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-- §@ªÌ¡G Asmodeu
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-- §@ªÌ¡G yichance1
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-- §@ªÌ¡G T2536
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-- §@ªÌ¡G 0o¤òo0
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-- §@ªÌ¡G Dpµe
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-- §@ªÌ¡G Jack--Bug
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-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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-- §@ªÌ¡G bastand670 ºë±mµ´Û
-- §@ªÌ¡G dinasor
why do'nt you go back right away yourself?
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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-- §@ªÌ¡G foolishduck
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-- §@ªÌ¡G cyw7t
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-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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-- §@ªÌ¡G soldout917
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-- §@ªÌ¡G jacky90089
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-- §@ªÌ¡G MRK
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-- §@ªÌ¡G ¶À¥K³Ç
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-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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-- §@ªÌ¡G JACKIE0324
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-- §@ªÌ¡G jacky90089
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-- §@ªÌ¡G yichance1
[quote][b]¤U±¤Þ¥Î¥Ñ[u]jacky90089[/u]¦b [i]2015/08/02 05:08:35pm[/i] µoªíªº¤º®e¡G[/b]
-- §@ªÌ¡G klee0514 ¦Ü²Ä8¶,´NµLªk¦b©¹¤U¬Ý,¤£ª¾µo¥Í¤°»ò¨Æ?
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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YOU ARE INSANE!!! §Ú·Q½Ð°Ý.... ¦³¤F³o¦¸ªº¸gÅç §Úª¾¹D³o»ò°Ý¦n¹³«ÜµL§¤S«Ü¥Õ·ö ¦pªG§Ú¬Ý¨ì¬¡¥Í¥ÍªºGR ¤£¥u°g©j°g©f·ROBA ¸U¯ë¨ØªA ·PÁ¤À¨É!!
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
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-- §@ªÌ¡G yichance1
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-- §@ªÌ¡G bigmazinger
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-- §@ªÌ¡G bigmazinger
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-- §@ªÌ¡G ¾i¥ÒÂΪº«Óô
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-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
[LIKE=yichance1;klee0514;foolishduck;ªü¬K;§Úªº©øÂÎ;kmuh5816;scatliu;vince1973;WayneChen;=LIKE]«z There was an insect so rare that even the National Museum of the United States didn¡¦t have one (by contrast, it had multiple specimens of the extinct Passenger Pigeon). People weren¡¦t even sure what it was. Some thought it was a species that had gone extinct. Some believed it was a very rare variation of an existing species. Still some speculated it was a hybrid of two existing species. There was no telling. It was an entomological enigma that had persisted since 1887. Multiple international teams of scientists were racing to solve the mystery. It was the ultimate collectible for any insect collector. A specimen of it would cost between $8,000 to $10,000 USD, if anyone was willing to part with one. The year was 1997. The season was autumn. Do you remember what you were doing? I was an oblivious college freshman reading a book about Goliath Beetles in my dorm room. That was when I was first exposed to the aforementioned entomological legend. As I looked at the photos in the book, I sank into a deep trance as if hypnotized and was then overtaken by an unexplained urge to solve this puzzle. I had absolutely no idea that it would become an integral part of my life for the next 25 years and even take me to the deepest jungles of West Africa for multiple years. It changed my life¡K. To begin with, this mystery creature was a giant beetle. The Czech entomologist Otakar Nickerl in 1887 named it after the Greek titan that was condemned by Zeus to support the heavens on his shoulders for eternity. It was given the name Goliathus atlas. If something had two giants in its name, it must be huge. Indeed, Goliathus atlas was one of the largest insects on the planet. It could reach a length of over 10 centimeters and outweigh several mice. Even monkeys were afraid of hunting them. There were multiple ways to explore the true identity of Nickerl¡¦s Beetle. The fastest way would be a DNA analysis. It would tell us if Nickerl¡¦s Beetle was a hybrid, a rare aberration of the Royal Goliath Beetle (Goliathus regius), or an independent species. Unfortunately, this could not be done. The last known Nickerl¡¦s Beetle was collected in the 1980¡¦s. The DNA would have been too degraded. The massive deforestations in West Africa and various civil wars in the region were reasons why the Nickerl¡¦s Beetle was never seen again. Another option was to create Nickerl¡¦s Beetle experimentally (sounds like science fiction, right?). The plan was to cross a Royal Goliath Beetle to a Chief Goliath Beetle (Goliathus cacicus) and see if the offspring was a Nickerl¡¦s Beetle. That sounded very simple. But it took 25 years to achieve¡K First of all, nobody knew how to breed Goliath Beetles. Even though Goliath Beetles were Scarab beetles, they did not behave like Scarabs. The larvae of Scarab beetles ate rotten wood. When the larvae of Goliath Beetles were fed only rotten wood, they all died. Nobody could breed Goliath Beetles for decades until the American entomologist Orin McMonigle came along. In the late 1990¡¦s, he discovered the larvae of Goliath Beetles ate meat. It was a revolutionary discovery. Nobody would have thought a wood-eating family of beetles contained carnivores. For the first time, the life cycle of Goliath Beetles could be completed in captivity. However, there were still many hurdles in the breeding of Goliath Beetles. The most famous was the ¡§wandering phase.¡¨ When the larvae of Goliath Beetles became a few months old, they stopped eating and wandered until they died. The few that survived to adulthood were very small and weak, often unable to produce offspring. It was impossible to keep Goliath Beetles beyond a few generations in captivity. Every year, wild Goliath Beetles had to be imported from Africa. This went on for 15 years. One day, I was examining some dried specimens of Goliath Beetles from Ivory Coast. I noticed there were tiny traces of red powder on these beetles. I scraped them off and they looked very much like clay to me. I then mixed them with some water and it was confirmatory. Goliath Beetles needed clay to reliably complete their life cycle. The wandering phase was eliminated. Starting from 2014, Goliath Beetles could be propagated in captivity indefinitely. The stage had been set. It was time to hybridize the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle. But there was a problem. There were only the Linnaeus¡¦ Goliath Beetle (Goliathus goliatus) and the Eastern Goliath Beetle (Goliathus orientalis) left in captivity. The last import of the Royal Goliath Beetle was in the early 2000¡¦s. The last import of the Chief Goliath Beetle was in 2012. I talked to numerous people who used to import them with hopes to import more. Unfortunately, the forests in which people used to catch them either got deforested for agriculture or burned down during the civil wars. I felt I had gone too far to give up now. I had at my disposal all the skills needed to successfully breed Goliath Beetles. The century old mystery was on the verge of being solved. It was like a cook had finally discovered the perfect recipe, but the ingredients were no longer available at the supermarket. In a situation like this, any serious chef would travel to the places of origin (let it be farms, oceans, or mountains) to obtain them. At this point, the next step became apparent: I had to go to Africa to find my ingredients¡K I could not say Africa was entirely foreign to me. I did visit South Africa once as a child in 1987, but I didn¡¦t remember much because I was only eight years old. It was a time of economic prosperity. Taiwan¡¦s stock market took off sharply and my parents signed our family up for an African safari because they knew how much I loved animals. Our tour group stayed in 5-star hotels and watched African big games on jeeps in the savannahs. We hardly did any walking. When we were not on jeeps, we were on luxurious tour buses. Every day we ate gourmet meals in fancy restaurants. I was certain that my South African experience would be entirely different from looking for Goliath Beetles in deep jungles of West Africa. It had been almost 30 years. Africa had changed. Memory had faded. In practicality, I had never been to Africa. The country most famous for the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle was Ivory Coast, also known as Cote d¡¦Ivoire. The vast majority of specimens collected in the past came from this West African nation. Going there verged on the impossible for me. One, it was a French-speaking country, which I spoke none. Two, during the civil wars, almost all the foreign nationals left the country. Cote d¡¦Ivoire was no longer as perceptive and hospitable to outsiders. On top of that, the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle lived in primitive jungles far away from big cities. Local villagers were even more conservative. It would not have been a good idea for me to travel to Ivory Coast. What about the neighboring nations? There was Liberia to the west and Ghana to the east, both English-speaking countries. From Google satellite maps, Liberia had the lushest tropical rainforests in all of West Africa. Furthermore, historical documents from colonial times wrote that the Grain Coast (former name of Liberia) abounded with the Chief Goliath Beetle. Liberia seemed to be the most promising place outside of Ivory Coast to rediscover the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle. However, there were two major concerns. One, Liberia had multiple outbreaks of Ebola Virus. Two, Liberia also underwent civil wars and might not be the best place for foreign visitors. This only left Ghana. Ghana, on the other hand, was perhaps the safest, friendliest, and most politically stable nation in all of Africa. The only downside was Ghana only had a few records of the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle having been found there. Ghana it was. I had decided to travel to Ghana to find my ingredients. Exploring Ghana was by no means going to be easy, despite its friendly people. I was not going to tourist destinations with luxurious amenities. I was going to primitive jungles, where malaria, sleeping sickness, venomous snakes, and many other diseases lurked. The biggest challenge of all was I had no idea where the beetles lived. In addition, where to say (camping, home stay, motel?), how to travel (taxi, bus, motorcycle, rental car?), and when to arrive (which season?) were among the many logistical hurdles to figure out before the trip. Goliath Beetles were incredibly difficult to find. Many beetles were attracted to lights at night. All a collector had to do was turn on some lights at the edge of a forest, then all kinds of beetles would fly to the lights. Not the Goliath Beetles. They were not attracted to lights because they were diurnal. They only went to certain species of trees where they drank their naturally flowing sap during a certain season. Basically, I had to be standing under the right species of tree at the right time of the year in order to catch a Goliath Beetle. That was incredibly challenging. Just when my head was about to explode, as if by miracle, the Canadian biologist Malcom Stark appeared out of nowhere. He had lived in Ghana for numerous years and had extensive knowledge of its tropical rainforests. Mac advertised on a popular insect website that he was offering guided trips to the jungles of Ghana. The timing couldn¡¦t have been better. I immediately contacted him. I told him that I was looking for the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle. To my shock, he told me that he had personally caught the Royal Goliath Beetle in 2007. At that moment, I felt God definitely existed. For the next year or so, we talked about everything there was to talk about about Ghana. Mac caught 9 specimens of the Royal Goliath Beetle in August of 2007. But August would not work for me because I would be in summer school. June was the only time that I could do it. In our preparation for my maiden trip to West Africa, we talked about what vaccines to get, what medications to bring, insect repellent strategies, how to apply for a Ghana entry visa, how to apply for a wildlife research permit, how to apply for a wildlife export permit, how much cash to bring, where to visit, how many days to visit, what kind of lodging, what kind of transportation, and many others. I did as much preparation as I could, but it was still very scary. Mac lived in Canada. I lived in the United States. We would not be travelling together. He would arrive in Ghana first to prearrange lodging, transportation, food stocking, permits from Ghana Wildlife Department, etc. When I arrived, he would pick me up at the airport. That was the scary part. What if Mac didn¡¦t show up for any reason? I would be stranded alone, helpless, in an absolutely unfamiliar environment. That was fear. Many other people were also searching for the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle. I thought it would be a great idea to bring some friends along for various reasons including cost sharing and increased safety. I sent invitations to about 30 insect enthusiasts. In the end, only 2 accepted the offer. One of them was Andy Cheng, who operated an insect pet shop in Taiwan. The other was Chang En Li, nicked named Q-san, who was a vegetable importer/exporter in Taiwan and a beetle lover. The remaining 28 declined due to the various risks involved in African travel. We decided to arrive in Accra, the capital of Ghana, on June 13 of 2015. After picking all the flights on the computer, I hesitated for a few minutes. That final click of the mouse would be the point of no return. Possible scenarios started to run through my head: I could come home with dream Goliath Beetles; I could come home with nothing; I could get injured in Africa; I could even die in Africa. I had gone too far to stop now. I entered my credit card number, closed my eyes, and clicked the mouse. It was a done deal. I could not believe I was really going to Africa to pursue my dream. It felt surreal. In the next few minutes, I also purchased accidental death insurance with 1 million dollar coverage. If anything were to happen to me in Africa, I wanted to make sure that my wife and daughter would have no financial concerns. In the next few months, I prepared my luggage. It was a mixture of excitement and anxiety. I packed insect nets, an insect rod, insect repellents, various kinds of dry foods (mainly cookies and granola bars), various kinds of clothing (long sleeves, short sleeves, jackets, pants, shorts, rain ponchos, hats, socks, boxers, etc.), towels, rubber boots, dental floss, toothbrush, toothpaste, plastic containers to keep Goliath Beetles, first aid kit, Doxycycline (Malarial prevention), miscellaneous OTC drugs such as Tylenol and Advil, flashlights, camera, electrical socket/plug adapters (USA is 120V; Ghana is 230V), sunscreen, etc. I rehearsed over and over in my mind what I might need in Africa, fearing I might miss something important. Going to Africa to look for bugs was definitely the craziest thing I had done. Of all the things I packed, there was nothing more important than the insect rod. It was a retractable 18-meter fiberglass rod. Goliath Beetles lived in the canopy of frequently giant trees. Without a sufficiently long insect rod with a net attached to the end, the chances of catch a Goliath Beetle would be very slim. I had the insect rod specially shipped to me from Taiwan. Even though Andy and Q-san would also bring insect rods, I definitely needed one for myself in case they couldn¡¦t make it to Africa for whatever reason or their rods got damaged during transport. Our success depended on a functional insect rod. I also ordered a special transport case to protect the insect rod during the long trip to Africa. The eve of June 12, 2015 came. My flight would leave for Africa in less than 24 hours. I didn¡¦t sleep well at all. I woke up frequently to check my text messages. Andy and Q-san were getting ready to leave Taiwan as well. They informed me that they both got to the airport early with plenty of time to spare. Everything looked great. I slept lightly, waking up periodically to check on text messages from them. I kept anticipating what it would be like to see their familiar faces in a totally unfamiliar environment. I hadn¡¦t seen them for years. I couldn¡¦t believe our next reunion would be in an exotic continent. At around 3 am, a huge emergency happened. I casually turned on my phone and what I saw shocked me. Q-san had been denied boarding! How could this be? He had his Taiwan passport. As it turned out, they had to fly to China for a transfer flight as there were no direct flights from Taiwan to Ghana. China did not recognize Taiwan as a country. As a result, the Taiwan passport was not recognized by China. The only way for Q-san to board the flight to China would be with his domestic Taiwan citizen identification card, which he didn¡¦t carry with him. Even before the trip to Africa, we were forced to make a very difficult decision: either Andy traveled alone to Ghana or they both stayed behind. After a stressful discussion, we decided that Andy would travel first because there was no guarantee that there would be two seats available 24 hours later. It was a scary decision for everyone. Now everybody was travelling alone. It was the most frightening for Q-san because he didn¡¦t speak English. Now he needed to travel from Taiwan to China to Ethiopia to Ghana all by himself. How would he manage the transfer flight at Ethiopia¡¦s Addis Abba Bole International Airport and the immigration at Ghana¡¦s Accra Kotoka International Airport with no English? We had no idea. We just knew that it was an opportunity of a lifetime and that we must push forward regardless. So Andy flew into the unknown alone. Q-san went home to pick up his Taiwan citizen identification card. And I started calling Mac frantically. He told me not to worry. He was friends with the management of Ethiopian Airlines. He would make sure to get Q-san a seat on the next flights to Africa. I would lose contact with Andy and Q-san for the next 28 hours because we would all be on different flights at different times. The only times I would get updates from them would be when I check text messages during my transfer times in Boston and Amsterdam. My flight to Boston was 5 pm with Delta Airlines Flight 3733. The taxi arrived at 2:30 pm. I got into the taxi and closed the door. That was the official beginning of my maiden trip to West Africa. I thought to myself, ¡§Oh my God, this is really happening. I can¡¦t believe it!