April 18, 2012

The Adventure Begins...

It is hard to believe that it has already been a week since I arrived in Ghana and almost two weeks since I left Van Isle. Since that leaving I’ve reconnected with an old (as in long time ago – we are not ‘old’) classmate from Acadia, travelled to Ghana, reconnected with friends and colleagues here, and travelled through four different regions (i.e., provinces) of the country!



As noted the adventure started in Seattle where I met up with Andrea and her family for a couple of days. This was a great send off as I got to participate in their Seder dinner – a Jewish tradition to mark the start of Passover – and to check out the Pike Place Market (Andi I’m still dreaming of those pain au chocolat!). As trite as it is to say… it was like I had seen her just yesterday and despite all the living we’ve done since graduating in ’99 (OMG) we are in essence the same people! Her daughters are lovely and her husband Herbie is a riot! Andi was busy complaining that I was heading off to Ghana and Herbie was off to Kenya and she had to stay home… oh well perhaps next time! J

The decision to fly from Seattle was driven by the $400/ticket saving over flying from Vancouver ($300 when you factor in the cost of getting to Seattle). From a travel perspective I would rather hang at YVR than SeaTac but its not worth $300 to do so!

Jay Eating the Tilapia Head!
I’ve been in Ghana for just over a week now and it seems that I’ve been on the road for most of it. I hung out in Accra for a couple of days waiting for students to arrive and took the opportunity to meet up with my friend and collogue Donna Sheppard (NCRC/Calgary Zoo) and eat some great Ghanaian food! I haven’t seen Donna since hanging out in Nairobi last spring so there was a lot of catching up to do! We also hung out at Duncan’s in Osu (area of Accra) where my student Jay got her first taste of Ghana – Banku and Tilapia!
Fufu with Groundnut Soup & Goat

Once Brianne and Ashley arrived (11th) we quickly headed out of Accra to the Palm Hills Hotel in Akropong – a place I stayed with my mom 2 years ago! J Bri and Ash got right back into Ghana life with a bowl of fufu and cows feet for dinner! Jay jumped into the fray and we all ended up having fufu and groundnut soup for lunch the next day!

After a short stay in Sunyani it was off to Mole and Larabanga where we had a short visit with Ibn (local Assemblyman) before heading to Tamale. Of course before leaving Mole we had to take a safari walk. It was one of the best that I had taken with a lot of interpretation provided by Adam and animals doing different things. Hope you enjoy the photos.
Amanda Moore at Mole National Park



Checking out the elephant diet...through poo!


Looking like Jane of the Jungle at Mole!



Termite Mound

Elephant teeth

Bush Buck

Wart Hog Parade!


Bush Buck with deformed horn

Elephant blowing bubbles

March 17, 2012

The next adventure...

The spring semester at Vancouver Island University is quickly drawing to a close and that means that preparation for my next adventure is ramping up! This year's adventure will start off with a couple of days in Seattle as I catch-up with an old university pal from Acadia (Andrea B) before meeting up with a student and heading off to Ghana.

I am really excited about this year's trip to Ghana as I will be there for 15 weeks - that's almost 4 months! This year we're doing some really cool research into the gendered nature of daily life in a northern community, we continuing our investigation of residents' perceptions of the benefits and sacrifices of their community-based conservation area, and we will be helping a community define their vision of tourism development! Of course I'm also getting to work with some amazing folks in a country that I've come to love!!

General outline of the trip so far:

April 5 - 7: Seattle - catching up and likely drinking too much wine! ;)

April 7 to May 1: Preliminary data collection and analysis on a project focusing on the Gendered Nature of Daily life in a Northern Ghanaian Community.

May 5 - May 22: Investigating the residents' perceptions of the benefits and sacrifices of the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary!

May 25 - June 30 - Working with the community of Larabanga to develop a vision for tourism development within the community.

July 1 - CANADA DAY!!!

July 2 - 10 - Wrapping things up with students, checking out Cape Coast, and debriefing.

July 11 - 17... I'm free in Ghana without plans yet...beach time? Volta region? Who knows!!

Hope you'll join me for this next adventure.

Aggie