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Like a knitting needle, the African experience intricately interweaved three individual lives into inseparable coexistence. Andy, Q-san, and I talked to each other daily through communication software as if we were still together in Africa. We chatted about shared memories from 2015 as well as strategies for the upcoming 2016. We missed Ghana immensely. The only things we didn’t miss were the cold showers and the biting midges. Nonchalantly, spring of 2016 came. It was time to set in motion our quest for the Chief Goliath Beetle. It was not cheap to go on a two-week expedition to Ghana, which cost about $5,000 USD. For the second trip, Q-san had to take out a loan. The first step was to purchase the airplane tickets to Ghana. I bought my tickets on April 20. This time, I would fly to London Heathrow Airport on July 14 and from there to Accra. I would depart Accra on August 1 and again enter through John F. Kennedy International Airport in order to declare and import the Chief Goliath Beetle. Once I left clicked the mouse to purchase the tickets, I knew for certain that I was really going to Ghana again. Although this time around I knew what to expect in Ghana, I again purchased accidental death insurance with 1 million dollar coverage because the primitive rainforest could be unpredictable; a large tree branch could fall on me or I could accidentally step on a Gabon Viper. Packing didn’t take too much time as most of the items were already purchased last year. Based on last year’s experience, I added a few things to and took out a few things from the luggage. For example, last year I brought way too many plastic containers thinking I would find many Goliath Beetles. This year, I only packed a handful. For the space that freed up, I packed extra shoes and boots. For one, if a pair got wet or damaged in the jungles, I would have more. For two, at the end of the trip I could give them away as gifts. Shoes and boots were highly sought after in rural African communities. Andy, Q-san, and I donated all of our shoes and boots to David’s family prior to departure last year. Very quickly, July 14 came and I boarded British Airways Flight 1551 and departed the United States at 5:55 p.m. for London Heathrow Airport. After waiting six hours and forty five minutes in London, I finally boarded British Airways Flight 81 bound for Accra. Due to good weather and clear visibility, I could see the Sahara Desert clearly during the flight. It was amazing that this dry land would eventually transform into lush tropical rainforests. I touched down in Accra at 7:30 p.m. I was less nervous but just as excited as last year. It had been more than a year. It was so good to be back in Africa. I proceeded through the familiar Kotoka International Airport and met up with Mac uneventfully. This time I arrived before Andy and Q-san and Mac took me to the motel first. Andy and Q-san arrived together later in the evening. At 12 a.m., the same team from last year was reunited. The morale was high. We were ready for the best times of our lives.?M{(
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After a good night’s rest, I got up early and took a cold shower. We all met up at 7:33 a. m. in the motel’s restaurant and were served Western breakfast consisted of toasted bread, omelet, and hot chocolate. The plan for today was simple. Since old literature reported Accra as a locality for the Chief Goliath Beetle, we would explore the Achimota Forest, the only forest remaining in Accra today. After the exploration, we would purchase canned food and supplies for the expedition to the Ankasa Forest Reserve near the border of Ivory Coast. Who knew? Maybe we would find the Chief Goliath Beetle on our second day in Ghana. Then we could turn the entire trip into a leisure vacation. We arrived at the Achimota Forest around 10 a.m. The weather was sunny around 28 to 30 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, the Achimota Forest was not an original forest. This meant the original plant and animal species had been altered due to human activities, such as logging and agriculture. We walked around in it for about two hours. The majority of the plant composition was immature trees and bushes. There was also a lot of concurrent deforestation. Despite our best efforts, we saw no insects, or other animals for that matter. It was unusually quiet, too, with no bird calls. We had no reason to believe that the Chief Goliath Beetle still existed in Accra. It was time to move on. We went to a restaurant for lunch. Not surprisingly, we had fried rice and fried chicken with Shito sauce on the side. For the rest of the afternoon we purchased supplies and packed our four-wheel drive for tomorrow’s six-hour drive to Ankasa.}OquKv
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At 7:55 a.m. breakfast was served. I had toasted bread, omelet, beans, and stir fried vegetables with hot chocolate. The hotel staff also prepared watermelon, pineapple, and mango. After the energizing breakfast, we were ready to hit the road. It was a cloudy day with intermittent showers about 25 degree Celsius. We first drove from Accra to Cape Coast. This part of the trip was not new to us. We took this route last year to go to Mesomago. On the way, we chatted about what we had been up to for the past year. I asked Q-san if he got another fortune stick from Xingtian Temple for our second expedition. He did. But he didn’t tell us about it prior because it was not a good one. It said “I know you have great aspirations, but it’s not time yet. You can’t force things. When it’s time, someone will appear and help you achieve your goal.” The fortune stick didn’t sound good, but there was nothing we could do because we were already in Ghana; we were just going to make the best of it. Once we got to Cape Coast, I saw the road that would take us to Mesomago. Memories from last year rushed back. Mohammed drove past it and that was when I got excited, because now everything was novelty to me. We were by the beach. It was my first time experiencing West African beach. I rolled down the window to be kissed by the breeze. I could feel the humidity and smell the brininess. The beach was composed of very fine tan-colored sand and lined with coconut palm trees. The Gulf of Guinea was olive green with gentle waves propelling towards us. The habitat was entirely different from the Forest of Djin Djin. I