A Sunday morning exploration of the wetlands that remain of what once was the Kumasi Forest Reserve on September 9, 2012
To see photos of our second wetland walk in January, 2013, please go to Walking Through the Rice Fields
THE EAST SIDE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
Here’s the compound wall around the last home on the block with rice fields beyond.
WEEKEND EXPLORERS
Dressed in our bush clothes but intentionally sans cutlass (a.k.a. machete) Camille, Jeremy and Bob set out to see what’s left of the Kumasi Forest Preserve. We left the cutlass home out of respect for the farmers who are cultivating the wetlands.
QUACK QUACK, LOOKING BACK
We passed a duck mother on our way out of the neighborhood, then looked back to see our green cement house standing one block to the west.
PEST PROTECTION
Scarecrows and bird nets protect the ripening rice crop.
MILES OF PILES ALONG THE DRAINAGE DITCH
When we came to this wide cement culvert, we were surprised to see a recycling operation in progress across the ditch. We then turned north in search of a crossing and encountered Brahman cattle grazing in the corn stubble. There were mounds of glass on both sides of the ditch.
CULLET
After using a concrete foot bridge to cross the ditch we turned south and resumed our exploration. Upon closer inspection of one of the newer glass piles, we realized the bottles were all from the Guinness plant just south east of our neighborhood.
NIGERIAN GLASS RECOVERY OPERATION
Prince took time to answer our questions about the work he and his mates were up to. He affirmed that the bottling plant has been dumping glass alongside the ditch for some time. With permission from Guinness they were recovering the glass, shipping it by road to Tema and loading it on a barge bound for Nigeria for recycling.
BACK ON THE WEST SIDE
We rounded out our walk by crossing to the west side on a second foot bridge and chatted with Peter, one of the rice farmers about his crop. We met other farmers along the way and had several conversations with people who were making use of the old Forest Preserve. We wrote more about our little adventure on our blog: Different Kinds of Poverty
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[Latest] * [Troutsfarm] * [A Two-Birthday Month] * [FS2BD Construction Continues] * [A New Goat] [Around the Yard and Gardens] * [Wetland Walk] * [Bopping Around the Kumasi Markets] * [Ayoum Village]
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