¡¨ It was a mixture of great joy and anxiety. There was a part of me that wondered if I would see America again. The familiar domestic flight from North Carolina to Boston was just under two hours. Very soon, I landed in Boston Logan International Airport. In another two hours and thirty three minutes, I would board KLM Flight 6016 to Amsterdam. The flight to Amsterdam was just under 7 hours. Up until this point, the atmosphere on both flights was nothing out of the norm for me; it was Western. I had never been to Amsterdam before. When the plane began to descend, there was a sense of excitement. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¦t see much because it was a rainy day and clouds were blocking the city from view. My transfer time in Amsterdam was almost five hours, so I walked all around the airport and checked out all the gift shops. There were a few stores selling tulip-related souvenirs. My next flight was KLM Flight 589. As the boarding time approached, that was when my journey officially transitioned from Western to African. African culture came to life at the gate! The vast majority of passengers were Africans. I could see African clothing; I could hear African music; I could hear African dialects; I could smell African food. It was fantastic! The flight from Amsterdam to Accra was six hours and thirty minutes. During the flight, I kept thinking about what awaited me in Africa. Would they be good or bad? I wondered how it would feel to see a living Goliath Beetle in the jungles. Would I scream? Would I cry? Would I faint? I repeatedly turned my in-flight entertainment screen to the map function. As I saw the airplane icon got closer and closer to Accra, my heart pounded faster and harder. Finally, I felt the air pressure changing in my ears. I knew we had begun our descent. It was about 8 pm on June 13, 2015. It was already dark, but it was a clear day. I could see a faint orange glow outside the window. It must be from the city lights of Accra! I was sitting in an aisle seat. I sat as straight as I could and extended my neck as much as I could to look outside and down the window. I could not believe it; I was looking at Africa with my own eyes. I pinched myself to make sure that I was not dreaming (yes, I had many times in the past dreamed about going to Africa and woke up disappointed realizing it was only a dream). Not long after, a strong vibration shook my entire body. We landed. At last, after all these years, I was physically connected to Africa, the motherland of all humankind. The airplane taxied for some minutes before it stopped. Then the gate opened. I could feel the humid air flow into the cabin. Oh my God, I was breathing Africa! Now that I had landed, I eagerly turned on my phone, anxiously waiting for Andy¡¦s messages to pop up. He should have landed hours ago. As expected, the phone vibrated to signal multiple messages were waiting for me. Mac had already picked up Andy and transported him to the motel, where he was waiting for me. What a relief. This was what Andy¡¦s text message read, ¡§Ghana¡¦s Immigration was absolutely terrifying. All the interrogations were done in darkness. It was psychologically distressing. I want you to be prepared.¡¨ That sounded very scary. Maybe that was Ghana¡¦s strategy to get all passengers to tell the truth by applying pressure on them. After all, illegal immigrants and smuggling were real issues at airports around the world. After some waiting, passengers began to slowly deplane. When I got to the exit of the aircraft, I eagerly looked outside. It was night time, so I really couldn¡¦t see much, only some scattered airport lights. Still, I was plenty excited. I had finally arrived in the land where my dream laid. For the first time in my life, I had a real opportunity to realize the dream. But I was ready to accept anything. Even if the trip failed to find any Goliath Beetles, I would still be happy that I did the best I could. Like a flock of sheep, I followed the crowd. We walked down the stairs and waited on the tarmac for buses to arrive and take us to the immigration building. I tried to experience what was around me, but my brain kept on drifting to the worrisome scenes Andy described. When we arrived at the immigration building, it was brightly lit with fluorescent lights everywhere. A big sign by the entrance read ¡§Welcome to Ghana!¡¨ Well, that didn¡¦t look frightening. I then proceeded through immigration smoothly and the immigration officers were friendly with big smiles. As it turned out, when Andy arrived, there was a power outage. That was why everything was done in darkness. Africa periodically underwent blackouts due to unstable electricity supply. After I cleared immigration, I proceeded to the baggage claim. My suitcase and rod case arrived smoothly. I got them off the conveyer belt and was ready for the adventure of a lifetime! I proceeded to the outside. There was a sea of Ghanaians who came to pick up their friends and loved ones; amongst them also included many professional drivers. I did not immediately see Mac. I looked everywhere. Then many Ghanaians started to approach me as I had confusion on my face. They asked me if I needed a taxi to go somewhere. I told them that I was waiting for somebody. They continued to offer me a ride to the motel. I had no Ghana Cedi (Ghanaian currency) on me. I was starting to get very nervous. Despite the temperature being around 25 degrees Celsius, I started sweating. Finally, I saw Mac¡¦s face as he struggled through the sea of people and eventually reached me. I didn¡¦t think I had ever felt so relieved in my life! From then on, I was not alone. Mac had rented a large four wheel drive. Our driver was Mohammed, a local Ghanaian, who would stay with us to the very end of the trip. After some driving through the streets of Accra, we arrived at our 2-star motel. Mac guided me to my room and then went to get Andy. I looked around my room and a sense of familiarity came up. Like most Taiwanese homes, the flooring was tiles, no wood, no carpet. The building was all cement and bricks, no wood. The air conditioner was wall-mounted. After a few minutes, Andy came and we embraced each other with huge excitement! We couldn¡¦t believe we were in Africa together chasing some wild dream. Andy and I had been long-time acquaintances since 2001 but the African journey would bring us even closer. It was about 11 pm. We caught up for about an hour and went to bed. The original itinerary was that we would head for Kakum National Park early tomorrow morning. However, we would spend the entire day in Accra tomorrow as Q-san would arrive 24 hours after Andy. Morning came. Up until this point, I had not had an opportunity to take a good look at Africa due to night time darkness. Every time I arrived at a new place after dark, excitement would escalate as I anticipated what I might see after sunrise. I eagerly got out of bed and looked out the window. This was my first real glance of Africa since I last visited 30 years ago as an eight-year-old child. The first images that entered my eyes were the neighboring homes. This was metropolitan Accra so the buildings were contemporary. They were two to three story modern Western villas with a nice fenced-in backyard. Some of the yards had laundry hanging to be dried under the golden sun. There were some tropical trees in sight, including tall palms. Some birds were flying through the sky and chirping. It was 6 am and the sun was just barely rising. What a wonderful morning. I knew the chances of finding a Goliath Beetle today would be zero, because we would spend the entire day in Accra waiting for Q-san to arrive, but I was still plenty excited about exploring Ghana¡¦s capital. I jumped into the shower to start the day. Oh no! There was no hot water. It was not a cold day. The temperature was about 23 to 25 degrees Celsius, but taking a cold shower was never pleasant. As I would learn, taking a cold shower would become an every-day experience every time I visited Ghana. Ghanaians didn¡¦t customarily install water heaters. The initial step into the cold water was the hardest. Then I would shiver as I applied shampoo and soap. Every day, it was the thought of finding Goliath Beetles that gave me the strength to enter the cold water. I met up with Andy in the motel¡¦s dining room. It would be our first meal in Africa. We thought it would be a traditional African meal that we had never had. It was Western breakfast consisted of omelet, bread, and hot chocolate, with butter and jam on the side. Perhaps the motel management wanted us to feel at home. But there was a dark oily sauce on the table. We had no idea what it was. Mac told us it was called Shito, a legendary Ghanaian sauce comprised of shrimp powder, dried fish, and various spices, including, but not limited to, onion, pepper, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, and tomato. Before the trip, I was advised by multiple sources to only drink bottled water and eat food served steaming hot. I was a bit hesitant to try a sauce that had been sitting on the table for an unknown amount of time. Getting diarrhea on an expedition definitely would complicate things, potentially even ending it. But the deep-fried and smoky aroma of all those ingredients was such an irresistible invitation. I thought I would just try a very small amount, just to get an idea of what it tasted like. But then there was no stopping. I got hooked. It turned out to be my favorite sauce of all time. I was eating it with every meal. It could go with anything: bread, rice, noodles, yam, meats, you name it. The Shito sauce was a universal sauce in every home and restaurant in Ghana. Every kitchen had its own variation. Some were spicier; some were sweeter; some were saltier; all were wonderful. Before I caught any Goliath Beetle, the Shito caught my stomach. After our first meal, Andy and I were ready to explore Accra. It was still early. Q-san would not arrive for a few more hours. Andy and I decided to explore the streets around the motel on our own. We were apprehensive because we were not sure how we would be perceived by the locals. We ventured out of the motel and became fully exposed to Accra. It was a cloudy day about 25 degrees Celsius. The streets were wet from the morning rain. I always paid close attention to the weather because I would need to create a similar environment in order to successfully breed the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle in captivity. It was June 14, 2015. There were very few Ghanaians on the streets on this Sunday morning. Perhaps most of them were attending church. In a distance, I saw two Ghanaians walking in our direction. I looked at their face periodically to see if they were looking at us. Eventually, they passed by me and Andy without really paying attention to us. At that moment, I felt it would be alright for us to explore Accra freely. We didn¡¦t venture too far, as we certainly didn¡¦t want to get lost. I started looking around. Pleasantly, I was reminded of my childhood in Taiwan. When I was eight years old, I was living in Tainan, a southern city in Taiwan. The sides of the streets were lined with open gutters. My favorite activity after school was catching frogs, minnows, and turtles in the gutters with my sister. Here in Accra, chickens and goats roamed the streets and drank from the open gutters. As we continued to explore, we saw two types of homes intermixed in Accra. Some homes had low fences where you could easily see the building. Some mansions had very high fences that obscured the house inside. In addition, the top of the fences were lined with multiple layers of electric wires for extra security. After making a few lapses, we returned to the motel and got ready to pick up Q-san from the airport. Again, the airport was full of people. We were packed in there like sardines in a can. We had not heard from Q-san since he left China. How did he do in Addis Ababa? We had no idea if he would come out of the arrival building. We waited and waited. Miraculously, he showed up at the exit. We yelled, screamed, and waved at him. Finally, the team got reunited. Mac, Mohammed, Andy, Q-san, and I joyously went out for a late lunch. We visited a restaurant called Papaye. We had Jollof Rice, the most popular dish in Ghana, served in every restaurant. It was a version of fried rice with onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, curry powder, and various herbs. Frequently, it was served with fried chicken. And of course, there was Shito on the side. As we enjoyed our first lunch in Ghana, Mac shared some exciting news with us. He said his friends in Kakum had already caught us a bunch of Goliath Beetles! All we had to do was go pick them up tomorrow morning at the village of Mesomago. We were overjoyed. We thought we had already accomplished our mission. We began talking about what we should do for the remainder of the trip, such as chilling at the beach and sightseeing Ghana. The next morning at 5 am, I woke up excitedly and willingly jumped into the cold shower with no hesitation. The burning passion inside me could easily combat any cold water. After a leisure breakfast, we left Accra at 8 am. We were ready to go pick up our Goliath Beetles! The drive from Accra to Mesomago would be approximately 3.5 hours. When we stopped for the first major traffic light, the roads became a mobile market. Vendors walked among cars to sell all kinds of items imaginable. Foods, drinks, toilet papers, car wash, electronics, phone cards, sunglasses, clothes, shoes, you name it. Eventually, we left Accra and the scenes became bucolic. We saw stretches and stretches of grasslands and farmlands that extended to the horizon. There were some sporadic trees along the way, but no forests. It was not always like this. In the early 20th Century, the lowlands of Ghana were covered by lush tropical rainforests. Over the years, Ghana had lost the majority of its tropical rainforests to lumber, cocao, palm oil, rubber, and farming. As we drove, mangoes, pineapples, and coconuts were frequently offered for sale by roadside vendors. We also saw a few hunters offering bushmeat. After we arrived in Cape Coast, we made a sharp right turn and started to go inland. Gradually, plains turned into patches of trees, which then turned into forests. I had never been so close to wild Goliath Beetles. Maybe the air that I was breathing in had just passed through a Goliath Beetle moments ago. The thought that we might be close enough to be breathing the same air generated surrealism and unprecedented excitement. The road that connected Accra to Cape Coast was paved with asphalt. Once we left Cape Coast for Mesomago, the road turned into a dirt road. The further away we were from Cape Coast, the smaller the road became and the more potholes there were. Eventually, we had to drive very slowly and often from side to side to avoid the potholes. At 1 pm, there was no more road. Our car came to a stop in front of a village adjacent to thick jungles. This must be Mesomago. My heart began to pound uncontrollably. Mac got out of the car and greeted a man who had been waiting for us. He was the chief of this village. After he granted us permission, we stepped out of the car. Mac knew what was on my mind. Without me asking, he pointed to a blue bucket under a tree about 10 meters away and said, ¡§Your Goliath Beetles are in there.¡¨ I tensed up. My muscles began to tremor and my mouth became dry as I would before taking a big exam. Even walking became challenging. Andy and Q-san were visibly nervous too. We grabbed each other and stumbled to the blue bucket under the tree while mumbling, ¡§This is nerve wrecking. This is terrifying¡K¡¨ When we got to the bucket, it was covered by a piece of board to prevent the beetles from flying away. My stomach was wrenching. My heart was racing. As much as we had longed for Goliath Beetles, nobody had the courage to remove the board. The truth might be too much for us to handle. It was either tremendous excitement or devastating disappointment. ¡§Let¡¦s get it over with,¡¨ I yelled and pushed away the board.