was overtaken by an urge to vacation by this picturesque beach and have sunset barbeques on it. But we had to move on. We could not relax until the Chief Goliath Beetle was found. As we drove, we were on the lookout for Vernonia trees, the plant that attracted the Chief Goliath Beetle. Unfortunately, coastal Ghana was heavily deforested. We only saw grasslands, cacao plantations, oil palm plantations, and rubber tree plantations. Occasionally, we would see a small patch of forest. We would stop the car on the side of the road and scan the trees for any signs of beetles. Learning from last year’s experience, Q-san brought some military grade binoculars so that we could check the canopies. Sadly, as well equipped as we were, we didn’t find anything of interest. After five hours of driving, we arrived in Takoradi, the legendary locality where large numbers of the Chief Goliath Beetle were caught in the 1980’s. Not surprisingly, Takoradi today was completely deforested. The city was jam packed with buildings and a matrix of bustling streets and roads. Takoradi was a high traffic city because all the trucks that carried goods into and out of Ivory Coast must pass through here. On the perimeter, we saw massive oil palm plantations that stretched as far as eyes could see. No Vernonia trees were found. Like Accra, we did not think the Chief Goliath Beetle continued to exist in Takoradi. Like a female bird whose nest had been robbed by a snake, we moved on with a heavy heart. Our only hope lay in the Ankasa Forest Reserve. At 5:42 p.m., we arrived in Elubo, the border town that was within walking distance from Ivory Coast. I got out of the car to stretch and looked around. I was surrounded by all kinds of shops and mobile vendors. I could see the border crossing. Huge trucks fully loaded with cargos drove into and out of Ivory Coast. I wanted to go into Ivory Coast so bad because I knew that was where the Chief Goliath Beetle lived for certain. “Since the Ankasa Forest Reserve is right next to Ivory Coast, there must be Chief Goliath Beetles” was what I told myself while standing at the border crossing staring into Ivory Coast. It was starting to get late. Mac told me to get back in the car so we could find a motel to stay. Being a port town, there were many accommodations available. We picked one that sat right on the edge of the Ankasa Forest Reserve. You guessed it; there was no hot shower.b
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The place we stayed at was called the Frenchman Lodge. The owner was an Ivorian who had immigrated to Ghana due to the civil wars. This really caught our attention. We had been looking for ways to establish contacts with people who knew Ivory Coast. If we could not find the Chief Goliath Beetle in Ghana, then we would like to explore the possibility of visiting Cote d’Ivoire. Currently, the owner was visiting Ivory Coast so we could not speak with him directly. His daughter told us that she would pass on our contact information to his father when he returned in a few weeks. We were very happy that now we knew someone from Ivory Coast. Dinner was composed of stir fried canned sardines and onions on a bed of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers served with bread. After dinner we went out to refuel the car. We decided to stop at a gas station with very bright mercury vapor lights. Knowing insects were attracted to mercury vapor lights at night, we checked the premise thoroughly. We found two species of rhinoceros beetles. The big species (Augosoma centaurus) was the same kind as the ones we found in Mesomago in 2015. The smaller species belonged to the genus Oryctes. Although these were not Goliath Beetles, they were assurance that the nearby ecosystem was good enough to sustain large beetles and that we had come at the right season. The humidity in western coastal Ghana was clearly higher than the Forest of Djin Djin. The climate here was the same as that of Ivory Coast. So far, we were seeing positive signs that the Chief Goliath Beetle just might live here. We went back to the lodge for a good night’s rest in preparation for tomorrow’s adventure in the Ankasa Forest Reserve. While in bed, I kept thinking about a potential first encounter with the Chief Goliath Beetle. Should it materialize, it would be significant in multiple ways. For one, I could solve the mystery of Nickerl’s Beetle. For two, it would be the first record of the Chief Goliath Beetle in Ankasa and prove beyond any doubt that the Chief Goliath Beetle truly existed in Ghana.S6;
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We gathered in the dining room at 8 a.m. for breakfast. We had toasted bread, omelet, and hot chocolate. We arrived at the Ankasa Forest Reserve at 9:07 a.m. on July 18, 2016. It was an overcast day about 25 degrees Celsius. We were optimistic and enthusiastic. In the past, the Chief Goliath Beetle was considered extremely common. Every year, thousands of specimens were exported out of Ivory Coast. If the Chief Goliath Beetle lived in the Ankasa Forest Reserve, it should be very easy to find. Maybe there would be so many that I didn’t know what to do with. The Ankasa Forest Reserve was a very special place in Ghana. It was about 500 square kilometers of wet evergreen rainforest and the only protected area in entire Ghana with this kind of rainforest. As such, the Ankasa Forest Reserve had the highest biodiversity in all of Ghana! Forest elephants, leopards, chimpanzees, bongos, and many other large games resided here. The Chief Goliath Beetle must live here, too. As we pulled up to the parking lot of the Ankasa Forest Reserve hiking trail, a sense of familiarity descended. It looked just like Kakum National Park! The trees were extremely tall (over 30 meters) and the canopies were way out of the reach of our insect rods. The visibility was low because the extremely dense vegetation prevented light from entering the forest. These were the same factors that made us leave Kakum. But we didn’t want to give up immediately. If the Chief Goliath Beetle lived here in large numbers, maybe we could still find them despite the unfavorable conditions against us. We began exploring the Ankasa Forest Reserve. Although Q-san brought binoculars, checking the canopies was still very challenging because we had to raise our heads 90 degrees in order to view the canopies of these gigantic trees. It didn’t take long before everybody got a sore