Photos for you

A Maxwell's Duiker, one of the most common antelope sold as bushmeat 

in Ghanaian Markets.  We photographed this one in Ho - didn't see any others.

We did, however, see plenty of grass-cutters (Greater Cane Rats) for sale.

And we bought one for dinner.

Men making the first batch of cement blocks for the construction of the base of the antelope enclosure.

Sand and cement for the blocks.

Meeting with local Hunters

Progress, continued!  The concrete block makers arrived and formed a LOT of blocks for the base of the enclosure.  (I'll post a photo soon.)  The well is dug, but we haven't connected a motor for the pump yet since we still need to dig the trench and lay the piping.  Stacks of fencing and wire are stored in Emmanuel's spare room and waiting to be formed into the main walls of the enclosure, which hopefully will begin to rise up on Monday.  Before beginning to dig the foundation lines, we'll pour libations and request a successful path for the endeavor.

Meanwhile, we are taking various tracks for acquiring the actual antelope: the first track has the game wardens helping us find and anesthetize the antelope with a dart gun, and then move them to the finished enclosure.  The second path, which is concurrent with the first, requires the help of local hunters.  On Wednesday we went to Ho, a larger town north of Kopeyia -  you can see it on Google Earth.  We met with five of the area's traditional hunters and also one of the regional chiefs, who also is a hunter.  After introductions, Emmanuel explained our project and they felt very enthusiastic about helping us procure antelope.  We're working on finding them a proper sized net, and then they assure us that within a few days they can corral the antelope and catch them live and unharmed.  So now that various folks are actively helping with that end of the work, we are able to continue to raise the walls as quickly as possible.  One other positive result of the meeting is that the hunters were able to tell Emmanuel specific trees and other habitat needs that would be preferable for duikers, which will help greatly.

More soon!

Sand arrives!

Sand arriving at Emmanuel's house today - two full dump trucks full (I have no idea how many yards that translates into.  Let's just say A LOT.)  This sand will be mixed with the concrete to form the blocks of the enclosure.  Progress!

Here We Are

Well, that took a bit - we've been in Kopeyia for a week+ but it's been so fast and furious that getting online in the little internet room has been a challenge.  All good work, though.   We arrived safely into Accra on the 10th and met Emmanuel there, stayed at the Afia hotel that night and then headed straight back to Kopeyia the next morning.  That was Sunday, and there were a lot of events happening around the area (market day in Denu, 2 funerals, etc. - so we didn't see most of our friends until late that afternoon.  I thought we'd just be spending some down time and resting, but ended up getting invited to a ceremony that night - great entry!

So by Monday/Tuesday, we were beginning to meet with Emmanuel and Christian, who is a local hunter and Emma's good friend.  He's been helping us procure supplies, and even brought us some bush meat (grass cutter) to try that night (he'd just shot it that day).  Through him, we've discovered a lot more about some of the issues surrounding bush meat hunting.  I videoed a lot of those meetings, plus the site for the new antelope enclosure, and some of the work done on the new well (which goes almost 40 feet down, all by hand).  Right now we are waiting for the cement bricks for the enclosure's base to set, and hopefully today we'll break ground on site and start preparing the boundary. 

Meanwhile, we wait with a bit of anticipation and hope for news of antelope for the enclosure - it's the very beginning of dry season and they are only starting to come out of hiding as bush fires and the need for greens and water drive them into the open. 

The most impressive aspect so far has been Emmanuel's preparation and organization, both before and during our visit.  Once this enclosure is built and the antelope secured, I feel strongly that this will succeed thanks to his solidity.

Today I will work to upload some photos of the area, if I can (low bandwidth here and spotty connections taken into account).

We are definitely still welcoming donations to Emmanuel's cause if you haven't yet been able to contribute - feel free to purchase a DVD or CD of audio and video taken at events during this trip (ceremonies, the antelope work, etc.)  Links to the right) - all profits go directly to costs here!

Akpe and more soon!

... and let there be progress!

