! J I had a wonderful week in the City of Kampala in Uganda. I attended the 2011 ATLAS Africa conference with friends Donna (of the Hippo Sanct), Joy, and Rick (colleague from VIU). AT the conference I met some very cool folks including two Maasai gentlemen from the Mara. You guessed it – I headed out to the Maasai Mara with them for 3 nights and felt like I was living in the BBC Planet Earth Series!! So from here on out you’ll hear about the East African experience – skipping Uganda as I really only saw a limited amount of the city/country!! 

The Pooping Fields: How to Shit in Larabanga

The Pooping Fields: How to Shit in Larabanga

If you look up Larabanga in most guidebooks they will tell you to avoid it if possible! The reputation of this town has taken some serious hits in the international travel blog and writing community – unfortunately most of it has been earned! However, after living there for ten days I would say it is a diamond in the rough!!

We rolled into Larabanga having just spent a week at Wechiau and a couple of days at Mole National Park. Our home for the next ten days was a mostly finished guesthouse that came complete with power (a changed from the Talawana lodge) but no ready access to clean water or clean latrines (think of the worst bar bathroom ever and then add two holes to the floor… more later)!

 In Talawana we were able to access clean (and safe) water from a close borehole but in Larbanga our water was accessed through a dip-bucket into a large poly-tank. The source of the water was rain capture and borehole; unfortunately that ran out quickly and we were filled up with water from the local dam. The lack of easily accessible ground water (versus the surface water from the dam) is a real issue for this community as the dam water contains run-off that filters through mounds of plastic waste, faecal matter from humans, goats, sheep, etc., not to mention that with the heat it is a great place to grow bacteria and algae. The students on my study tour are pretty hardy and solution orientated though so they simply added Dettol or Tea Tree oil to the water and when it got a little too much they had us fill the dozens of empty water bottles when we were at Mole!!

As for the latrines…well I really don’t know what to say about those!! They constructed a public latrine on the far end of town (leading to the Mystic Stone), which was a good location for us as it was across the road. As for the construction… Well that I’ve yet to come us with a rational explanation for!!! The latrines were divided into men’s and women’s sides with each having 4-5 stalls. The stalls were the same size as a small mall-washroom stall but these babies didn’t have toilets.

To enter the stalls you needed to do a couple of different things: a) plug the nose or figure a way to mouth breath (this could lead tasting the smell though L), b) suspend all need for personal hygiene, c) have your toilet roll ready, e) dodge the corn cobs, papers, and piles of faeces that missed the hole, and f) hope that you are not in anyway freaked out by bugs as they live there in herds!! Oh yeah, you also need to step up onto a ledge that is about 4 – 5 inches tall, 1 ½ - 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide (width of stall). You then select which of the two holes you are going to squat over!!

That’s right there are two holes!!! Each hole is about 6 inches in diameter and the leading edge (closes to door) has a slight V to the end so that they are almost teardrop shaped. These holes are located about 5 – 6 inches from each side wall so basically you get as close to the side wall and back wall as possible (squatting in a corner really), without actually touching either as they are covered in bugs and other less appealing substances, and then you have to focus on keeping your aim on the hole while trying to avoid any foot slippage as it could result in your outside foot ending up in the other hole!!!

As mentioned earlier, my students are very hardy and tend to focus on solutions and on the positive. So they took a couple attempts at the latrines before deciding that the really big field next to our place was used by locals and animals, so why not us too! Thus the “pooping fields” became a central part of our daily life!! As you can imagine I have spent some time talking to folks in Larabanga about the need for good latrines!! I spoke to our guesthouse landlord and suggested that he build a pit-toilet (I’m not sure that ANYONE in larabanga has a toilet and many still squat outside… or in ditches but that seems to be limited to small children J). I figure he could charge 50 pesewa (cents) to use a clean pit toilet and the ‘Brunnie (white) tourists would probably pay it!

One final cautionary note and then I’ll get back to the real goods on what we did in Larabanga! When purchasing a mosquito net it is a good idea to follow the directions and let them air-out prior to trying to sleep under them!! Three of us (me included) ended up have adverse reactions to the chemical – it kind of felt like battery acid had been misted on my face!!! It went away but after it came back the next night I decided that I would trust my Malarone (anti-malarial) and sleep without the net.

The purpose of our visit to Larabanga was to assess current levels of tourism, explore costs and benefits of tourism, and generally get a feel as to whether or not we wanted to continue working with the community in the future. We were successful in achieving these; however, the path to their achievement was not really a straight one!