neck. We looked very hard. Unfortunately, we did not see any Vernonia trees. We were in the Ankasa Forest Reserve for three hours without seeing any signs of the Chief Goliath Beetle. Our confidence in Ankasa began to wobble. Few thoughts began to run through my head. Either the Ankasa Forest Reserve did not contain the Chief Goliath Beetle or we were here at the wrong season. The last time live specimens of the Chief Goliath Beetle were exported out of Ivory Coast was January of 2012. Our experience from the Forest of Djin Djin also taught us that the best place to capture Goliath Beetles was where agriculture and forests intermingled. Due to human activities, trees in these places didn’t get too tall, which allowed easy spotting and capture of Goliath Beetles. By early afternoon, we decided to pull out of the Ankasa Forest Reserve and visit the nearby farming villages. Once we were out of the forest reserve, we began to see cacao plantations and villagers. We showed them photographs of the Chief Goliath Beetle but none of them was familiar with it. I was starting to get ominous feelings about Ankasa. After searching for another couple hours with no results, we decided to head back to the Frenchman Lodge to regroup and strategize about tomorrow. I didn’t mind the cold shower today because we were hot and sweaty from a long day of exploration at the Ankasa Forest Reserve. After shower, we strolled around the premise while waiting for dinner. Suddenly, we discovered something shocking. We came across what appeared to be a graveyard of rhinoceros beetles (Augosoma centaurus). There were countless dismembered bodies of them. But these specimens didn’t look fresh. They appeared to have been baking under the sun for months, perhaps even longer. There was a streetlight nearby. Our theory was that the streetlight attracted the rhinoceros beetles in large numbers at night. Then predators devoured the beetles and left their carcasses here. Suddenly, Mohammed told us that he was here in December of last year guiding a Dutch entomologist. He was able to witness large numbers of rhinoceros beetles flying to this streetlight at night. Now everything made sense. The true beetle season for western coastal Ghana was November through January. We had come at the wrong season. The fortune stick from Xintian Temple was spot on. It was not time yet.L
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There was still some time before dinner. We decided to set up a fruit trap. Since we were already in Ghana, we might as well do everything we could. There was a tall tree next to the Frenchman Lodge. We thought it would be an ideal location to hang a fruit trap. It was perhaps over 20 meters in height. The lowest branch was about 12 meters above ground. We had a long rope with us. The objective was to attach a stone to the rope and toss it over the branch. Then we could replace the stone with the fruit trap and elevate it to the branch. I volunteered for the task because I had the longest arm. I felt pretty confident about throwing the stone over the branch. I aimed, and throw the stone as hard as I could. Then an accident happened. The rope on the ground got tangled up with some small bushes. Instead of leaving my hand, the rope rubbed between my index and middle finger, causing a nasty skin abrasion. I became extremely concerned. I was in remote rural Africa with no medical care. If the wound became infected, in the worst case scenario, I would be facing amputation or even death. It was the same reason why I never shaved in Africa, because I could not afford creating any wounds. The team faced an immediate decision: continue to stay or head back to Accra where medical care was available. We had just arrived in Ankasa yesterday. I really didn't want to leave. After some discussion, I decided to stay. I was taking Doxycycline two times a day as malarial prevention, which could also double up as antibiotic. To procure the Chief Goliath Beetle, I would stop at nothing. Eventually, we got the fruit trap hung. We used pineapple and banana as bait. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, like 2015, no Goliath Beetle ever came to the fruit trap.(z%u
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Q-san and I were starting to have second thoughts about western coastal Ghana. Andy began talking about foregone baseball games that got resurrected in the last inning again. He was right. It was too early to think about failure. After all, we didn't obtain the breeding pair of the Royal Goliath Beetle from last year until literally the last day in the Forest of Djin Djin. We were tired and hungry. Our brains weren't thinking clearly. It was time for dinner and relaxation. We had baked chicken and potato with bread. After dinner, we began brainstorming about what to do for tomorrow. We decided not to go back into the Ankasa Forest Reserve. Instead, we would thoroughly explore the farming villages around it. We believed our model in the Forest of Djin Djin would also serve us well here in western coastal Ghana. Even if we were here at the wrong season, it would still be great to find a local person who knew the Chief Goliath Beetle, like David with the Royal Goliath Beetle. If we could get a confirmation, we could always return in December. With tomorrow’s plan set, we returned to our individual rooms for the night. I removed the bandage on my middle finger and took a good look at my wound. The rope had rubbed away a good amount of the skin, exposing the flesh underneath. It definitely could get infected if I was not careful. I slapped a good amount of Neosporin on it and re-bandaged it. Between the oral Doxycycline and topical Neosporin, I should be alright. I wore a latex glove in the shower to keep the wound dry. This wound also made doing laundry challenging because all the clothes had to be washed by hand. Before coming to Africa, one of my top priorities was not to get injured. I took every precaution to make sure that would not happen. I didn’t shave. I wore long sleeves, pants, and boots. I was very careful about where I stepped. Yet, here I was, with an unexpected rope burn. After brushing my teeth, I retreated to my bed, which was encapsulated by a mosquito tent as an extra protection against malaria. I contemplated on our second expedition to West Africa before falling asleep. We were off to a bad start. We were here at the wrong season and I got injured on the third day."