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle [LIKE=chang;kmuh5816;yichance1;Discoverich;WayneChen;=LIKE]We stared into the bucket. Amidst the adrenaline rush, it took the brain a few split seconds to process what entered our eyes. ¡§Oh fuck¡¨ was literally what we shouted. These were not Goliath Beetles. These were rhinoceros beetles (Augosoma centaurus). I took a step back and tried to catch my breath. We were utterly disappointed. Our biggest fear became a reality. These beetles had been misidentified as Goliath Beetles. Rhinoceros beetles and Goliath Beetles did have some similarities: both were big and had horns. However, the Royal Goliath Beetle and the Chief Goliath Beetle had large amounts of pearl while the rhinoceros beetle was all brown. In an instant, our naïve plan of leisure sightseeing in Ghana and sunset barbeques on the beach went down the drain. Now it was back to square one. We had to brave the jungles and again face the cruel possibility of returning home with no Goliath Beetles. We were tremendously saddened but there was no time to despair. We unpacked the four wheel drive and went into the tropical rainforest of Kakum National Park. We did not realize how thick the forest was and how tall the trees were from a distance. Standing on the edge of the rainforest, I raised my head almost 90 degrees in order to see the canopy. They were not just big trees. These were crazy ginormous trees! They were over 30 meters tall and way beyond the reach of our insect net. Also, we did not bring any binoculars. We could not see the canopy. If there was any Goliath Beetle, we couldn¡¦t see it or catch it. I had a hard swallow of saliva. The prospect looked very bad. So many factors were against us. We didn¡¦t know the species of tree that attracted Goliath Beetles. There must be millions of trees. We didn¡¦t know what to look for. Even if we were standing next to the correct tree, we couldn¡¦t see the canopy. We felt like we came to Ghana utterly unprepared. I thought the phrase ¡§looking for a needle in a haystack¡¨ was an understatement here in the primitive jungles of Africa. We decided to walk into the tropical rainforest. Maybe Goliath Beetles would be on some juvenile trees. It only took a few steps for us to realize things were even worse inside. The jungle was so thick that one, light barely made it to the forest floor, and two, vines were everywhere. We could barely see or walk! There was nothing I could do but say a bunch of cuss words. Our morale was badly defeated. Mac recommended that we go visit his ranger friends and perhaps they would have some insights. We returned to the four wheel drive parked at the edge of the rainforest and went to the dormitory of park rangers. Some of them had lived here in Kakum National Park for more than 20 years. We showed them photographs of Goliath Beetles. They all shook their head. For as long as they had lived here, they had never seen a Goliath Beetle. That was devastating news for us. There were two possibilities. Either Goliath Beetles didn¡¦t live here or they were just so high in the canopy that no one ever saw one. Either one was very bad for us. It was approaching 5 pm; there was not much daylight to do anything. We had to return to the village for dinner. Mesomago was a traditional village. There was no electricity or running water. Dinner was prepared over firewood gathered in the rainforest. The villagers boiled rice and stirred fried onions with canned sardines that we had brought. It would turn out to be our most common dish while staying in rural Ghana: bagged rice and canned sardines wouldn¡¦t go bad while yellow onions were easily grown locally. In this simple meal, we had all the carbohydrate, protein, and fiber the body needed. After dinner, we had some mangoes and pineapples that we had purchased from roadside vendors. It was time to discuss our next step. Should we continue to try our luck here at Kakum National Park? We had only been here for a few hours. Maybe tomorrow would be better. But at the same time, park rangers had lived here for over 20 years and never seen a single Goliath Beetle. That was a big red flag. I couldn¡¦t make up my mind. We could potentially find Goliath Beetles tomorrow. Travelling to another location would require valuable time, something we didn¡¦t have much of. It was hard to decide. At this time, Q-san stepped up and expressed his assessment loudly and decisively. ¡§We must move swiftly to a place that is known to have Goliath Beetles. We can¡¦t spend more time here,¡¨ exclaimed Q-san. Q-san was usually a very mellow and easygoing fellow. I had never seen him with such determination and authoritativeness. Frankly speaking, I was taken aback. At the end of this trip, we would learn that Q-san¡¦s executive decision saved the mission. If he hadn¡¦t been so fiercely decisive, we would definitely not have returned home with the Royal Goliath Beetle, one of the crucial keys to unlock the century-old Goliathus atlas (Nickerl¡¦s Beetle) puzzle. Where to next? Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, a forest reserve near Kumasi about 7 hours away. We would leave Mesomago at first light tomorrow morning. After dinner, I wanted to use the bathroom. It was an outhouse. I had never used one in my life before. It was such a novelty to me. I opened the door. All I saw was a deep hole into the ground. I looked in. It was certainly a very interesting experience. I saw mud-like consistency with maggots and mice. It was what it was. I shrugged my shoulders and answered to nature¡¦s call. We slept in traditional Ghanaian housing. It was constructed of wood and mud. Each wooden bed was covered by mosquito tent. Even though we were taking Doxycycline daily as malarial preventative, it was still very important to avoid mosquitoes as much as possible. I woke up at 5 am. There was no running water to take a shower. I walked to the well and pulled on the rope to retrieve the submerged bucket with water. Then I cleansed myself with a wet towel. After thanking the village elders for their hospitality, we were on the go again.
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle [LIKE=kmuh5816;yichance1;ªü¬K;Discoverich;WayneChen;=LIKE]Before my African trip, I did as much research on the whereabouts of Goliath Beetles as I could. I only came across one publication that gave a specific location of the Royal Goliath Beetle in Ghana. It was Bobiri Forest Reserve. But how could I be sure? I needed to confirm it before making a trip all the way to the other side of the globe. I somehow came up with the idea of contacting local tourism agencies. My Internet search came across Koforidua Ecotourism. I sent them an email. Not long after, the owner of the business Ebenezer Alhassan replied. He said he was located about 4 hours away. For a service fee, he would be able to visit Bobiri Forest Reserve in person to confirm it for me. I excitedly sent him some money via Western Union and eagerly waited for his return. A few days later, Ebenezer returned from Bobiri and sent me some extraordinary photographs. While in Bobiri Forest Reserve, he visited their research station. In it were four dead specimens of the Royal Goliath Beetle, two males and two females. I was ecstatic and literally yelling and jumping around in front of the computer. On our way to Bobiri Forest Reserve, we stopped at a gas station to refuel. Across from the gas station was a hill with some forest. I couldn¡¦t help but wonder if any Goliath Beetles lived there. It would be a great pity to miss them, but we couldn¡¦t possibly check every forest. With a sense of unease, we moved on. At noon, we arrived at Bobiri Forest Reserve. I wasted no time to talk to the staff member who collected the four specimens of the Royal Goliath Beetle. He pointed to the tree where the beetles came from. ¡§Fuck¡¨ I cussed again. That tree was at least 30 meters tall, possibly 40. We could not see the canopy. Our insect net couldn¡¦t even reach the lowest branch! Even if there were Goliath Beetles on this tree, we couldn¡¦t catch them. The staff member explained to me that the beetles were found dead under the tree. At the end of each beetle season, old beetles would die and drop to the ground. He couldn¡¦t remember clearly, but he felt the dead beetles were collected in November or December. The good news was we were in the right season for live Goliath Beetles. The bad news was they were beyond our vision and reach. After unpacking, we began exploring Bobiri Forest Reserve. It was the same situation as Kakum National Park: the trees were way beyond our scope. Pressure was mounting. We were at the right place at the right time, but there was nothing we could do. We were running out of options. We decided to do some light trapping at night. This was a last ditch effort. Goliath Beetles were not nocturnal. However, if one was scared into a flight by a predator at night, then it might fly to our light trap. All we needed was one fertilized female to start a breeding colony. After the usual stir fried onion with canned sardines over steamed white rice, we lit our light trap. All kinds of insects came: moths, katydids, crickets, praying mantises, long horn beetles, stag beetles, ants, wasps, etc. Of course, no Goliath Beetles. We also hung some sliced bananas and pineapples on a tree. There was a slim chance that they might attract a Goliath Beetle. Bobiri Forest Reserve had an on-site motel. Any tourist or researcher could stay here. There was running water, but no water heater. The light trap became our bonfire. Andy, Q-san, Mac, Mohammed, and I sat in a circle. Mac began to tell us about Ghana¡¦s chocolate industry. This was the first time I learned where chocolate came from. Mac said Ghana was the second largest cacao bean exporter in the world, second to its neighbor, Ivory Coast. Interestingly, the cacao (cocoa) tree originated in South America. Mac bought each of us a box of Ghanaian-made Golden Tree chocolate, the most popular brand in Ghana. Each box contained ten chocolate bars, each weighing 100 grams, so the entire box weighed one kilogram. I probably ate two or three bars. I had never eaten so much chocolate in one sitting. Whereas chocolate in the USA tasted softer and creamier, Ghanaian chocolate tasted harder and more powdery. This was due to a higher concentration of cocoa (minimum 35%) in Ghanaian chocolate. We light trapped until about 4 am. We were beyond tired. Then we retreated to the on-site motel and slept for a few hours. Although Goliath Beetles were most active in the middle of the day when temperature was the warmest, I still woke up at 7 am to check on the fruit trap just in case. Not surprisingly, there was no Goliath Beetle. We checked the fruit trap multiple times through our stay at Bobiri Forest Reserve but no Goliath Beetle ever paid it a visit. However, butterflies seemed to have enjoyed it. We decided to spend the entire June 17th, 2015 (our 5th day in Ghana) at Bobiri Forest Reserve because it was a confirmed location for at least the Royal Goliath Beetle. Perhaps the Chief Goliath Beetle lived here, too. Although the jungle was thick and the trees were skyscraping, we still thought we just might have a chance, albeit very slim. It was presumed Goliath Beetles made their cocoons underground. If that was true, it would have to climb to the canopy to find its mate and complete its life cycle. If we got exceptionally lucky, we just might catch one in the process of tree ascending. We spent hours searching. My neck became sore as I raised and lowered my head repeatedly to scan the canopy, the forest floor, and anything in between. We also kept our ears wide open for any buzzing sounds, as Goliath Beetles were said to emit roaring buzzes in flight. We heard nothing. The forest was serene with only occasional bird calls. Just when we thought life could use some excitement, three loud blasts shattered the idle afternoon tranquility! Mac said those were gun shots. Somebody was hunting. We got concerned. Was the hunter shooting at something else or was the hunter shooting at us? Every year, nonchalant hikers worldwide lost their lives to hunters who mistook them for wild game. Visibility was low in the dense Bobiri Forest. The rustling sounds we made as we brushed against the bushes could very well be perceived by the hunter as wild game. We froze as adrenaline rushed. We decided to use this opportunity to take a much needed break and stopped moving. We watched and listened very carefully, fearing any false move could end in tragedy. After some tense waiting, a hunter became faintly visible through the dense forest. We immediately made our presence known by greeting him loudly so that we would not be mistaken for prey. He returned our greetings and began to make our way. He had just taken a duiker antelope and was headed for the market to sell it as fresh as possible. We chatted with the hunter for a few minutes before he had to rush to the market to maximize his chance of selling his catch on the same day. Most local residents didn¡¦t have a refrigerator. In addition to duikers, the grasscutter, a large cane rat, was also a very popular bushmeat. Potential crisis averted. We were not the hunted. We resumed our search for the elusive giant beetles.
