White-bellied pangolin (pet) 5

Manis tricuspis, juvenile. Purchased by my friends from hunters who had presumably killed its mother. Although they did their best, it did not survive for very long - which was a great shame as it was an endearing creature. Volta Region, Ghana, March 1975.

Thanks for posting the photos, gentle lemur.

When you were in Ghana did you have a chance to go to Mole or any other parks and see elephants and other wildlife? Were you teaching in Ghana?

I went to Ghana as a VSO volunteer and I taught at Kpandu Secondary School in the Volta Region (the K in Kpandu is almost silent in the Eνe language). I did a lot of birdwatching in the area but there was little game.
A group of us went to Mole and saw in the New Year in the swimming pool (1976). We also saw a lot of baboons, defassa waterbuck etc and I saw one big bull elephant

Alan

That sounds like a really interesting and enriching experience. Have you had a chance to explore any of Africa beyond Ghana?

I visited most areas of Ghana, as the tradition was for VSO, Peace Corps and CUSO volunteers to stay with each other. I went to Togo several times as the border was relatively close - a day trip to Kpalimé meant a good lunch of biftek et pommes frites, unobtainable up-country in Ghana at that time. I also visited Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire, which was quite an experience in those days - anything you could buy in Paris was available there, but with the cost of air-freight added; I stayed in Treichville, the African quarter. But that trip had very little relation to the natural world, apart from the long drive through the forest.
Volunteers were only paid on the local salary rate, and I had just come down from university, so I had no savings to speak of and I couldn't afford longer trips. But you're quite right: the whole experience was probably the best choice I have ever made.

Alan