The key finding for us in Larabanga was that there is no Unity in the Community! That became our key phrase!! If you want tourism and the benefits of tourism, you need “unity in the community”! We also discovered that the model of tourism management and benefit that they were using was almost entirely focused at the community level and through the ecotourism board – people were largely expected to volunteer their time and energy (guides and tour stops) without any real financial benefit or motivation to do a good job or improve the service. It was also clear that the Larabanga boys for whom the town has become infamous are doing a good job of capturing the bulk of the funds currently moving into town.

While in town the students split into two groups to collect information – moving about the town interviewing folks and discovering the conflicts that exist, the perceived benefits or potential benefits, and exploring the area to determine what potential tourism products exists. However, like WCHS, the people are the experiences that I’ll take away from our stay.

The children of Larabanga are beautiful and I think that the first words of English that they learn are: “Brunnie, give me your bottle!” You are greeted with that from the moment the bus rolls into town – or perhaps the simply chant of “Brunnie, Brunnie, Brunnie!” As we were trying to model good behaviour we never handed over ANYTHING to children unless it was a thank you gift or reward of some kind. We also actively discouraged them from trying to hold our hands or follow us or hang’ out at our house! Of course we also needed to discourage the young adult males from hangin’ at the house too!!

Our primary contact for the past year is Ibraheem – a former elected and now appointed member of the District Assembly in Damongo. Ibeem is a tall lanky fellow with a huge heart, strong dedication to his community, and the biggest smile that I’ve seen! His commitment to us, the work that we were doing, and his community was amazing to see and he was GREAT to work with. There were three others that I came to rely on as well: Awbusco, Ibrahim (guide), and Ahmed. These men were also dedicated to their community and to making our stay a fruitful one!

Awbusco and Ibrahim (guide) are also the primary founders of an evening educational program for young girls in the community. Both are high school graduates (rare for this community) and Awbusco teaches at the local primary school (he has received a professional teaching certificate). Both recognized that girls are often left behind in education, as they are more likely to be pulled from school by their parents to help with other children or to work on the farm. Girls are also less likely to go to senior high school; however, additional education can help over come these and can dramatically increase the age at which girls become wives and reduce rates of teen pregnancies. These two also want to help preserve local traditional culture and as such have started the: Larabanga Active Education and Cultural Foundation (LAECF).

The primary purpose of LAECF is to provide supplemental education to girls within the community – focusing on instruction in Kamara (unique traditional language), English (tourism’s and Ghana’s official language), and Arabic (official language of Islam). These two men have the biggest of hearts and have been working with next to nothing regarding supplies. The nursing students from VIU have donated $500 GHS (about $330 CDN) and based on what they can do with that I have agreed to help them out. To build a learning centre on the land that was given by the primary section leader, they will need about $3000 CDN so no much money for how much impact – but first we need to see what is done with the $500 Ghana Cedis. FYI: I received a call two days ago letting me know that they were waiting on a truck to haul the load of sand that they needed to start building bricks (you build them in Ghana… No Home Depot here!), which will prevent people encroaching on the centre’s land.

Ahmed was our landlord (his father’s building?) for the week and despite his tendancies to watch Ghana soaps really loud, really late… he was great! He worked hard to ensure that our compound was clean, we had water, and that we were not over run with local kids! The students weren’t too sure of his technique of disbursing the kids (rock throwing) but as it worked well with the goats and the kids they didn’t argue too much! I think it helped that he never actually hit anything! J Amed also turned out to be a great supplier of Bolga baskets – I simply asked if anyone in Larabanga sold them and the next thing you know he’s arranged for some to be sent to town!! He even took mine into Damongo to have the handles covered in leather!

I would be remiss if I did not mention the talents of Affie – she was our cook during the time we spend in Larabanga and she was great! Affie introduced us to most of the common dishes of the north and went out of her way to ensure that we were having meals that were good for all. Even better, she always greeted us with big smiles and for lunch there were always Fan Ice to take the edge off the heat!! She is one of the hidden gems of the town and I hope to work with her in the future to help her develop her catering business for tourists.