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle [LIKE=ªü¬K;Discoverich;pckkman;kmuh5816;yichance1;WayneChen;=LIKE]We decided to spend the entire June 17th, 2015 (our 5th day in Ghana) at Bobiri Forest Reserve because it was a confirmed location for at least the Royal Goliath Beetle. Perhaps the Chief Goliath Beetle lived here, too. Although the jungle was thick and the trees were skyscraping, we still thought we just might have a chance, albeit very slim. It was presumed Goliath Beetles made their cocoons underground. If that was true, it would have to climb to the canopy to find its mate and complete its life cycle. If we got exceptionally lucky, we just might catch one in the process of tree ascending. We spent hours searching. My neck became sore as I raised and lowered my head repeatedly to scan the canopy, the forest floor, and anything in between. We also kept our ears wide open for any buzzing sounds, as Goliath Beetles were said to emit roaring buzzes in flight. We heard nothing. The forest was serene with only occasional bird calls. Just when we thought life could use some excitement, three loud blasts shattered the idle afternoon tranquility! Mac said those were gun shots. Somebody was hunting. We got concerned. Was the hunter shooting at something else or was the hunter shooting at us? Every year, nonchalant hikers worldwide lost their lives to hunters who mistook them for wild game. Visibility was low in the dense Bobiri Forest. The rustling sounds we made as we brushed against the bushes could very well be perceived by the hunter as wild game. We froze as adrenaline rushed. We decided to use this opportunity to take a much needed break and stopped moving. We watched and listened very carefully, fearing any false move could end in tragedy. After some tense waiting, a hunter became faintly visible through the dense forest. We immediately made our presence known by greeting him loudly so that we would not be mistaken for prey. He returned our greetings and began to make our way. He had just taken a duiker antelope and was headed for the market to sell it as fresh as possible. We chatted with the hunter for a few minutes before he had to rush to the market to maximize his chance of selling his catch on the same day. Most local residents didn¡¦t have a refrigerator. In addition to duikers, the grasscutter, a large cane rat, was also a very popular bushmeat. Potential crisis averted. We were not the hunted. We resumed our search for the elusive giant beetles. It was a partly cloudy day with a temperature of 27 degrees Celsius. The sun peeked out behind the clouds periodically. The forest was humid with no wind. Our clothes were soaked in sweat from a combination of heat and prolonged physical activity. It was one of those days where fables about hard working pays didn¡¦t apply at all. We searched from sunrise to sunset in the 54 square kilometer Bobiri Forest Reserve, not a sign of a Goliath Beetle. We were forced to return to the motel because daylight was running out. We did light trapping again. Surrounded by all kinds of insects but the Goliath Beetles, we found ourselves needing to make a swift decision again. This call was harder to make than the one in Mesomago because Bobiri Forest Reserve was a confirmed habitat for the Royal Goliath Beetle. Should we put all our bets on Bobiri or travel to where Mac caught 9 Royal Goliath Beetles in 2007? Going there would be risky, too. It had been eight years. Things might have changed. The forest could be gone. That location was at the border of Ghana and Togo. The total driving time would be 20 hours! It wouldn¡¦t be done in one day. An overnight stay in Hohoe would be needed. If Mac¡¦s location from 2007 turned out to be no good, driving back to Bobiri would evaporate another two days. These would all be time that could have been used to search for Goliath Beetles in Bobiri. On the other hand, if we stayed in Bobiri and it ultimately turned out to be fruitless, we would be angry at ourselves for not having gone to Togo. It was a tough decision to make. The fact that all the trees were beyond the reach of our insect nets and intensive searching did not yield any positive sign prompted us to set out for Togo border. This also meant we would be giving up on finding the Chief Goliath Beetle, which had never been recorded in eastern Ghana. At this point, we couldn¡¦t be greedy. The Royal Goliath Beetle alone would make us plenty happy. Interestingly, according to the collecting record of Otakar Nickerl from 1887, the first Nickerl¡¦s Beetle was found near the Volta River in eastern Ghana. In theory, we could encounter a Goliathus atlas directly and subsequently perform a DNA analysis to immediately solve the century-old mystery. But this daydream would be highly unrealistic, as West Africa had endured possibly the worst deforestations on the planet. The habitat from 1887 most likely either didn¡¦t exist anymore or had been severely altered.
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle [LIKE=chang;yichance1;quintel16;pckkman;WayneChen;=LIKE]We got up at 5 am to pack and load the four-wheel drive. At 7 am, we waved goodbye to Bobiri Forest Reserve and set out on a 14.5 hour drive to Hohoe. I had never been on a car ride this long. There was a lot of sitting around, doing nothing, and brain wandering off. It was already our 6th day in Ghana and not a glimpse of a Goliath Beetle. The possibility of returning home with nothing became more real with each passing day. It was nerve wrecking. And there was nothing we could do but sit in the car passively. By 10:30 am we arrived in Kibi, a town adjacent to some really nice patches of forests. We visited the local Forestry Department and greeted the officer on duty. We showed him some photos of the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle. He shook his head, but said he would pass the photos to local hunters and loggers who spent considerable amounts of time in the forest. If they ever saw one, they would call our cell phone. We continued driving eastward until noon. We came across a very large restaurant on the side of the road. It was time to stretch our muscles and put some nutrients in our stomach. Q-san and I had fried rice and fried chicken with Shito on the side; I could never get tired of it. Andy decided to try something different. He ordered a large pizza. It was a nice sunny day. The restaurant had some concrete flooring on the outside. Many lizards congregated contently on the warm concrete kissed by the sun. When they had had enough sunbathing, some simply ventured into the restaurant to cool off on the tiles. The lizards and I were in two very different states of mind. They were satisfied and had nowhere to be. I, on the other hand, was on a time crunch and desperately searching. In a way, I was jealous of them. After the delicious lunch, we drove into the unknown again. The scenery mainly consisted of grassy plains with sporadic trees. Occasionally, a forested hill could be seen in a distance. Later in the afternoon, thunderstorm clouds started to gather. The further east we drove, the darker the sky got. At 4 pm, we reached the west bank of the legendary Volta River! If there was no error in the historical collecting data, this was where Goliathus atlas lived! Even if we didn¡¦t find Nickerl¡¦s Beetle, having made a pilgrimage to its origin would be considered an accomplishment of its own. The traffic came to a complete halt. Everybody was waiting for the ferry to cross the Volta River. It would still be a while before the next ferry arrived. There was enough time for us to get out of the car to explore. I exuberantly pushed on the car door, but it would not open easily. I thought it was broken or something. As it turned out, the late afternoon had gotten extremely gusty. Layers and layers of thick thunderstorm clouds darkened the sky. It was going to downpour soon. Andy, Q-san, and I used the little time we had to explore the river bank market as much as possible. All kinds of foods were sold here. Many mobile vendors carried their products on their head as they navigated through the traffic. One in particular really caught our attention: giant river prawns. We bought two large bags of them. We couldn¡¦t wait to cook them up this evening in Hohoe. Not long after, the thunderstorm began. We ran back to our four wheel drive and waited for the ferry to load our car. After we parked our four wheel drive on the ferry, I excitedly ran out to the deck and looked out. The water was dark but clear. I could not see the bottom and began to wonder what giant fish lurked in these mysterious waters. I also imagined how the giant freshwater prawns we bought might have swum in Lake Volta. Soon after, the ferry began to propel towards the east bank. Along the way, I spotted a fully forested island in a distance with mature trees. My imagination instantly ran wild. Maybe that island was never subjected to deforestation. Maybe that island was a time capsule. Maybe the animals and plants on that island had never been altered. Perhaps Nickerl¡¦s Beetle still lived there! I wish I could explore that island. But the ferry kept moving and the island became smaller and smaller. The sounds of car engines starting and commotions pulled me out of my fantasy. The ferry had arrived at the east bank and passengers were getting ready to move on. We drove off the ferry and continued our journey. Mac had one rule in Africa: no night time driving. Many roads didn¡¦t have street lights and dividers. He had witnessed night time accidents before. However, we were running out of time. Mac decided to make a rare exception. We would drive to Hohoe in the dark. I would never forget. After sunset, the road to Hohoe was not just dark, but absolutely pitch dark. This allowed me to see the brightest starry sky that I had ever witnessed. It was so gorgeous that we had to stop the car on the side of the road and step out to admire with open mouth. The sky was saturated with stars. I could not even begin to count how many there might be. It was a breezy and chilly night, perhaps about 20 degrees Celsius. Interestingly, although Ghana was in the Northern Hemisphere, summer was its coolest season and winter was its warmest season. As I looked around, everything was dark. I began to wonder if there were beasts ambushing us in the darkness, such as lions. After all, this was Africa! However, West Africa had undergone significant ecological changes due to human activities. Lions were believed to be extinct in Ghana. If there were any survivors, they would be in Mole National Park in northern Ghana. As astonishing as the night sky was, we couldn¡¦t spend too much time appreciating it. It was getting late and everybody was tired. Plus, it was not safe to be standing on the side of the road. We had to move on. We continued driving through rural Ghana in darkness. Finally, we arrived in Hohoe at 9:30 pm. After checking in to a local motel, we asked the motel chef to cook our fresh water prawns. We had not had dinner. The combination of hunger and novelty generated huge anticipation. The chef asked us how we would like the prawns prepared. ¡§Boiling would be plenty good,¡¨ I said. Not long after, the originally black prawns had been turned into red. They looked fantastic! We all eagerly tried them. Then we looked at each other with awkward facial expressions. Shockingly, the result was very disappointing. Despite their large size, their meat was very small in the shell and had a mushy texture. Worst of all, they had a strong muddy taste. I went on to try a second one. Andy and Q-san quit after the first one. Very quickly, we reverted to fried chicken and fried rice with Shito on the side. After dinner, we discussed the itinerary for tomorrow. Mac told us that we would visit Wli Waterfalls, the highest water fall in all of West Africa and surrounded by nice forests. He was sure the Royal Goliath Beetle lived there. We then retreated to our individual rooms for the night. I quickly fell asleep from exhaustion. In the middle of the night, I woke up from an itch on my arm. I was still half asleep and trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Was I getting an allergy from the fresh water prawn? Suddenly, the buzzing of a mosquito had me instantly awake and jump out of bed! Mac had warned us not to get bitten by mosquitoes. Although we were taking Doxycycline daily as anti-malarial, there was still a chance that we could contract the mosquito-borne disease if bitten. Mac had contracted malaria before and it hit him hard with a high fever and extreme lethargy. He laid around and couldn¡¦t do anything. I quickly located the mosquito against the white ceiling and smashed it. Blood stain confirmed I was bitten. Images of me coming down with malaria populated my head. Was this how my expedition was going to end? I tried to calm myself. Not every mosquito carried malaria. And even if the mosquito that bit me did, perhaps the Doxycycline would kill the malarial parasite. There was nothing I could do at this point but stay optimistic. I went back to sleep. We met for breakfast at 8:30 am. We had toasted bread and omelet with hot chocolate. Today was our 7th day in Ghana. After breakfast, we set out for Wli Waterfalls on foot. We arrived at the foothills of the waterfalls at 10 am. It was a sunny day about 29 degrees Celsius. We came across a stream with very clear water. Numerous women in traditional garments were singing and doing laundry standing in the stream. Their colorful fabrics and cheerful attitude greatly boosted our morale. As we explored the forest, we noticed the trees here weren¡¦t as tall as those in Kakum and Bobiri. The forest here seemed sparser and less humid. We appeared to have entered a drier climate zone. If there were Goliath Beetles here, they should be easier to spot and catch. We searched thoroughly and listened carefully. We saw all kinds of insects. But again, there were no signs of Goliath Beetles. By noon, we made it to the Wli Waterfalls. We could hear it from a distance. When we stood next to it, the sounds generated from water plunging 80 meters were so loud that we couldn¡¦t hear each other talking. The visibility was also hindered by the massive mists generated by the raging water. Wli Waterfalls was also famous for the giant colony of straw-colored fruit bats that lived here. Several thousands of them clung to the cliffs of the waterfalls. It was a magnificent sight to behold. We continued searching for Goliath Beetles for the rest of the afternoon. We showed local residents photos of them, but nobody seemed to recognize them. It was hot. We were tired. We were thirsty. We decided to call it a day. Searching for Goliath Beetles in the jungle was an exhausting task. The biggest challenge was how much water to bring. The more water we brought, the longer we could explore. However, the more water we brought, the heavier our backpack. It was always a dilemma. Back in the motel, Q-san again voiced his concern. He sternly said, ¡§Brother Jonathan, we are here for beetles. We are not here for sightseeing. Why did Mac take us to see waterfalls? We need to immediately go to where Mac caught 9 Royal Goliath Beetles in 2007.¡¨ Q-san was right. We were running out of time. We had a meeting with Mac and expressed our thoughts. The name of the location was Jesikan, a town further north of Hohoe. Going there was not a problem. But from Jesikan, we would need to meander through several dirt roads and villages to reach the forest where Mac caught 9 Goliath Beetles in 2007. It had been eight years. Fine details were difficult to remember. Only one man could take us there. His name was Richard. He had studied butterflies in Ghana for decades and knew the area like the back of his hand. In fact, Mac had been calling Richard ever since we were in Bobiri Forest Reserve. His wife told Mac that Richard had been travelling. If we were lucky, he would return to Hohoe tomorrow. Our fate rested on one man. There was nothing we could do but wait for his return. After dinner, we decided to go out for an evening walk to aid digestion. In a distance, we saw a bright street light. We were curious if it had attracted any insects. As we were approaching it, I noticed a big brown bulge on the street light pole. As we got closer, I was fairly certain that it was a beetle of some kind. When we got to the base of the pole, it was a big rhinoceros beetle with long horns. Although it was not a Goliath Beetle, we were still excited to see a giant beetle that we had found on our own. Andy started shouting with joy. This caught the attention of the local people. A few of them gathered to see what was going on. We could tell one them was a little drunk. We could also smell the alcohol on him. ¡§You want it?¡¨ he asked while pointing to the rhinoceros beetle. We said yes. He knocked the rhinoceros beetle off the street light pole with a bamboo stick. Then he offered to sell it to us for 100 Ghanaian cedis (about $25 USD at the time). We already had several rhinoceros beetles from Mesomago, so we kindly declined his offer. Perhaps bolstered by the alcohol, the man became upset and started shouting at us as he paced back and forth: ¡§You white people come to Africa and take our things and make us poor. I will destroy this beetle. You cannot have it.¡¨ We were startled by tonight¡¦s unexpected confrontation. We quietly left the scene and retreated to the motel. After this encounter, we stopped venturing outside after sunset. Back in the motel, my brain kept taking me back to the man¡¦s words. I thought about colonialism of the past. However, there were numerous existing issues that I didn¡¦t know about at the time. In my subsequent trips to West Africa, they would unravel in front of my eyes one after another. Pressure was escalating. On the one hand, I was still a little shaken from tonight¡¦s incidence; not all Africans welcomed foreign visitors. On the other hand, we were running out of time. Would Richard take us to Goliath Beetles? The next morning, Mac took us to Richard¡¦s residence. It was across from the bustling local market. His wife told Mac in the morning that Richard had returned. We waited outside of his home. Anxiety permeated through the air. Our entire expedition depended on this man. Would he agree to help us? At 10:17 am, he walked out of his home. He had a distinct appearance. He had a big goatee on his face and was wearing a t-shirt, blue jeans, and brown leather dress shoes. In front of me was a man that knew precisely where to find Goliath Beetles. I had come from the other side of the globe to be connected with this man. Mac had us all sit down in a bar to get acquainted with Richard over Malta Guinness, an immensely popular non-alcoholic beer in Ghana, which also became our favorite drink. We would order it every time we visited a restaurant in Ghana. Richard specialized in butterflies. He had been helping Western scientists with butterfly research for decades. While in the forests, he would come across Goliath Beetles. After some small talk, we asked if he could tell us the way to the forest that held Goliath Beetles. He began to describe the roads to the Forest of Djin Djin, where the Royal Goliath Beetle dwelled. It wasn¡¦t too long before we realized the directions got too complicated with too many dirt roads with no names! ¡§Take us there now,¡¨ said Mac. My heart rate escalated with injection of adrenaline. I was not expecting Mac to say that. Neither was Richard. ¡§Now? I don¡¦t have change of clothes,¡¨ replied Richard. I prayed Richard would agree. ¡§Just get in the car. We can buy you clothes when we get there,¡¨ answered Mac. Out of the blue, Richard hopped into our car and we were on our way to the Forest of Djin Djin. I didn¡¦t think I had ever been so crammed in a car. Mohammed was the driver. Q-san was in the passenger seat. The back seats used to be occupied by me on the left, Mac in the middle, and Andy on the right. Now with the addition of Richard, the back row was beyond crowed. At any given time, two of us could only sit on the edge of the seats. The four of us in the back rotated sitting on the edge for the next 6 hours until we got to the Forest of Djin Djin. Along the way, many dirt roads were full of potholes. In response, Mohammed swerved left and right to avoid them, which caused us in the back to sway left and right into each other. Despite Q-san having the passenger seat, nobody was jealous of him. The space in front of his legs was fully packed with fruits and canned sardines. He had to put his feet above the glove box. My body was very uncomfortable. But my mind was very happy. We were on our way to catch the Royal Goliath Beetle! At 4 pm, we finally arrived at the Forest of Djin Djin. We literally drove until the road ran out. I could not wait to stretch my arms and legs. A thunderstorm had just passed. As I eagerly stepped out of the car, I immediately felt the humidity and the cool air. The temperature was about 20 degrees Celsius. I looked around me. I was surrounded by cloud-laden forests. This was the closest I had ever been to fantasy. We were in the remote wilderness of eastern Ghana where it bordered Togo. Residents here rarely got foreign visitors. Very quickly, we were swarmed by curious villagers.