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On July 19, 2016, we left the Frenchman Lodge at 9 a.m. to explore the villages around the Ankasa Forest Reserve. It was a sunny day with some clouds with a low of 24 degrees Celsius and a high of 29 degrees Celsius. Shortly after departure, we came across a scene that occurred repeatedly in Ghana. I could not come up with an explanation. There was a duck and her duckling. Right next to them sat a cat, which did not have any intention of hurting the ducks. They were just chilling and enjoying the day. I had seen similar scenes multiple times involving different animals that would normally have a predator-prey relationship, such as dogs and baby chickens, dogs and baby goats, dogs and piglets, cats and baby chickens, etc. These animals were not pets. They were free ranging farm animals that had to forage for their own food. They just went about their lives without minding each other. A hungry cat not snatching up an easy meal seemed to go against logic. Their harmony fascinated me. As we explored, the environment was reminiscent of the Forest of Djin Djin. There were patchy forests intermingled with cacao, rubber tree, and oil palm plantations. In these mosaics, most of the trees were medium sized that were within the reaches of our insect rods. Unfortunately, we did not find any Vernonia trees or any other trees that harbored Goliath Beetles. There were some interesting finds along the way, though. I caught the most colorful grasshopper that I had ever seen. It had all seven colors of the rainbow. And then we came upon the edge of a small cliff. A tree extended outwards from the cliff. We saw a long horn beetle on the canopy of this tree. The distance seemed to be the maximum length of our insect rods. We didn't really care about long horn beetles, but thought it would be good practice of our skills to catch it. Andy fully extended his insect rod to 14 meters. The long horn beetle was just within reach. However, it was extremely challenging to catch it. Because the tree grew away from us, Andy almost had to hold the insect rod horizontally, which made it very heavy. To further complicate things, the air currents generated by the cliff made the insect net sway back and forth. The unfavorable conditions really put Andy's skills to the test. But Andy was no novice. He had been collecting insects for decades. He waited for the wind to change direction. Then with a swift motion, he closed in on the long horn beetle while riding on tailwind. We were very impressed by his pole handling skills. After taking some photos, we released the long horn beetle back to the wild. As we explored, it was obvious that deforestation was ongoing. The villagers here lived a traditional lifestyle. The forests were cut down to provide land for farming and wood for cooking and home building. Similar to the villagers at the Forest of Djin Djin, the villagers around Ankasa also cooked with open fire generated by burning wood harvested from the forest. Their homes were constructed from clay, wood, and palm leaves as roofing. Before returning to West Africa, we had some photos of the Chief Goliath Beetle printed. Since we found David at the Forest of Djin Djin, we were hoping that we could also find “David of Ankasa.” As with the Forest of Djin Djin, not too many foreigners visited Ankasa due to its far distance from the capital. The villagers were very curious about us and we gathered a large audience wherever we went. We showed photos of the Chief Goliath Beetle to the villagers, but nobody gave us a definitive response. I thought it was very odd. If the Chief Goliath Beetle existed in large numbers in Ankasa, plenty of villagers would have seen them. We interviewed villagers from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with no luck. We decided to go back to the Frenchman Lodge for lunch. Shortly after we returned, a man ran to us and excitedly told us that he got word that we were looking for giant beetles. Flashbacks of our initial meeting with David flushed my mind. He said he knew where to find an abundance of them. Had we found our “David of Ankasa”?H
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His name was Amoah, probably in his thirties. He was wearing a red tank top, blue jean shorts, and flip flops. The Frenchman Lodge overlooked a valley. “Can you bring them to me,” I asked. He was a man of action. He nodded his head and quickly ran in the direction of the valley, where his body gradually descended and disappeared from view. We weren’t sure when he would return. Our clothes were covered in plant seeds from this morning’s exploration, so we sat down on the floor and began pulling seeds off our clothes one at a time to kill time. Since some of the seeds were located on our back where we couldn’t see and remove efficiently, we helped each other out. We looked like three monkeys sitting on the ground pick at each other’s parasites. This was how close Africa brought us together. About thirty minutes later, we could hear Amoah shouting excitedly in a distance. We overlooked the valley and like magic, his head, neck, and eventually body floated into view. He was holding a woven basket and running towards us. Judging from the huge smile on his face, his basket must be loaded with bounty. But I was not naïve anymore. From the experiences that I had accumulated so far from 2015 and this year, I knew it would be near impossible to collect a basketful of Goliath Beetles in a day, let alone in thirty minutes. In the Forest of Djin Djin, a full day of search only got us one Royal Goliath Beetle, and that was with an insect rod. Amoah had no tools. What were the chances of him catching a bunch of Goliath Beetles in thirty minutes with no insect rod? But never say never. Maybe Amoah had a sweet spot loaded with the Chief Goliath Beetle. After all, historical accounts said coastal forests abounded with them. As Amoah approached, we all extended our neck as far as we could so we could peek into the basket as soon as possible. They were not adult Goliath Beetles. They were a bunch of larvae. Maybe they were the larvae of the Chief Goliath Beetle! After Amoah came to a complete stop, we examined the larvae immediately. Unfortunately, they were the larvae of rhinoceros beetles. There were 34 of them. If they had been the larvae of the Chief Goliath Beetle, we would be the happiest men on earth! Amoah told us that he dug them up from a rotten palm tree. These appeared to be mature larvae that would become adult rhinoceros beetles by winter. This again confirmed that the beetle season for western coastal Ghana was winter, not summer. We gave Amoah some tips and thanked his efforts. So far, things hadn’t worked in our favor on our second expedition to West Africa, not to mention Q-san got separated from the group today, which was a big scare. Earlier during the day, we were each searching for the Chief Goliath Beetle with a slightly different pace. Andy walked the fastest. I was somewhere in the middle. Q-san was the most thorough with his binoculars so he frequently lagged behind. Eventually, we realized we had lost Q-san. It wasn’t clear when we lost him or how far away he was. There were many paths in the surrounding area. Finding him would not be easy. Our cellphones had no reception. We began to back trace the villages we visited. We got very lucky. In about thirty minutes, we saw him. He didn’t even know that we had lost him. He was still looking at the tree canopies with his high grade military binoculars. We were thankful that he didn’t know he was left behind. Otherwise, he would have tried to catch up and potentially taken different paths that would really get him lost. Interestingly, Q-san told us that he might have seen a Goliath Beetle flying overhead while he was alone. He could not be one hundred percent sure, but he really didn’t think it was a bird because he didn’t see any flapping wings. It was like a baseball flying through the sky. When Goliath Beetles flew, their wings could not be seen because they flapped so fast, much like hummingbirds. We were excited. This was our first positive sign since arriving in West Africa for the second time. After dinner, we decided to continue exploring the surrounding villages tomorrow like we did today.n[(@