Of course there were many others who helped to make the week special but these are the Larabangan’s who really made out time enjoyable and fruitful. The other three people who made this aspect of the trip so GREAT were KAS, Aaron, and Michael! KAS and I have worked together in Ghana for three years and he’s even visited the Island (same with Aaron who is a student) as part of our other project! He was my partner in crime for the organizing and implementation of this year’s field school but was only able to stay with us for about ½ the time in Wechiau – in Larabanga he was with us full time. Aaron and Michael, who are both studying ecotourism at FFRT, were a huge asset to our program. These two bonded so completely with our team that it became clear there was not “Team Canada” and “Team Ghana” but rather there was research team!

The highlight activities for me while staying in Larabanga – beyond getting to meet such amazing and dedicated people – included cultural dances, a long discussion on the different styles of ‘dropping a deuce’, watching the students learn about each other, and our football match against the local team (teenagers).

The cultural dance was done by the girls from Ibrahim and Awbusco’s education program. Ibrahim led them through a series of four dances (explaining each) and then had the students join in the fun! It was a great event and had I not been suffering from ‘running stomach’ I would have been in there too! (if you think hard enough about ‘running stomach’ you’ll figure out what it is and why I hated the latrines so much J). I am hoping that with a little effort that this program would be able to be offered to tourists and the funds can be used to help make the Larabanga Active Education and Cultural Foundation more self-sustaining.

Given our latrine situation it wasn’t all that surprising to have a lengthy discussion about the protocols and procedures that folks used… both in Larabanga and at home! I even learned that there are specific washrooms at VIU that are best for ‘dropping a deuce’! I learned a lot and will never ask some of these students why they are late from class as I’m not sure I’ll really want the answer! Never again will I comment on someone who takes reading material into the loo… Devon and Cody spoke of creating a man-cave, complete with technology and specific reading materials, in order to encourage their bodies! They both estimated that this process took a minimum of ½ an hour!!! Who has time for that! J This discussion became a common one and we engaged in some cross-cultural exploration! The women got into it to but for us it was more focused on what outfits were best for the procedure in the field – long skirts and 2 – yards were tops!

FYI: 2 – yards refers to a piece of fabric that is 2 yards (or 3 in my case… more of me to cover) that almost all women carry in Ghana. The material becomes a blanket, a towel, a baby carrier, and for Obrunies it also makes a good cover-up if you forget to wear modest clothing and need to work within the community (i.e., knees need to be covered as do shoulders).

Our football match in Larabanga was way too much fun! KAS played keeper for a while and we have some great pics of the ball going passed him! The girls and I played again (defense), something that causes all kinds of delight with the audience! I love playing here as people never expect anything from me and are surprised with I don’t totally turn away and/or suck!! Thank God for U of A intramurals as I’ve retained some really old skills! The kids along the sidelines were calling me John Mensa (spelling) who apparently is “Ghana’s last defender” – I’ll have to find a jersey with his name on it before heading back to Larabanga!

My favourite parts of the game were watching Shannon and Gareth running after the ball like crazy people and scaring the opposition!! I also love that Brianne and Ashley kept practicing their victory dance – like that was going to be needed!! They reminded me of Kelly and Heather (cousins) when there were really young!! Devon was killer like always and on this occasion Cody was official photog. Of course we were joined but a host of Ghanaians (other than KAS, Michael, and Aaron) and better yet we had our 12^th man on the field – Ibrahim (from LAECF) was the ref and even I was questioning the number of calls going our way!! At the end he told the kids that they only got to keep the ball if they let us score!!! J

So despite what the guidebooks would lead me to believe – Larabanga was a brilliant part of our trip and I can’t wait to return and work with the great people who live there. That being said – I would warn any visitors to seek out some of the folks spoken of here for a tour and/or know that you don’t need to take the harassment – tell them to back off! As for the children of the community – do yourself, other visitors, and the kids themselves a favour and don’t hand over bottles, money, or even ‘gifts’ as it teaches the kids that school is not necessary to get ahead in life!

FYI: I am actually down on the coast right now preparing for the end of the 2011 Tourism Research & Study Tour. The students and I will spend our last night together at the Anomabo Beach Resort a $15 GHS taxi ride from Cape Coast. I will continue to reflect on and describe my experiences here in Ghana but will be doing so from Uganda! I head there on Friday and will be attending the 2011 Atlas Africa conference in Kampala. As always leaving Ghana is bittersweet and this year I’m feeling really weird!  We could have easily spent another couple of weeks (months!) in each of the communities that we visited!

Look for blog entries on Mole (really close encounters with Elephants this year), our research, and of course Cape Coast!