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle
[LIKE=ªü¬K;chang;Cesar;kmuh5816;timmy;WayneChen;=LIKE][³o½g¤å³¹³Ì«á¥Ñrazzle¦b 2022/07/04 10:58:13pm ²Ä 1 ¦¸½s¿è] On our ninth day in Ghana, we met up with Viktor bright and early. He first took us to a young tree about five meters tall. It was not a species of tree that we had seen previously. This tree had medium-sized oval leaves. He told us it was called the Oba Tree, capable of growing taller than 30 meters. Then he had us walk to the other side of the tree and look at the trunk. There was a sap flow. Honeybees, flies, butterflies, and various other insects packed the sap flow in a feeding frenzy. The insects at the edge of the sap flow were busy drinking and defending their spot from outside insects that hadn¡¦t had a chance to feed. ¡§This is the tree of Goliath Beetles. They come to drink the juice,¡¨ said Viktor. But this juvenile Oba Tree was too short. Goliath Beetles were highly suspicious and alert animals. They would never visit short trees. You would only see them at sap follows located high on mature Oba Trees. This was the closest we came to Goliath Beetles thus far. Viktor knew the locations of several Oba Trees and he was about to take us through the Forest of Djin Djin to see them. If we were lucky, we would see Royal Goliath Beetles on them. However, Viktor explained, not every Oba Tree had a sap flow at any given time. An Oba Tree only opened a sap flow when it wanted to attract pollinators. We started to wander through the forest. The Oba Tree was not a common tree species. The travelling times between Viktor¡¦s Oba Trees were about 30 to 45 minutes on foot. We visited about six Oba Trees in the morning. The Forest of Djin Djin was even more challenging to explore than Kakum and Bobiri because it was mountainous terrain with numerous steep inclines. Climbing upwards with a backpack, an insect rod, and multiple bottles of water was mentally and physically draining. Our shirts and pants were fully saturated with sweat, which became heavy and cold when wind blew on them. We had to take multiple water breaks. The prospect of finding Goliath Beetles was what kept us going. Every time Viktor told us that we had arrived at an Oba Tree, I would scan the tree with wrenching stomach and pounding heart because I knew a showdown was eminent: either we scream with unprecedented excitement or sag with yet another disappointment. Unfortunately, all of the Oba Trees that we meticulously checked had no Goliath Beetles. There were no active sap flows at this time. We continued to mope around the hills and valleys of the Forest of Djin Djin. At 11:18 a.m., we arrived at what would be the last Oba Tree of the day. Suddenly, Viktor gestured everybody to stop all movements and be quiet. ¡§There is a Goliath Beetle on this tree,¡¨ he whispered. What? This was perhaps the most exciting event of my life and I was supposed to not show any excitement? What a paradoxical feeling. I froze on the outside but was boiling inside. Viktor pointed to where the beetle was. I focused with all my might, but could not locate the beetle. The area was too chaotic. There were many interwoven branches and leaves. We didn¡¦t bring any binoculars. Mac, Andy, Q-san, Richard, nobody could see it, except Viktor. We had been hiking all morning. We were tired. We were becoming irritable. Suddenly, the devil within us voiced and it sounded something like this: ¡§Maybe Viktor is making this up. Maybe he is just trying to save face.¡¨ At this point, the only way to prove the existence of this beetle was to make it fly. Andy randomly hit the branches with his insect rod. Suddenly, we heard the loudest roaring buzz we had ever heard from an insect in our lives. The panicked Goliath Beetle flew out of the canopy, circled a few times in front of our eyes, as if saying ¡§stupid humans,¡¨ and then flew into the distance and disappeared. I about pissed in my pants. Just like that, the beetle that I had been waiting for in all these years few away because of mere impatience. Would I get a second chance? I was so mad at myself. I was devastated, as were Andy and Q-san. For the next few hours, we sat under the tree like statues. We waited and waited for the Goliath Beetle to return. All kinds of thoughts ran through our head. What if that beetle was a fertile female? She could have started a breeding colony for us. She alone could have saved our entire expedition. What if she was the only Goliath Beetle that we would meet on this trip? Our impatience blew our only chance. My mind was going insane. Oh, it was so agonizing! After sitting under the Oba Tree for 3 hours with no signs of the Goliath Beetle returning, we reluctantly went back to the village to eat late lunch. When we arrived at our car parked at the village with a bottomed out morale at 2:44 p.m., ¡§Who is looking for Goliath?¡¨ took us aback. I thought I was hallucinating. Did I hear that right? A villager knew Goliath Beetle? I traced the enigmatic voice to a very slander man about 180 centimeters tall. This was where the line between reality and myth blurred. ¡§My name is David and I hunt Goliath for Europe.¡¨ Oh my God, what a coincidence, real-life David and Goliath unfolding in front of my eyes. David had been catching Goliath Beetles and supplying the European insect market for decades. He would catch the beetles and a middle man would buy them and take them to Togo for export to Europe. When he got word that some foreigners actually came to remote Africa in person to look for Goliath Beetles, he had to come check us out. David lived about one hour away from the village on foot in the forest. His full time occupation was a cocoa farmer. ¡§Now is not the season for Goliath. August is the best time,¡¨ explained David as our heart sank. However, Royal Goliath Beetles did start to emerge in very small numbers in June. After all, one just flew away. Suddenly, I had an idea to best maximize our chances of obtaining Goliath Beetles. Now that this place definitely had Goliath Beetles, perhaps we could also look for their larvae or cocoons. Nobody knew where the larvae lived or where they constructed their cocoons. But it was presumed that they lived in decayed wood, fed on the larvae of other insects, and constructed their cocoons in the clay directly beneath the decayed wood. After a quick lunch, we borrowed some shovels from the villagers. We divided the team into two. Andy and Q-san would return to the Oba Tree and to wait for the Goliath Beetle to return. Mac and I would go dig for larvae and cocoons. In the beginning, we were enthusiastic and hopeful. I imagined what it would be like to unearth the cocoons like terra cotta warriors. It was heavy labor. The clay was thick and very difficult to excavate beyond a few inches and we had no idea how deep the cocoons resided. Very soon, we were saturated with sweat. Not long after, blisters began to form on our hands. Our arm and back muscles were sore from the nonstop digging motions. My original expectation came to a disappointing halt. Mac and I returned to the Oba Tree to meet up with Andy and Q-san. I was hoping Andy and Q-san would tell me that they had caught the Goliath Beetle. Of course, that did not happen. We all sat like statues again. In the meantime, David told us that he would go check his Oba Trees and meet with us again tomorrow. We sat under the Oba Tree until sunset, but the Goliath Beetle never returned. Back in the motel, my skin began to itch, but it was not a conventional mosquito itch. It was a combination of itch and pain. The more I scratched, the itchier and more painful the sensation got. There was also swelling. I had to use soap as lubrication to remove my wedding ring. I had no idea what bit me. I knew it wasn¡¦t mosquitoes, because I never felt any stinging pain during the day. The itch was very intense. It was very difficult to fall asleep because all I wanted to do was scratch. We got up at 5:30 a.m. on our tenth day in Ghana. There was no time to waste. After a quick breakfast, we headed straight for yesterday¡¦s Oba Tree and arrived at 7:42 a.m. Everyone checked the Oba Tree thoroughly. My heart was racing with butterflies in my stomach. However, the Goliath Beetle never returned. We resumed sitting under the tree like statues in fear of any movement or noise might prevent the Goliath Beetle from returning. We sat as motionless as we could until 12:30 p.m. During this time, I figured out what was biting me. They were tiny one-millimeter flying insects called biting midges. Their bites were completely painless initially and would go unnoticed until a few hours later when itch, pain, and swelling began to kick in. The miserable sensation would last about two weeks, way worse than any mosquito bite. My time under the Oba Tree was spent between keeping an eye out for the return of the Goliath Beetle and killing biting midges. The one I wanted never returned while the ones I didn¡¦t poured in endlessly. It was sunny and 27 degrees Celsius today. Between the heat and the biting midges, we thought it was time to go eat lunch and touch base with David. David was already waiting for us in the shade when we returned to the village. Shockingly, he told us that he saw a few Royal Goliath Beetles on an Oba Tree on his way here. Seeing one Goliath Beetle on an Oba Tree would be amazing. I couldn¡¦t imagine what it would be like to see several Goliath Beetles on an Oba Tree. In an instant, all the itching dissipated and the sensation of hunger gone. David said the Oba Tree was 30 minutes away. But we knew that would be David¡¦s pace. For us city dwellers, the time would be more like 60 minutes. We all agreed to go to the Oba Tree immediately without stopping to eating lunch. We munched on bread as we hiked. Despite being 61 years old and a grandfather of many, David was a fast walker. The jungle and the hills to him were like flat pavement. We constantly had to ask him to slow down so we wouldn¡¦t lose sight of him. We travelled through cocoa plantations, corn fields, forests, bushes, creeks, valleys, hills, etc. We were tired. Our legs were sore. We were sweating profusely. But nobody dared to stop. What if the Goliath Beetles got full on the sap and flew away? There was not a minute to lose. We pushed ourselves to the limit. I had never exercised so hard in my life. After what seemed like an eternity, David stopped moving in a distance as he looked up in a tree. When we caught up with him, ¡§They are still here¡¨ was what he whispered. My adrenaline must have been through the chart. My mouth was as dry as desert as my eyes frantically searched this Oba Tree. I had never seen a living Goliath Beetle on a tree in its natural habitat, so I didn¡¦t really know what to look for. It would be helpful to know how live Goliath Beetles normally perched on the branch so I could adjust my brain to look for certain images. Since I had no idea, I was just searching randomly with no strategy. I looked up and down, left and right, far and near, but saw nothing. Andy and Q-San had no luck either. I was becoming irritable again. Suddenly, I saw them, a giant male and a female! They were hanging upside-down with their back ends towards us, totally not an image I was expecting in my head. Immediately, I realized why they were so difficult to visualize. It was due to their strategic positioning and perfect camouflage. Since they perched on the underside of branches, predators above the canopy could not see them. As for predators below the canopy, the beetles¡¦ black blended in with the dark branches and the beetles¡¦ white blended in with the white sky! I quickly explained their orientations to Andy and Q-San. Suddenly, Andy saw them, too! But Q-San could not see them. No matter how Andy and I explained, Q-San¡¦s eyes just could not register them. So I got out a piece of paper and drew the tree branches like a map and denoted where the beetles were on the map. Finally, Q-San saw them and we all screamed with sheer joy. The beetles were pretty far away from us so we didn¡¦t think our voice would startle them. We continued to observe them. Then they began to mate in front of our eyes! Wow, I wanted to bring this breeding pair home so bad! I extended my insect rod to its fullest extent with shaking hands as I was extremely excited and nervous. My insect rod was about 15 meters long. The Royal Goliath Beetles were about half a meter from the opening of my net, so they must have been about 15.5 meters above ground. My whole body was trembling and even breathing was a little difficult. That was how anxious I was. I retracted the insect rod because I didn¡¦t want to scare the Royal Goliath Beetles away. If we could catch this pair, then this mission would be a done deal. We were only 0.5 meters away. We needed some kind of elevation. A chair or a stool would be perfect, but there was none nearby. Perhaps Q-San could be a human stool as I stood on his back. Just as we continued to look for a way, the beetles decided they had had enough sap and took off. We were hoping they would land on nearby trees, but no, they just had to fly into the distance and become tiny dots before disappearing completely. Needless to say, we were beyond devastated. While we stood there passively in despair, Viktor continued to search quietly in the background unnoticed. Just when our morale could not be any lower, Viktor whispered that there was another one on the other side of the canopy. Our defeated spirit was reborn. This would be our fourth chance at a Goliath Beetle. The dramatic emotional ups and downs were almost too much to bear. Quickly, but surreptitiously, we moved to the other side of the tree. This part of the canopy was very difficult for the eyes. It was interwoven with vines and other symbiotic plants. This time, no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not see the beetle. It never ceased to amaze me how Viktor was able to spot beetles that no one else could see. We had no strategy because we couldn¡¦t even see the beetle. As we stood dumbfounded, suddenly, Viktor picked up the slack and took charge of things. He grabbed the insect rod from Q-san and began to climb a smaller tree next to the Oba Tree. All we could do was watch and pray for the best. Viktor was an outstanding tree climber. Even with a long rod in his hand, he dexterously reached the main bifurcation of the tree. Now he was much closer to the Royal Goliath Beetle. Wedging himself securely in the bifurcation of the smaller tree, Viktor began to raise the insect rod and close in on the Goliath Beetle. He had to be extremely careful. If he touched any part of the Oba Tree at all, sensing any vibration, the Goliath Beetle would immediately fly away. It was a very difficult task. Viktor used his legs to clamp down on the tree so he wouldn¡¦t fall, while at the same time maneuvering the net through the dense vegetation without touching anything. As the net honed in closer and closer on the target, I was able to project where the net was going and predict where the subject might be. After meticulous searching, a medium sized Royal Goliath Beetle entered my field of view. However, Andy and Q-san were not able to see the beetle this time. I became a live broadcaster. I began to report how far the net was from the beetle and what the beetle looked like. Andy and Q-san joined the excitement and anticipation through my words. At one point I said something like this in trembling voice: ¡§I think he¡¦ll catch it. I think he¡¦ll catch it. I hope it¡¦s a female. I hope it¡¦s a female.