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On July 20, 2016, the fifth full day of our second expedition to West Africa, the weather was mostly cloudy with occasional sunshine with temperatures between 25 and 29 degrees Celsius. We started interviewing villagers at 9 a.m. We showed photographs of the Chief Goliath Beetle to the local residents. This process continued from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. No one had seen the Chief Goliath Beetle before. By now, we had interviewed several hundred people with no positive response. I was pretty convinced the Chief Goliath Beetle did not inhabit the Ankasa region. Perhaps Ghana was just not west enough to harbor the Chief Goliath Beetle. We just might have to go to Ivory Coast. Also on this day, though, we received unexpected news from Kakum. A Swedish beetle enthusiast had just found a carcass of the Royal Goliath Beetle on the forest floor of Kakum National Park. It was probably killed by a hornbill as it had large puncture wounds. This confirmed the presence of the Royal Goliath Beetle in Kakum, even though the park rangers there told us when we interviewed them in 2015 that they had never seen one despite having lived there for over twenty years. Perhaps the Chief Goliath Beetle in fact lived in the Ankasa region, but it was just extremely elusive like the Royal Goliath Beetle in Kakum. However, I had my doubts. From the information I had gathered, the Chief Goliath Beetle existed in large numbers in areas where it occurred. Furthermore, the Vernonia tree that attracted them was shorter than the Oba Tree. The Chief Goliath Beetle should be much easier to spot than the Royal Goliath Beetle should it exist here in Ankasa. But then again, perhaps the Ankasa region represented the eastern extreme of the Chief Goliath Beetle’s geographical distribution and populations here were very sparse. So many thoughts were fighting in my head as I attempted to assess the situation. As we explored, I saw what I thought to be an Oba Tree, but I could not be absolutely certain without help from David, who was an expert at identifying the Oba Tree. Here in tropical Africa, plant diversity was extraordinarily high and many plants resembled each other. My heart started to pound a little bit. I was afraid I might see something on this tree that would shock us. This was a medium tree and its entirety was within the reach of our insect rod. If there was any Goliath Beetle on this tree, we could definitely catch it. I examined every branch of this tree with rapid breathing, but there was nothing on it. Either this was not an Oba Tree or we were here at the wrong season. Everywhere we went, there were villagers processing cacao beans, the raw ingredient of chocolate. Before I visited Africa, I never took any initiative to understand how chocolate was produced, despite it being my favorite snack. Now that I was in the second largest cacao producer in the world, it was a great opportunity to learn about it firsthand. The main occupation of the villagers around Ankasa, and rest of Ghana and Ivory Coast for that matter, was growing cacao. The vast majority of forests in these two countries had been converted into cacao plantations. The cacao fruits developed on the trunk of cacao trees and resembled the appearance of the bitter melon when immature and the papaya when ready for harvest. The fruits went through a series of color changes as they matured, from green to purple to red to orange to yellow. Then the fruits were harvested and their beans removed and fermented. In the yard of every household, we could see cacao beans being dried under the sun after fermentation. However, very few cacao beans stayed in Ghana. The bulk of them were exported and turned into chocolates in other countries around the world. It was fascinating to learn about cacao cultivation, but my mind kept drifting back to the Chief Goliath Beetle. Just where were they? After dinner we discussed the strategy for tomorrow. Field observations from the 1840s documented that Cape Palmas of the Grain Coast (present day Liberia) abounded with the Chief Goliath Beetle. Perhaps we needed to get really close to the coast. Maybe the Chief Goliath Beetle only dwelled in littoral habitats. With our extremely slow mobile data, we waited for Google Maps to load. After some searching, we found Amansuri Lake, which was right next to the Gulf of Guinea and surrounded by some forests. That was where we would go tomorrow.x!u
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Amidst gentle evening breeze and chirping crickets, I left the dining hall and strolled back to my room to get ready for bed with a sense of anticipation. I did a bandage change of my rope burn wound as part of my daily routine. It had been 2 full days since the injury. While the wound was still moist and tender, it was not painful and there didn’t appear to be signs of infection, which was an enormous relief. That meant I could stay and continue searching for the Chief Goliath Beetle, especially when we were going to the beach tomorrow. I was getting excited because I had always had an inordinate fondness for tropical beaches. I had wanted to spend time on West African beach since 2015, but up until now had not had a chance because we were always on the go. But now we had a reason to go to the beach; old literature said that was where they were found, the Chief Goliath Beetles. I climbed into my mosquito tent and eagerly waited for tomorrow. When I woke up, it would be a cloudy day with periodic drizzles with temperatures between 25 and 28 degrees Celsius. After the unavoidable cold shower and breakfast, we headed straight south and didn’t stop until we hit the ocean. I eagerly jumped out of the car to embrace what I had longed for. This beach looked the same as the one I saw in Cape Coast which we didn’t have time to stop to explore. The ocean was olive green with gentle waves. The sand felt exactly as I would imagine; it was light and soft and quickly filled my shoes. It was a busy beach filled with fishing villagers. Multiple teams lined up along the beach in single files to haul in enormous fishing nets. A team of fifteen to twenty villagers would stay on the beach and hang on to one end of the net. Then a small boat would bring the net out to the sea and curve back to another point on the beach where another team of fifteen to twenty villagers would be waiting. Then the two teams would work together to pull the fishing net back to the shore. As the fishing net approached the beach, we watched with keenness, wondering what would pop out of the Gulf of Guinea. