Excited about going back to Ghana tomorrow to continue our project work out there. The project is basically in the spirit of West Africa- chaotic and with a life of it's own beyond anyone's control so basically we are just going out there and seeing what happens. This will be the sixth trip there following a several month university placement in 1997, Wise birding trips in 2013 and 2017 and private trips in 2018 and 2019.
Loosely I'm looking for bird species I still need for my world life list (about 66 species but some of them almost impossible), working up the highest bird trip list we can (won't be high as it a target trip) and doing as much moth trapping as we can and recording butterflies where time permits. I basically want to make a start on learning some of the moths and targeting any bird species I need in Ghana. This was the remit we sent to our team so God only knows what we'll actually get. Whatever happens it will be fun.
Originally the plan was to focus on one area in Ghana (my MSc dissertation study area) and attempt to buy some land and co-ordinate exploration from there (basically the same model as the Bulgaria project) and that's still the plan but Covid obliterated the fragile progress so this is basically a jump start trip to rebuild connections. Also a new exploration project has emerged in the last year or so via the Search for Lost Birds Initiative with one of the target species being Ghana Cuckooshrike HERE so we've been in contact with John Mittermeier and intend to do some preliminary research on this. This species could actually be in our proposed research area or at least in the region.
Fingers crossed the global energy chaos won't cause us any problems, we've paid a bit more to fly with British Airways to get extra insurance so hopefully all covered. I'm really keen to keep going with Ghana as West Africa should buffer the escalating world conflict and reordering pretty well and be very well placed for steady sustainable growth. Fortunately the people of Ghana are still mostly nature based (most still live on the land) and prioritise humanity above money to a greater degree. They will be much more resilient to any global shocks and reconfigurations than some other areas, especially from the existential risks of AI. It's quite likely such socieites will move forward if global downside risks are realised by Zionist/Trump/Techlord recklessness while most other areas move back (to more resilient nature based societies). It's a good place to have connection to.
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