¡¨ I felt this might be our last chance. If it was a fertile female, then we could start a breeding colony, and this maiden expedition would be declared a success. Viktor got very close to the Royal Goliath Beetle. It continued to drink the sap and was not aware what was behind it. Swiftly, Viktor covered the beetle with the net. As soon as the beetle felt the vibration of the net hitting the branch, it took off. But this time, instead of flying into the sky, the beetle flew into the net. It was a done deal. Nothing could hold me back. I screamed, ¡§He caught it! He caught it!¡¨ Andy and Q-san also screamed. Our screaming resonated in the Forest of Djin Djin. As Viktor retracted the insect rod, the beetle became increasingly clear. Yes, I was extremely happy, but ironically, I was sad at the same time. It was a medium sized male. That meant the struggle was not over. We needed to find a female, fast. Today was June 22, 2015. The time was 2:38 p.m. Tomorrow would be our final day in the Forest of Djin Djin. My return flight was scheduled for June 25 at 10:10 p.m. However, Andy and Q-san¡¦s flight would depart at 11 a.m. This meant we needed to get back to Accra by early afternoon of June 24 so we could obtain export permits from Ghana Forestry Commission Wildlife Division in order to legally move Goliath Beetles out of Ghana. There would not be enough time to obtain the export permits on the morning of June 25 because Andy and Q-san would need to be at the airport by 7 a.m. Could we find a female Royal Goliath Beetle within 24 hours? It was starting to get late. We needed to get back to our car parked by the village. Before we did that, though, we wanted to check Viktor¡¦s Oba Tree again to see if the Goliath Beetle ever returned. After an hour¡¦s walk, we returned to Viktor¡¦s Oba Tree. Now we had more experience under our belt and knew what to look for. Unfortunately, the Goliath Beetle that flew away never came back. It had been a long day. I was covered in sweat and intensely itching from the biting midges. My body and mind were about maxed out for the day. We decided it was time to retreat to the motel and recuperate. After the sweat had evaporated, I became so sticky and uncomfortable to the point that I actually looked forward to the cold shower, which would also somewhat numb the biting midge itch. Every day in Africa, we also did our laundry by hand either before or after the cold shower. After we were all done, we met up in the dining room. Not surprisingly, dinner was fried chicken and rice with Shito sauce on the side. We had the Royal Goliath Beetle that Viktor caught with us. While we waited for the dishes to arrive, we let the beetle crawl around on the dining table and took photos. It was my first time observing a living Royal Goliath Beetle up close. It was fascinating to know that it smelled like ginseng and, if startled, could have a sudden outburst of energy which resulted in a short sprint. We were very happy with and thankful for what we got, but without a breeding female, this trip would be a failure, and the century-old mystery of Nickerl¡¦s Beetle might not get solved. As much as we were enjoying the newly acquired male, we could not stop thinking about we were still missing a female, the most crucial part of this expedition. We had come too far to go home empty handed. It was time to have a serious discussion about plan B. It was decided that if tomorrow turned out to be fruitless, then Andy and Q-san would return to Taiwan as scheduled because their business couldn¡¦t stay closed any longer. I on the other hand, would extend my stay until a female Goliath Beetle was caught. Any extra expenses incurred would be shared among the three of us. This would make the cost significantly lower than all three of us extending our stay. We were beginning to run out of money, but as soon as Andy and Q-san returned to Taiwan, they would be able to electronically transfer money to me. The thought of having to stay behind in remote Africa alone was intimidating, but my determination overwrote any fear. My will was strong. I was not leaving until I got a breeding pair of the Royal Goliath Beetle. Having reached this consensus, we adjourned the meeting and went to bed as early as possible so we could get enough rest to begin searching at first light tomorrow. On our eleventh day in Ghana, and the final day in the Forest of Djin Djin, we got up before daylight and began searching by dawn. We began with Viktor¡¦s Oba Tree from which a Royal Goliath Beetle flew away. Unfortunately, the Goliath Beetle never returned to this tree for the remainder of our expedition. We stayed under the tree for a couple hours because the Goliath Beetle that flew away seemed to be a female. We really needed a female to complete our expedition. The weather was cloudy in the early morning, but became very sunny and warm by 10 a.m. with a temperature of 28 degree Celsius, the perfect condition for Goliath Beetles to take flight; they are most active when the weather is sunny and warm. By 9:30 a.m., we felt it was time to move to David¡¦s Oba Tree and see if our luck would change. We had three insect rods. Before we parted with David yesterday, we gave him my insect rod. That way, if he saw any Goliath Beetles while we were away, he could catch them for us. This turned out to be a strategy with foresight. We gathered all our strength and walked as fast as we could and got there in forty minutes instead of one hour. When we got to David¡¦s Oba Tree at 10:10 a.m., no one was there. It was unusually quiet. We thought David would be waiting for us already. We started searching the tree meticulously. It was a busy day for everyone. The sun was out. The temperature was warm. Various species of beetles, butterflies, bees, wasps, and flies could be seen on this Oba Tree. Some were mating; some were drinking sap; some were fighting for a spot on the sap flow. It was quite an entomological social event. It seemed everybody was there except the Royal Goliath Beetle. This was an Oba Tree with several active sap flows. The weather was perfect. It made no sense that the boss of all insects was absent. David was a serious man. I didn¡¦t think I had ever seen a smile on his face. As we were busy looking for Goliath Beetles, David walked up to us with a casualness that we didn¡¦t know existed in him. He normally walked very fast. But no, today, he strolled in like a slug with hands behind his back and a smirk on his face. It just looked very odd. ¡§Don¡¦t search the tree. There are no Goliath Beetles¡¨ were his words, which only added more confusion to our face. I tried to read between the lines. How would he know that there were no Goliath Beetles on the Oba Tree, unless he already checked it before us? He had become a different person. The seriousness that was always on his face had completely disappeared. It almost looked like he now had a sense of humor. ¡§How do you know,¡¨ I replied. He smiled and nodded his head for a few seconds. Then he brought out his hands from behind his back; ¡§because I have them.¡¨ We lost it. We completely lost it. We screamed and cheered like there was no tomorrow. I didn¡¦t think I had ever been so excited in my life. With the powerful flashlight and insect rod we supplied him, David checked the Oba Tree in the middle of the night when the temperature was too cool for Goliath Beetles to fly. He had captured a mating pair of the Royal Goliath Beetle. It was a done deal and carved in stone. We pronounced our maiden expedition to West Africa a success! Of course, the Royal Goliath Beetle alone would not solve the mystery of Nickerl¡¦s Beetle. However, we did not need the Chief Goliath Beetle immediately. We needed to produce virgin females of the Royal Goliath Beetle in captivity first. Then, we would have them mated by males of the Chief Goliath Beetle. In other words, not having found the Chief Goliath Beetle on this expedition would not delay our schedule to hybridize the Royal Goliath Beetle and Chief Goliath Beetle. Even if we had found them both on this maiden expedition, we would still need to wait at least a year before we could cross them. But it would be nice to have found them both on this trip as it would save us more money for sure. So here was the plan: for the next 12 months, we would focus on raising Royal Goliath Beetles in captivity; then, in 2016, we would revisit Ghana to find the Chief Goliath Beetle and hybridize the two. For now, after more than ten days of mental and physical torture, we could finally relax! David invited us to have some fruits in his yard. We casually strolled through more hills and valleys previously unknown to us before we came upon a small river with murky water. David regularly fished in this river and smoked them into dried fish for long term storage. There was a canoe tied to the bank. David had us hop onto the canoe and pulled us across the knee-deep river. After some more hiking, we finally arrived at David¡¦s home. It was truly in the middle of the Forest of Djin Djin. There was no electricity, no running water, no gas, no phone service. He was completely on his own. His home was composed of mud, wooden pillars, and a layer of corrulated metal as roof. He also kept a flock of free-ranging chickens for egg production. David had one neighbor. He was in a state of sadness when David introduced us to him. Here in the Forest of Djin Djin, livestock was their biggest asset. The neighbor had a few chickens, but he lost them all to a snake attack last night. Rural Ghanaians almost never ate their chickens, even on big holidays. The free ranging chickens foraged on their own and produced eggs at no cost to the owners. Raising chickens, on the other hand, for meat would require high protein feeds which might be cost prohibitive in remote communities. David had multiple fruit trees in his yard. He had lemon, citrus, and guava. The fruits were small because they were not fertilized but they were jam packed with fragrance and flavors. Taiwan was famous for guavas. There were large ones, medium ones, small ones, hard ones, soft ones, green ones, yellow ones, red ones, you name it. But David¡¦s guava was one that none of us had ever tasted in our lives. He had lemon guava. It looked like a regular guava and tasted sweet, but it smelled just like lemon. As we munched on these fascinating treats and cooled off in his mud hut, David also introduced us to Akpeteshie, a powerful liquor made from oil palm trees. Not only was it drinkable and immense popular in Ghana, it also served a special purpose for David. Because its alcohol content was up to 60%, David also used it to preserve Goliath Beetles until they were exported to Europe. After having spent a few days in the Forest of Djin Djin, I came to realize why we were able to catch Royal Goliath Beetles here but not in Bobiri Forest Reserve or Kakum National Park. Ironically, deforestation worked in our favor. The Forest of Djin Djin was highly degraded into a mosaic of forest fragments, cocoa plantations, oil palm plantations, villages, and other agricultural lands. Due to deforestation, Oba Trees could be found in various stages of growth. There was nothing we could do about Goliath Beetles on full grown Oba Trees. They were way beyond the reach of our insect rods. But we were able to observe and catch Goliath Beetles on medium-sized Oba Trees. We could not be certain about the future of the Royal Goliath Beetle in the Forest of Djin Djin. As global population continued to increase, world¡¦s demand for chocolate, palm oil, and various African goods was only expected to increase. The Royal Goliath Beetle could become extinct in the Forest of Djin Djin due to continued deforestation. The precious breeding pair David obtained for us would play a critical role in establishing captive populations. Through captive breeding, we hoped the fate of the Thylacine (Tasmanial Tiger) and the Dodo Bird would not happen to the Royal Goliath Beetle. It was early afternoon, time to head back to our car. On our way back, we checked David¡¦s Oba Tree and Viktor¡¦s Oba Tree again. It would be awesome if more Goliath Beetles came. They didn¡¦t. But we were more than content with the breeding pair we were blessed with. We got back to our car at 3 p.m. Word had spread that we were looking for giant beetles. A boy had shot down a big Royal Goliath Beetle with a catapult and waited for our return by our car. We gave him a big tip in exchange of his catch which marked as a perfect conclusion to our visit to the Forest of Djin Djin. We went back to the motel to get ready for tomorrow¡¦s early departure. We needed to be on the road by 6 a.m. The drive back to Accra would be eight hours or more. Everybody got word that we were looking for giant beetles and found some. At 8 p.m., someone came knocking loudly on my motel door. I got very startled. I wasn¡¦t sure if I should open the door. Two people introduced themselves as the owners of the motel. I opened the door and a couple in their fifties rushed in to see the giant beetles. They looked at the Royal Goliath Beetles and began conversing in local dialect with amazement on their face. They told me that they had lived here all their lives, but had never seen anything like it. This went to show how elusive these beetles could be. The height they lived at with the camouflage they had allowed them to live the perfect hermit life. We got up at 4:30 a.m. and drove back to the village by the Forest of Djin Djin for the last time to say goodbye to David and Viktor. It was 5 a.m. when we got there and still pitch dark. After some waiting, David and Viktor appeared. I was a little greedy. I was hoping David would say he caught some more Goliath Beetles overnight. He didn¡¦t. We gave them big long hugs and the remaining of our US Dollars as our deepest appreciation. We bid each other farewell and departed the Forest of Djin Djin. The state of our mind leaving and coming in were completely different. On our way in, the atmosphere was filled with uncertainty and anxiety. On our way out, we had Royal Goliath Beetles in our hands and nothing but joy in our mood. On our way in, it was hard for me to think about anything but finding Goliath Beetles. On our way out, my calm mind was able to appreciate all the sceneries along the way back to Accra. We stopped by a local gas station to refuel and take a bathroom break. At the gas station convenience store, I had the mood to look at all the local snacks and bought some to enjoy on the way back. Everything became idle, blissful, and vacation-like. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the gentle sun and breeze on my face, much like a content cat sleeping by the windowsill on a sunny winter afternoon. Life was good. At 11:16 a.m., we arrived at the east bank of the Volta River. The last time we were here, it was rumbling with a severe thunderstorm. Now, it was as calm and sunny as can be. There was not a single care in my mind. Since the mission was already accomplished, I didn¡¦t care if I get diarrhea. I began to try the local snacks sold by the vendors along the river bank and on the ferry. I tried dried plantain, smoked squid, smoked beef, various bakery items, and I was fine. Again, I saw the island in the middle of the river, but now I didn¡¦t have an urge to go visit it; I already got what I needed right in my backpack. We continued to make our way to Accra. What stood out the most to me were how common roadside vendors were and the plethora of things they sold. No exaggeration here, anything and everything was sold. Bushmeat, furniture, coffins, pottery, construction material, toys, bicycles, clothing, footwear, jewelry, pets (dogs and birds), you name it. We observed another interesting phenomenon. As previously mentioned, some roads were filled with potholes. Young people would voluntarily fill the potholes with dirt and stand by the flat road for passing vehicles to give them gratuities. Ghanaians were incredibly resourceful and always found ways to make a living. The traffic was smooth and we arrived in Accra by 2 p.m. We went straight to the Ghana Forestry Commission Wildlife Division to obtain export permits for our Royal Goliath Beetles. After a couple hours of paperwork, our applications were approved and export permits granted. While we were waiting for our applications to be processed, we walked around the premise of the Ghana Forestry Commission. It was also a temporary sanctuary for confiscated wild parrots from illegal wildlife trade before they were returned to the wild. We saw about fifty Timneh African Grey Parrots as well as fifty Jardine¡¦s Parrots. The Timneh African Grey Parrot was especially of sentimental value to me because I had had two since 2001. After our export permits were issued, we went to dinner and subsequently checked in to the motel to get ready for next day¡¦s departure. We were all exhausted from the intense traveling and searching in the jungles. With the mission accomplished, our brain and body relaxed and we fell sound asleep in no time. Very quickly, June 25 came, our last day in Ghana. We arrived at Accra Kotoka International Airport at 7 a.m. in preparation of Andy and Q-san¡¦s departure at 11 a.m. We had known each other for years prior to the trip. But the past 12 days in Ghana would transition our acquaintance to friendship of a lifetime. Soon, Andy and Q-san would travel back to Taiwan, I would return to the United States, and we would live our usual daily lives again. After Mac and I sent off Andy and Q-san, we had Mohammed drive us to an electronics shop. We bought David and Viktor each a cellular phone as gift. Mac would stay in Ghana for a few more weeks. He would find time to transport the phones to David and Viktor. For years to come, David and Viktor would stay in touch with their new phones. However, contacting them would still be difficult because there was no reception in the Forest of Djin Djin. They would have to travel to a nearby town to contact us. My flight was not until 10:10 p.m. Mac had kept my motel room for the rest of the day. When we returned to the motel, the male Royal Goliath Beetle was gone. I looked everywhere. I checked under all the furniture. I check all the window blinds. I was in a state of extreme panic. I checked for broken windows or screen where the beetle could have escaped, but I didn¡¦t see any. I came to the conclusion that housekeeping must have taken him. I asked Mac to go talk to the housekeeping and tell them that I would buy the male back no matter what the cost. Mac asked me to check my room thoroughly one more time. I assured him that I checked absolutely everywhere. When I went back to my room, the male Royal Goliath Beetle had reappeared. He was perching on the sofa. I could not figure out what had happened. The trip could have ended very badly at the last minute. How would I tell Andy and Q-san that the male Royal Goliath Beetle just disappeared? Like magic, he reappeared just as mysteriously as he had disappeared. I took my last cold shower in Ghana and got ready for the airport. At 4:52 p.m., we arrived at the airport. After parking, we went to the airport restaurant to eat my last meal of my maiden West African trip. I had fried chicken and fried rice with Shito sauce on the side. After dinner, Mac and I started discussing 2016. Even before my first trip had officially come to an end, we were already talking about next year! Now I knew what Ghana was like and felt very comfortable and looked forward to coming back. In the summer of 2016, we would return to Ghana and visit the Ankasa Forest Reserve, which was located right on the border of Ghana and Ivory Coast. If there was any place in Ghana with the Chief Goliath Beetle (Goliathus cacicus), this would be it. I could hardly wait! I arrived at the departure gate with plenty of time to kill. I visited all the gift shops and bought some more Golden Tree chocolate bars to bring back home. As delicious as they were, one bar never got eaten. It had become a tangible reminder of this trip and a piece of wonderful memory that I didn¡¦t want to destroy. At the time of this writing in 2022, it remained perfectly wrapped in the refrigerator and would be for years to come. I sat in one of the seats next to the gate and began to reflect on this trip. I obtained this breeding pair of the Royal Goliath Beetle on the last day at the Forest of Djin Djin. If Q-san hadn¡¦t insisted on leaving Kakum within 24 hours of arrival, we would not have made it to the Forest of Djin Djin in time. Confucius said there would always be a teacher in a group of three. Q-san and I frequently got pessimistic on this trip. Andy was a big fan of baseball. He told us about games in which the losing team turned things around in the last inning with the last batter and claimed victory. I used to think he was being too romantic, but our trip did span out like one of those resurrected baseball games. Before our trip, Q-san had gone to Xingtian Temple, a large and immensely popular temple in Taipei, to pray for safety and ask for guidance. After praying he drew a fortune stick on which it read ¡§Many challenges lie ahead but the result will be great.¡¨ Multiple things seemed to have come together in our endeavor to solve the mystery of Nickerl¡¦s Beetle. Because of Orin McMonige¡¦s discovery that the larvae of Goliath Beetles were carnivores, they were not classified by the United States Department of Agriculture as plant pests and therefore could be imported and kept by the general public. I departed the United States out of Boston Logan International Airport. But I would enter the United States through John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Rearranging the return flight would make the ticket fare more expensive, but it was necessary because John F. Kennedy International Airport was one of the designated ports by the United States Fish and Wildlife Services for wildlife importation. My flight departed Ghana on schedule and landed in Amsterdam uneventfully. At 11:41 a.m. on June 26, KLM Flight 6020 landed in JFK International with me and Royal Goliath Beetles onboard. I proceeded to the US Customs and USFWS and declared my Goliath Beetles. Everything proceeded smoothly. With the Royal Goliath Beetles safely home, we were one step closer to realizing our dream of making Nickerl¡¦s Beetle. Perhaps my body had been overly burdened with physical activities and mental stress, I felt fatigued in the evening of returning home. Shortly afterwards, a headache and fever began to develop. The first thought that came to my mind was malaria! But I was still taking Doxycycline two times a day and would continue to do so for four more weeks. So malaria infection was less likely. Perhaps I had caught a cold. I took some Tylenol and continued to monitor myself. By the next morning, I was fine. I proceeded to setting up a breeding terrarium for the Royal Goliath Beetle pair. It was to the female¡¦s liking and she began to lay eggs. The propagation of the Royal Goliath Beetle in captivity went as planned and the first larvae became adults in the early summer of 2016. I was sitting in the comfort of my living room when I opened the first cocoon on June 5 at 10:45 p.m. It was an emotional moment. Flashbacks of our times in the jungles of Africa reminded me how difficult it was to obtain the parent stock. Now I was surrounded by more than forty Royal Goliath Beetles. What a sharp contrast. In the time between my first and second West African expeditions, I researched the whereabouts of the Chief Goliath Beetle. There were very few records of the Chief Goliath Beetle from Ghana. Old literature reported Accra, Elmina, and Kumasi, all of which were completely deforested today. On August 13 at 7:37 p.m., I received an e-mail with a very interesting lead. A Swiss entomologist told me that he had gotten in touch with someone who had personally caught numerous Chief Goliath Beetles in Ghana in the 1980¡¦s. Takoradi was the locality. Even in the 1980¡¦s, Takoradi was already severely deforested. The collector caught the Chief Goliath Beetles on Vernonia trees among pineapple, cocoa, and rubber tree plantations. He said a Vernonia tree could have up to 20 Chief Goliath Beetles. This was such exciting news. I immediately shared it with Andy and Q-san. This information made sense. Takoradi was very close to the Ankasa Forest Reserve, which bordered Ivory Coast, the most famous locality for the Chief Goliath Beetle. Now we felt very confident that we would find the Chief Goliath Beetle in Ankasa and Takoradi in the summer of 2016.
-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle [LIKE=WayneChen;=LIKE]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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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¡¨? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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-- §@ªÌ¡G razzle [LIKE=ªü¬K;pckkman;WayneChen;=LIKE]David led us through a path that we didn¡¦t know about in 2015. It was good to experience something new in this old location. It had been raining frequently lately. We came across a small river. Normally, the water was low and slow moving. Today, it was almost raging with gushing sounds that told us to stay away. We walked over the ramshackle wooden bridge quickly to minimize the time above this overflowing river. We continued walking through plantations of cacao, corn, banana, and cassava. Then we came across a small creek that was quite shallow. We easily waded through it with our rubber boots. This creek probably didn¡¦t exist on sunny days. We walked through more mosaics of farmlands and forests. At 2:49 p.m., we had arrived at the Oba Tree. David took a quick peek and confirmed the Royal Goliath Beetle was still there. Perhaps I had had enough training from 2015, I quickly spotted the beetle. Q-san located it, too. After some pointers, Andy saw it as well. Interestingly, nobody had an urge to catch it personally even though it was zero stakes. We were all too laid back. After all, we already got a breeding colony of the Royal Goliath Beetle established back home and David had caught us an additional six. We decided to let David do it. In 2015, when Viktor was attempting to catch our first Royal Goliath Beetle, we could hardly breathe as we watched intensely. David was very relaxed, too. He raised the insect rod as if in slow motion. Despite the beetle being about 14 meters above ground, the maximum length of Andy¡¦s insect rod, David gracefully maneuvered the insect rod and tapped on the branches right below the Goliath Beetle. The vibration caused the beetle to let go of the branch and fall right into the insect net. Now we had five males and two females. When the first Royal Goliath Beetle was caught in 2015, we screamed our heads off. Today, we remained pretty composed. We certainly enjoyed the experience, but the intense passion was gone. Andy calmly retrieved the beetle from the net and placed him in a plastic container. It was starting to get a little late, so we decided to head back to the village. On the way back, we saw another Oba Tree with a pair of the Royal Goliath Beetle mating in the canopy. However, this was a mature Oba Tree whose canopy was beyond the reach of our insect rods. It didn¡¦t really bother us. If this was 2015, the frustration would have been unbearable. We took turns using Q-san¡¦s military grade binoculars to appreciate the Royal Goliath Beetles as if we were birding. We got a better understanding of what Goliath Beetles did in the wild. In the beginning, we thought we were seeing two males fighting. But Q-san¡¦s military grade binoculars allowed us to see fine details such as one of them did not have a horn, which meant it was a female. We saw the female trying to push the male away. He was a big male and did not budge. This assured the female that he was strong with good genes. Soon after, the female allowed the male to mate with her. Then we moved on. It was 4:48 p.m. when we returned to the village. It had been a long day. We were tired and sweaty. We said goodbye to David and his family and drove to our motel in the nearby town about 25 minutes away. After we checked in and got settled, we began to feed the seven Royal Goliath Beetles. Strangely, we had never had any luck attracting Goliath Beetles to our banana traps. However, once captured, Goliath Beetles would accept banana juice as food. For the rest of the evening, we did routine activities such as having dinner, hand washing dirty clothes, showering, and medicating insect bites. Biting midges were ubiquitous in the forests. Within several hours of arriving at the Forest of Djin Djin, our limbs were already covered in incredibly pruritic bumps. Anti-itch creams worked minimally. Trying to fall asleep with midge bites was challenging to say the least. The more I scratched, the itchier they got. There was no winning. Eventually, the center of each bump would form a blister. Previous experience from 2015 told me this intense itch would persist for about two weeks. I didn¡¦t wake up as many times in the middle of the night because the Doxycycline burn on the esophagus had begun to subside. The rope burn wound on my right middle finger also had scabbed up. At this point, it appeared infection would no longer be a concern. Some of my worries were starting to go away. If we had found the Chief Goliath Beetle, this trip would have been perfect. We met in the dining hall at 7:40 a.m. and had omelet and toasted bread for breakfast. We returned to the Forest of Djin Djin by 9:30 a.m. and didn¡¦t leave until 6 p.m. It rained quite a bit in the morning and the temperature for today was 25 to 26 degrees Celsius. David took us to yet another new trail. This one was very exhausting as it was mostly uphill. At 11:14 a.m., after more than one and a half hours of hiking, we finally arrived at the first Oba Tree of the day. It happened to be right next to an elementary school. It was recess and there were many children playing in the field. Most of them were wearing a yellow and brown uniform. Some were singing. Some were playing soccer. But as soon as they saw us, they stopped what they were doing and looked at us with great curiosity. Foreigners rarely came this far out. (We would be in the Forest of Djin Djin for five more days. They would eventually get used to us and continue playing without minding us. Two schoolgirls would even each catch us a Royal Goliath Beetle!) This Oba Tree was a medium sized tree, well within the range of our insect rods. However, there were currently no Goliath Beetles on it. It started raining again. We needed to take cover. There was a storage shed that belonged to the elementary school. We went in there to hide from the rain. As we waited for the rain to pass, David used the time to tell us how challenging it was for local children to get an education. They had to hike long distances, often barefooted, through rugged terrains with venomous snakes to get to school. Then the trip home would be just as difficult. Some girls got raped in the mountains and became single mothers at a very young age. During the rainy season, the long commutes became dangerous with slippery mud and toppled trees. As a result, many children could not persevere and dropped out of school. Without education, it was difficult for villagers to escape poverty. It was a short rain. By 11:56 a.m., we began moving again. We came across many ants on the trail as they fled their