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the luxury to stay for long. In our short duration of watching them fishing, we only saw a handful of small fish pulled out of the ocean. As I scanned both ways of the shoreline, I saw many coconut trees and littoral vegetation. I searched as thoroughly as I could, but there were no signs of any Goliath Beetles. As we continued to explore, we came across a graveyard right on the beach. It was a stark reminder that my time on earth was limited and I must chase my dream while I still could. The writings on the tombstones were done by hand. Many of the graves were damaged with large cracks or missing pieces. I curiously peeked into the damaged graves. I could see coffin fragments and decided that I shouldn’t investigate more. I was only a passerby and shouldn’t be nosy or cause any disturbances. We decided to move to Amansuri Lake, which was only a few kilometers away. The entrance to Amansuri Lake was a big grass plain. The ecosystem here was very different from that of the Ankasa Forest Reserve. Whereas the ground composition of Ankasa was clay, the ground composition of here was sandy soil. Perhaps the littoral was the true habitat for the Chief Goliath Beetle. We were starting to get excited again. We marched through the grass plain to reach the forest that surrounded Amansuri Lake. Very soon after arrival, I saw the carcass of an Emperor Scorpion on the forest floor. The Emperor Scorpion was a common pet kept around the world that I was very familiar with. When I was younger, I had kept a few as pets myself. But this was my first time seeing a wild specimen in its native habitat. The presence of the Emperor Scorpion here was a good indication that the ecosystem here was robust and healthy with plenty of food. There were no big trees in this forest. All of the trees were within the reach of our insect rods. Typically, littoral plants didn’t grow tall due to the strong winds and high salinity generated by the ocean. The littoral forest was easy to explore due to the lack of tall trees. We were able to exam the forest fairly thoroughly. Unfortunately, there were no signs of Goliath Beetles. We returned to the Frenchman Lodge by 5 p.m.p:=m>=
©昆蟲論壇 -- 昆蟲論壇 5sd
Time was running out. Six days of our second expedition to West Africa had already evaporated without any signs of the Chief Goliath Beetle. It was 3:51 p.m. when we left Amansuri Lake. It would be a while before dinner was served at the Frenchman Lodge. There was a bar right on the beach with outdoor sitting overlooking the sun-setting Gulf of Guinea and surrounded by coconut palms. It was as close as we would come to a beach vacation. We decided to sit here awhile to discuss our next step over Malta Guinness while pretending to be on a real beach getaway. We would depart Ghana on July 31, 2016. There were only nine days left to explore. It was time to make an important decision like we did multiple times in 2015. Should we continue to stay in western coastal Ghana or should we revisit the Forest of Djin Djin? The two places were on opposite ends of Ghana. It would take 17 hours of driving to go from Ankasa to the Forest of Djin Djin near the border of Togo! And we would not be able to do all the driving in one day. We would have to spend a night in Kpong. If we were to return to the Forest of Djin Djin, that would be the equivalent of officially giving up on finding the Chief Goliath Beetle in 2016 because it was not known to exists in eastern Ghana. David had lived in the Forest of Djin Djin for over half a century and he had never seen a Chief Goliath Beetle there. Why would we consider revisiting the Forest of Djin Djin? So far there had been no signs of the Chief Goliath Beetle existing in southwestern Ghana. Continuing our search here could ultimately lead to a fruitless expedition. On the other hand, if we were to revisit the Forest of Djin Djin, we could procure more specimens of the Royal Goliath Beetle and increase the genetic diversity of our breeding stock from 2015. After some discussion, it was decided that we would explore southwestern Ghana one more day. Then we would depart for the Forest of Djin Djin. The southwestern tip of Ghana was very interesting. It and the southeastern tip of Ivory Coast overlapped horizontally. In other words, the southwestern tip of Ghana and the southeastern tip of Ivory Coast shared the same longitudes. If we could visit the very southwestern tip of Ghana, then we would functionally be in Ivory Coast! This was the region in the entire Ghana that was the closest to Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast, also the most famous locality in the world for the Chief Goliath Beetle. We had got to visit there before heading out to the Forest of Djin Djin. I had another short stroll on the beach. This section of the beach was set up just like a resort. There were numerous giant straw-woven beach umbrellas and lounge chairs. The palm trees were laden with golden coconuts. Incidentally, I had seen an old painting with Royal Goliath Beetles perching on coconuts. So I checked the coconut palms carefully but didn’t see any Goliath Beetles. The gentle breeze and the sounds of the waves were massaging my face and ears, respectively. I wished I could live here carefree for a few days and barbeque lobster and fish on the soft sand. Perhaps one day in the future I would have such a luxury. For now, I needed to stay focused find the Chief Goliath Beetle. We bade farewell to this fine beach and headed back to the Frenchman Lodge.J[-]F`
©昆蟲論壇 -- 昆蟲論壇 uFR%
Back at the Frenchman Lodge, we studied Google Maps again with our snail-paced mobile data. There was a town called Edu in the southwestern tip of Ghana surrounded by some forests. We thought it was worth a visit. On July 22, 2016, we arrived in Edu by 10 a.m. The temperature today would be between 25 to 27 degrees Celsius. We parked the car in the town and wandered into the forest to begin our exploration. Unfortunately, it was a highly degraded forest with heavy plantation of oil palms. However, this situation could potentially be advantageous. If we could find one Vernonia tree, then all the Chief Goliath Beetles in the area should in theory be drawn to this tree because there were no other Vernonia trees around to spread out the beetles. In other words, if we found a Vernonia tree, it could be jackpot. But things didn’t look optimistic. There were oil palms everywhere. It was unclear if the Chief Goliath Beetle could reproduce in a habitat so heavily altered; probably not. This forest was fairly easy to explore as it was more of a farmland. As we were strolling along, we started hearing people shouting in a distance. We had no idea what the commotion was about. We just ignored it and continued out activity. Eventually, the yelling got closer to us. We started to think maybe the noise had something to do with us. Soon, a crowed of villagers appeared and completely surrounded us. They all had a serious facial expression and they meant business. Their leader told us that they had been informed there were illegal gold miners on their