We are now in Ghana, and have been at the Dagbe Cultural Center in Kopeyia for about a week. It was been wildly productive, in my opinion. We've spent a fair amount of time working with Emmanuel and Christian, the hunter who will help us procure the breeding animals as well as the general contractor who is helping to procure the supplies for building the enclosure. I am excited about the plan we've put together for the enclosure: We will construct it right across the trail from the Center and the existing poultry farm, so regular access to it will be easy. It is currently unused, so no land is being taken out of food production. Also, it is only about 100 meters from the elementary school here, and Emmanual wants to make the facility available to the school to help teach the children about their own wildlife. As a biologist who teaches local natural history to my own students in the States, I absolutely LOVE the idea that we are able to build in an educational component to this project. The enclosure will be about 80 feet on a side, constructed of concrete blocks up about 2.5 feet, then continued upward about another 6 feet with galvanized pipe supporting chain link fence, and topped with rolls of razor wire for security.

We hope to begin construction on the enclosure this weekend. We have procured the chain link fence and razor wire; now, we are just waiting for a deliver of sand for the concrete. Apparently there is SO MUCH construction going on in the Volta Region due to economic expansion that getting a dump truck delivery scheduled takes time. Once we get the sand, however, we start digging.

Based on my research, we ought to be able to house as many as 20 small antelope in the enclosure to begin with. That number might grow or shrink based on what we learn from our initial results over this first year, but I think it's a good place to start. We'll have mixed species, but all of them will be of the small antelope, which are refered to just as "antelope" in Ewe (the large antelope being called "deer") and as "duikers" in English.

We completed the digging of the well to supply water to the enclosure this week. It took two men three days to dig a 30+ foot deep well. I'll post pictures of it as soon as I can, but for now I just want to say how impressed I am at the capacity of these men to drive a straight, narrow-bore (about 12 inches diameter) hole down deep through clay and mud. We've placed the well inside the compound so that the pump can be secure against theft, but this means that we'll also need to dig a trench from the well out to the antelope compound to hold an underground pipe. The distance isn't far (about 100 feet), but it's a good example of how the on-the-ground realities of what has to happen to make this project work grows and evolves over time.

So ... progress is being made. So far, we've had no bad surprises, and everyone we've talked to here about the project is excited about its potential. I've seen more and more drums at ceremonies here with broken heads, so it's really true that the future of the music here depends on some attention to sustainable agriculture, conservation biology, and ... as Emmanuel likes to say ... a vision of the future.

Cheers,

s

Water

I should be speaking with Emmanuel this coming Tuesday; really, at this point, it's down to getting there, finding out what species are there for us to raise, and to begin building.  I wish Emmanuel could post here, he's done so much in preparation - we even know what water/well pump we need to make water (dedicated) available to the antelope within the enclosure.   Emma has also figured out a really economical way to construct high walls for the enclosure that allow light and airflow - but we'll post photos and info on that once we get there and it's actually started.

Can we go now?  Yes?  COOL!

Learning a new natural history

The risk in spending most of your life practicing natural history in one region is how easy it is to become complacent about what you know or how to go about learning what you don't. For example, I know the birds of North America pretty darn well, and if I encounter something I don't know, I know how to look it up.

Preparing myself to work on antelope in the Volta Region of Ghana has given me a much needed jolt out of my complacency. Emmanuel provided to me the Ewe names for the species that are used most often for heading drums. They are:

AVUGBE
KODZOE
DZAKE
ESE
DABO

What's known about captive breeding of those species? Who knows; without knowing what the English or Latin names for them are, there's no way to explore the scientific literature that describes their breeding biology.

So translating the names from Ewe into English/Latin should be straightforward. Just (a) find someone here in North America who has done research on wildlife in Ghana, (b) get them to provide names for their Ghanaian colleagues, (c) contact those Ghanaian wildlife professionals to see if they speak Ewe, and if not, (d) get them to arrange for translations with their colleagues who do speak Ewe.

Simple. Except that it took me two months to accomplish this. As a result, I am no longer complacent. And for the record:

AVUGBE - Grey Duiker
KODZOE - Red Flank Duiker
DZAKE (Djoke) - Maxwell Duiker
ESE - Kob
DABO - Oribi

Now I have a much better idea of what we need to do.

And I also have an idea for a side project while we are there: start to develop an Ewe-language natural history. More on that later.