land and they were here to arrest us. We quickly explained to them that we were looking for beetles. We showed them our insect rods and various entomological tools, trying to convince them that we were definitely not illegal gold miners. But they would not believe us. They said they had caught many illegal gold miners recently. They carefully guarded us and took us to the chief of their land where we would be interrogated. They took us into the home of the chief. The chief asked us many detailed questions, such as our nationality, duration of stay, place of stay, purpose of visit, much like an immigration officer would at the airport. The chief was not convinced. He needed solid proof that we were not illegal gold miners. Suddenly, I had an idea. Thankfully, we had all of our official research permits issued by the Ghana Wildlife Department in the car. To prevent escape, the chief only allowed one of us to go to the car to retrieve the official documents. I was escorted by several villagers to the car to prevent escape. After I presented the official research permits to the chief, he actually carefully read every page to confirm their authenticity. Finally, he believed us and shook all of our hands and wished us good luck. Although we were not fearing for our lives, we were seriously concerned because it took so long and so much convincing to prove our innocence. Now we would carry our research permits on us at all times. The chief granted us permission to continue our activity on his land, but we decided to move on because Edu was dominated by oil palms and didn’t seem likely to harbor the Chief Goliath Beetle. It was lunch time so we took a short break. We had canned tuna and bread for lunch. We would explore Sringabo next, a tiny village right on the border of Ghana and Ivory Coast.Eor38=
©昆蟲論壇 -- 昆蟲論壇 kFOsj
The road to Sringabo was a tiny dirt road rarely used by cars. It was mostly travelled by motorcycles. As a result, it was overgrown by dense vegetation including grasses, shrubs, and saplings. As our car drove through it, we could constantly hear the plants beating against the car. If there was a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction, we would have to really drive into the thick vegetation to allow it to pass. One time there was another car coming, and we had to drive backwards for a long time before we found a spot barely wide enough to fit two cars; the back left side of our car had to be tilted against a hill to allow the other car to pass. We drove very slowly with windows rolled down so we could check the nearby trees with binoculars. The forest was heavily degraded with oil palms. The remaining trees were juveniles. Things didn’t look promising. The upside was that these trees were easy to check as they were not too tall. If there were any beetles, we could definitely easily catch them with our insect nets. At 1:19 p.m., we saw a juvenile tree about 15 meters away. There was a black patch on one of the branches. We suspected that it might be a sap flow. We stopped the car and fought our way through the shrubs and thorns to reach the tree. As we got closer, it appeared to me that there were some tree tubercles on the branch. Q-san investigated with his military grade binoculars. Then he exclaimed “Gan, na shi chun la! Na shi chun! Na shi chun! Na shi gia chun,” which meant in English “Fuck, those are insects! Those are insects! Those are insects! Those are beetles!” Even though they were clearly not Goliath Beetles, we were still plenty excited because this was the first time on this entire expedition that we saw an active sap flow, and with beetles on it! This was not an Oba Tree. Although I didn’t know the species, it appeared to be a legume tree of some kind. Now we knew what kind of tree to focus on in this region. This legume tree was only about 9 meters tall, well within the reach of our insect rods. Andy effortlessly caught the three small beetles in one swoop of the net. These were flower beetles, each about 2 cm. We continued our journey to Sringabo and checked all the legume trees on the way there. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any more sap flows or beetles. We arrived in Sringabo at 4:46 p.m. By the entrance of the village was a ginormous tree over 40 meters tall. It might very well be the tallest tree I had ever seen in my life. I kept looking at it in awe with my head fully tilted to the sky. There was no way to check the canopy without binoculars. And frankly, it was pointless to check the canopy because it was way beyond the reach of our insect rods even if there were Goliath Beetles in it. It was such a monster tree that the locals believed it had special powers and would not cut it down for any purposes. As soon as we got out of the car, barbeque aroma permeated the air. We traced the scent to a villager who was smoking a bunch of catfish from the Tano River, which was the natural border of Ghana and Ivory Coast. We showed photos of the Chief Goliath Beetle to the local villagers. Unfortunately, none of them had seen one before. We walked to the bank of the Tano River. I could easily see Ivory Coast clearly as the Tano River was only 20 to 25 meters wide. There were canoes along the bank. I so much wanted to cross the river with one of those canoes and explore the Ivorian forests. Of course, I couldn’t do that because I didn’t have a visa to Ivory Coast. But practically speaking, if there were no Chief Goliath Beetles on this side of the river, then the chances of finding them just across the river would be slim. It was getting late. We had to head back to the Frenchman Lodge. Today was a very sad day for all of us. We had officially given up on finding the Chief Goliath Beetle in 2016. Tomorrow, we would head for the Forest of Djin Djin to have our reunion with David and the Royal Goliath Beetle.mY
©昆蟲論壇 -- 昆蟲論壇 txc5o
Coconuts were abundant in southwestern Ghana. We had plenty of them while we were here. There were green coconuts and brown coconuts. They were the same species, but from different stages of development. The green ones were young with excellent sweet coconut water but had minimal and sour coconut meat. The brown ones were mature with thick flavorful coconut meat but had sour coconut water not suitable for drinking. We had the best of both worlds. When we were exploring the forests, green coconuts would be opened to quench thirst. When we were resting after a meal, brown coconuts would be cracked for dessert. At 6:47 p.m., we had a big plate of premium coconut meat after dinner. The inner most layer was very tender while the outer most layer was more crispy. The mixture of softness and crunchiness amidst mild sweetness provided an intriguing palatal experience. This would be my last night in Ankasa. We returned to our rooms to pack and hand wash our dirty clothes from today so they would dry by tomorrow morning. Luckily, the Frenchman Lodge had electricity and fans, which would expedite the drying process. After all the chores were done, I did another routine bandage change. Four days after the initial injury, the rope burn wound on my middle finger had begun to dry and harden to my relief. I popped a tab of Doxycycline into my mouth, had a sip of water, and went to bed. Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up from esophageal pain. I knew exactly what was going on! When I was nine or ten years old, I swallowed a pill with a small amount of water, which was not enough to wash the medication down to my stomach. It got stuck in the esophagus and caused an esophageal burn. I woke up in the middle of the night in pain, which lasted for days. It had happened again! Now I had to endure esophageal pain for the next few days. Luckily, after drinking plenty of water, I was able to fall back asleep.'(}H
©昆蟲論壇 -- 昆蟲論壇 vll
On July 23, 2016, the eighth full day of our second expedition to West Africa, I woke up at 7:02 a.m. to finish packing. All the clothes had dried with the aid of the fan. I looked around my room one last time to make sure I didn’t leave any item behind. It was a difficult moment in time. Part of me wanted to stay to continue looking for the Chief Goliath Beetle. Part of me feared staying would end up with nothing. At 8:20 a.m., the team bade farewell to Ankasa and embarked on the cross-country journey to revisit the Ghana-Togo border. We called David on the cellphone that we got him and informed him of our coming. He said he was very excited and would be waiting for our arrival. We also gave Viktor a call but could not get a hold of him. The temperature for today would be 25 to 28 degrees Celsius. Part of us still didn’t want to give up on finding the Chief Goliath Beetle. When we arrived in Takoradi at 9:54 a.m., we did a brief search to see if we would get lucky. Amongst rubber tree plantations, we investigated some small patches of what appeared to be juveniles of native trees and interviewed local people. Not surprisingly, our efforts were nonproductive. Resignedly, we resumed our course to the Forest of Djin Djin. We cruised along the coast of West Africa with the Gulf of Guinea to our right. Perhaps one day I would return with the sole purpose to vacation on the beach. The drive to the Forest of Djin Djin would be 17 hours. We didn’t have a whole lot to say in the car. There was no catching up to do or strategies to discuss. We knew what we were going to do. We would reunite with David and catch Royal Goliath Beetles on Oba Trees. It would be a continuation of 2015. For most of the ride, we just enjoyed the views and listened to African music on the radio. At 12:50 p.m., we drove by a big roadside restaurant called the White Castle Restaurant. It was meal time so we went in for lunch. Fried chicken, fried rice, Shito sauce, and Malta Guinness never got old. At 2:29 p.m., we arrived in Cape Coast. At a red light, our car was swarmed by roadside vendors. One of them was selling smoked cuttlefish. Although I previously avoided food that was not served hot as a way to minimize gastrointestinal discomfort, I was less cautious now because we weren’t searching for the Chief Goliath Beetle anymore. These were large cuttlefish with thick meat. The outer layer was perfectly smoked to a golden brown. As we rolled down the windows, we were invaded by tantalizing aromas. “I have got to try it even if it would give me diarrhea,” I thought. We made the right decision. The thick meat locked in moisture and flavor. The tender texture and subtly sweet taste had me eat one piece after another. And, my gastrointestinal tract tolerated it just fine. I regretted not having bought more! At 4:26 p.m., we entered greater Accra. The traffic was extremely heavy on this Saturday afternoon. We were bumper to bumper for over one hour! Eventually, we broke through the traffic jam and arrived in Kpong at 8:22 p.m.jC[R2
©昆蟲論壇 -- 昆蟲論壇 k$
We had to make a stop in Kpong. We had been driving for 12 hours. It would take another 5 hours of driving to reach the Forest of Djin Djin. Everybody was tired and hungry, not to mention driving on a two-lane road in the dark without streetlights would not be ideal. We all needed to stretch badly. We checked in to a motel and had the never-tiring fried chicken, fried rice, Shito sauce, and Malta Guinness for dinner. When we were exhausted and hungry, they tasted even better. We all went to bed soon after dinner. I woke up multiple times in the middle of the night because it was raining very heavily. I was still having periodic stomach pain from the Doxycycline burn, but it was tolerable. By 6:51 a.m., we were already chatting in the dining hall ready for breakfast. We looked around. All the roads and plants were wet from last night’s intense rainfall. We were very glad that it had stopped; driving in this kind of rain would certainly slow us down. After omelet, toasted bread, and hot chocolate, we were on the final stretch to the Forest of Djin Djin. Andy, Q-san, and I were very much looking forward to the ferry and the market by the Volta River. We wanted to try some local foods and see the giant river prawns again! To our surprise, Mohammed told us that a new bridge had been built and it replaced the ferry entirely. Since travelers didn’t gather anymore, the market was gone, too. We drove through the bridge swiftly. There was no traffic at all. We had good memories here. It used to be so crowded and busy with all kinds of delicious treats; now all gone. I was inundated by a sense of nostalgia. We really had a good time in 2015. After the Volta River bridge, we revisited the road that showed us the most spectacular starry sky that I had ever seen. But there were no stars to be seen now because it was broad daylight and full of clouds. Today’s temperature was 25 to 26 degrees Celsius with a high humidity. Eventually, paved road became smooth dirt road. After some more time, smooth dirt road became dirt road with countless potholes. We knew we were not too far from the Forest of Djin Djin. At last, at 1:05 p.m., we had returned to the Forest of Djin Djin. David was already waiting at the entrance of the village. David had moved. He no longer lived in the depth of the Forest of Djin Djin. He had moved to the village by the Forest of Djin Djin. As soon as the car stopped, we all jumped out to give him a huge hug. It had been more than one year since our departure. Here in the remote Forest of Djin Djin, one year was considered a long period of time in which many things could happen. As a matter of fact, a few months after we left in 2015, Viktor called and said his three-year-old son had passed away from Malaria. Since we left, David had discovered many more Oba Trees. In 2015, I did not take my insect rod home; I left it with David. He, too, had perfected the art of using an insect rod in the meantime. To our surprise, he had already caught six Royal Goliath Beetles for us, four males and two females. It was such a drastic contrast. In 2015, we went through so much trouble and hard work to finally have one breeding pair. In 2016, we already had six living Royal Goliath Beetles sitting in front of us when we arrived. There was no pressure at all. For the remainder of the trip, we were just going to enjoy our time in the Forest of Djin Djin. David told us there was an Oba Tree with a big Royal Goliath Beetle on it right at this moment. He intentionally didn’t catch it because he wanted to save it for us to catch it. After a light lunch of bread and canned tuna, we headed for the Oba Tree. This time around, the mood was completely different. We were as carefree as could be. We didn’t even care if it had flown away by the time we got there.j^r#
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