flooded nests. It was not an issue for us because we were wearing tall rubber boots, but some barefooted villagers got stung badly. At 1:01 p.m., we arrived at the second Oba Tree of the day. Much excitement took place at this site. This was also a medium sized Oba Tree whose entirety was within our insect rod¡¦s reach. This tree had an active sap flow and apparently was a very popular destination for Royal Goliath Beetles. There was a big male in the canopy when we arrived. Since there was zero pressure to obtain more Royal Goliath Beetles, we advocated Q-san to give a shot at catching this one. Although within reach, catching him would still be challenging because he was hidden behind many branches. Q-san would have to meander through the branches to get to him. To make the task even more challenging, there was wind blowing, which made everything a moving target. Q-san¡¦s insect rod had to dance with the branches in synchrony so they wouldn¡¦t collide with each other. Q-san was doing a fantastic job in the beginning, but the task became increasingly difficult with time as Q-san¡¦s muscles began to fatigue and gave in to the weight of the insect rod. Eventually, the insect rod touched a branch prematurely and startled the Goliath Beetle. He quickly flew away. It was lunch time so we decided to stay where we were and eat bread and canned tuna. Not long after, faint buzzing developed in the background. Then the faint buzzing gradually became conspicuous buzzing. Then the conspicuous buzzing ultimately became roaring buzzing. By this time, there was no mistaking. A giant Goliath Beetle was coming. Very soon, a giant male entered the scene. He did not immediately land on the Oba Tree. He circled it a few times before landing in the canopy. It was almost unreal to watch such an enormous insect airborne with such a dramatic sound effect. We asked David to make the second attempt. Pretty much the same thing happened and the beetle flew away, but we didn¡¦t really mind. We just went back to eating lunch. After a while, the roaring buzzing returned and we got our third attempt on this Oba Tree. Today was not our day. Even the third attempt failed. We could not be sure if the three beetles that came were the same individual or three different beetles. We waited to see if there would be the fourth attempt, but the forest stayed quiet for a while. We decided to move on since there were more Oba Trees to check. At 2:19 p.m., we arrived at the third Oba Tree of the day. I started looking around and all of a sudden I thought I was in a Deja vu. Things looked a little different, but it felt like I had been to this place before! Maybe I was too exhausted and was hallucinating or something. Then David asked if things looked familiar. I looked around again and contemplated. Yes, of course, this is where we caught our first ever Royal Goliath Beetle in 2015! We were here on June 22 of last year! The surrounding bushes had grown taller and denser. The main reason that I didn¡¦t immediately recognize it was because we came in from a different direction. In 2015, we came with the banana trees on our right. Today, we came in with the banana trees on our left. It was so good to be back again. We stood on the same spot as we did a little over one year ago and recalled what we went through in 2015. We exchanged tears and laughter. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus and his famous words came to mind: ¡§One can never step in the same river twice.¡¨ That was exactly what we were living. In 2015, we experienced uncertainty, anxiety, and desperation to name a few emotions. But in 2016 in the same location, we were experiencing relaxation and contentment. We didn¡¦t need to collect more specimens of the Royal Goliath Beetle. We sincerely hoped that one day we would feel the same about the Chief Goliath Beetle. As we looked around, everything was calm; we didn¡¦t see or hear anything. It appeared this Oba Tree was not currently having an active sap flow. It was midafternoon and we thought it was a good time to return to the village. There was something that we had wanted to do for a long time. Now we knew the way. We were on the same trail as last year. Wherever we stepped, we could see images of ourselves from the past. There were some changes to the landscape, though. The vegetation of some places got thicker while that of others got cut back. We came upon some girls in their early teens working in the fields. They were clearing unwanted plants with machetes. As we passed by, they greeted us with big smiles. We walked through many more familiar hills and valleys. At 3:24 p.m., we had made a big loop and returned to the village. Soon after returning, we were surrounded by curious children. This was just what we had in mind. Seeing the poverty the villagers were facing on our first expedition, Andy and I purchased several large bags of mini chocolate bars after we returned to Taiwan and the US, respectively. What easier way than candies, which were economical and popular, to make children happy, albeit temporarily? Andy also bought several soccer balls as the local children were playing soccer with makeshift balls made of compressed garbage such as used plastic bags and old fabric with a stone in the center for weight. When the children saw us take out the gifts they got very excited, perhaps even a little chaotic. We quickly assured them that there was going to be enough to go around for everyone and started handing out chocolates. To our puzzlement, the children just stood there without further actions after we gave each and everyone some mini chocolate bars. We thought perhaps they wanted to take them home to share. I asked them how come they didn¡¦t want to eat the chocolates now. To our surprise, they didn¡¦t know the chocolate bars were food. They were waiting for further instructions from us. Some thought they were toys or something. I showed them how to unwrap the packaging and ate the content in front of them. Some children took a small bite and stopped. I thought they didn¡¦t like it. Upon inquiry, they said they stopped because chocolate tasted so good; they wanted to take them home to share with brothers and sisters. I felt heartbroken. I couldn¡¦t imagine there being any child in the US, Europe, or Taiwan who had never had chocolate. It was one of the cheapest snacks out there. Yet here we were; the biggest producers of cacao beans on the planet didn¡¦t know the taste of chocolate. The situation might be analogous to dairy farmers not knowing the taste of cheese or wheat growers not knowing the taste of bread. It was mind blowing. After asking around, the villagers made four to eight Ghanaian cedis (one to two US dollars) per day from cacao farming. This was my first introduction to the massive imbalances in the chocolate trade. According to various sources, the chocolate industry was worth over 100 billion US dollars annually. But only less than 2% of that went to Ghana. Europe and North America had the lion¡¦s share while cacao farmers who did all the hard work lived below poverty line. There was a large field between the village and the mountains. The children ran there with their real soccer balls and started playing. Soccer was a huge sport in Ghana. Some children said they hoped to become professional soccer players when they grew up. We watched the children play soccer until sunset. Afterwards we leisurely returned to the motel and had dinner. During the day, we got many more bites from the midges, despite using ample insect repellent (the issue was that we were sweating so much that the sweat was constantly washing off the insect repellent). My fingers were starting to swell up. I thought it would be a good idea to remove the ring on my ring finger before more swelling set in. Suddenly, I realized it was already stuck. It could not move past the joint. I quickly went to the bathroom and applied soapsuds to my ring finger. After a lot of forceful twists and pulls, the ring finally came off. Had I waited until the next morning, I might have to cut it off with pliers or lose my finger to ischemia. It was a close call for sure. We really didn¡¦t have much more to accomplish for this second expedition. We decided to take it easy. Tomorrow we would return to the Oba Tree where the Royal Goliath Beetle came three times and just sit there for the entire day. We decided to sleep in a little, too. It had been eleven days since we landed in Ghana for the second time. We were exhausted. We took our time the next day. It was already 11:20 a.m. when we got to the Oba Tree. The Royal Goliath Beetle had not arrived. It was a cloudy day with occasionally sunshine and temperatures between 26 and 27 degrees Celsius. The humidity was high with little to no wind. The conditions were perfect for Goliath Beetles; warm temperature made them metabolically active and no wind allowed ease of flight. It was a matter of time before the Royal Goliath Beetle showed up. An old couple lived right next to this Oba Tree. We greeted them and gave them some gifts since we would be spending the entire day next to their hut. They graciously lent us their bench so we could sit under the Oba Tree. We had lunch together. We shared with them bread and canned tuna. They talked to us about the dangers of living in the Forest of Djin Djin. This was the home of the Gaboon Viper, the snake that injected the most venom in the world. To make matters worse, it also had the longest fangs of all snakes at approximately 5 centimeters, which injected venom deep into the victim. With large amount of venom injected deeply, bites were fatal. Villagers had no protection against Gaboon Viper bites because they were barefooted or only wore sandals. The markings on the Gaboon Viper allowed it to blend in perfectly with the forest floor, making avoidance difficult. In the Western World where people wore shoes/boots and drove cars, scientists advocated conservation of all snakes, including venomous ones. But here in rural Ghana, it was about life or death. Every time a Gaboon Viper was spotted, it would be killed. The old couple showed us the carcasses of two Gaboon Vipers that they killed recently. They did their best to reduce the risk by keeping undergrowth as low as possible around their hut. They did so by tying several goats close to their hut. The goats did a fantastic job in devouring all the vegetation within reach. As we chatted, the familiar buzzing became increasingly loud. No surprise here, the king of all insects had arrived. After he landed on the Oba Tree, we were in no hurry to catch him. We wanted to see what he would do. His excellent sense of smell guided him to the sap flow. There were some smaller beetles, wasps, flies, and butterflies feeding on the sap flow. The big male pushed them all away with his horns and started enjoying the sap flow. This time he had perched on a relatively open spot with not too many branches in the way. Q-san caught him with standard operation of insect rod and became the first Taiwanese to ever have caught a wild Goliath Beetle! It was 2:23 p.m. We continued to sit under the Oba Tree to see if more would come. No more Goliath Beetles came for the rest of the day. We decided to head back by 4:50 p.m. On our way back, our path was completely blocked by a recently fallen tree. It took us a few minutes to cross over its trunk and branches. This was a reminder of the dangers the villagers faced every day. Our second expedition to Ghana was winding down. Tomorrow, July 27th, 2016, would be our thirteenth day. We would leave the Forest of Djin Djin on July 30 and depart Ghana on July 31. We went back to the motel to get ready for dinner. We accomplished daily chores such as handwashing dirty clothes, taking a cold shower, feeding Goliath Beetles and cleaning their enclosures, and medicating our insect bites with steroid cream among others. Q-san had brought a portable Bluetooth speaker from Taiwan. It would blast daily from the time we returned to the motel to the time we went to bed. The Taiwanese music made doing the chores less tiring. Sometimes the motel staff would dance to the Taiwanese music, too! After dinner we strolled around the motel. It was a gated property with some night lighting. The high humidity of the night and its misty air made the lights glow with a mysterious haze. The lights attracted many insects; most of which were ants. As we explored from light to light, our activity caught the attention of the other motel guests, who were missionaries from Europe. They came out to see what we were doing and if everything was alright. We told them that we were insect researchers and that we were observing some very interesting ants. They joined us for a short while. We were looking at some ¡§sausage flies,¡¨ which were unusual flying insects about 3 centimeters in length. They got their name from their long and fat sausage-like abdomen. As they crawled around on the ground, they really looked like moving sausages. They were delicacies in some African cultures. However, they were not flies at all. They were actually males of ants belonging to the genus Dorylus, commonly known as the Driver Ants. They looked so different from their worker counterparts that for a while they were thought to be a different species. They behaved very differently, too. The Driver Ants were given their name because they formed hunting swarms by the millions. As they rampaged through the forest floor, tree trunks, tree branches, and canopies, they drove terrified inhabitants out of their home as they fled in all directions. Anything moving slower than the Driver Ants became meals of the ferocious predators. Preys included caterpillars, slugs, termites, scorpions, mice, and even baby birds to name a few. On the other hand, ¡§sausage flies¡¨ were solitary and harmless. We had witnessed Driver Ant hunting swarms in multiple locations including the Forest of Djin Djin and Wli Waterfalls. In one instance, we saw Driver Ants taking out a termite colony. The Driver Ants were capable of biting and stinging and definitely a force to be reckoned with. Their hunting swarms were not just a bunch of disordered ants. They were composed of worker ants and soldier ants in highly organized structures. The soldier ants formed protective tunnels with their bodies and guarded them with their enlarged jaws while the worker ants passed through them carrying preys like trucks on highways. The soldier ants had incredibly powerful jaws that did not let go once they bit down on something even if they were decapitated. Due to their nature of never letting go, some African cultures used the solider ants of Driver Ants as natural sutures to close wounds! They would get a soldier ant to bite on either side of the wound, thereby bringing the two sides of the skin together, and cut the head off. The missionaries enjoyed their short evening with us and were fascinated by the biology of the Driver Ants. We didn¡¦t have any specific agendas to accomplish for the remainder of the trip. We decided to just explore the Forest of Djin Djin and appreciate its beauty. The next day, we passed by the elementary school again. The children were singing loudly in the schoolyard. By now, the children were used to us. One girl ran to us and told us that she had something for us. Then she ran back to the classroom to fetch it. Very soon, she returned with a sealed bucket. We were not sure what was in it, but we had an idea. Q-san proceeded to open the bucket¡¦s airtight lid. Then we all exclaimed. It was a giant specimen of the Royal Goliath Beetle. In the wild, the vast majority of the Royal Goliath Beetle were specimens under 9 centimeters in length. The little girl¡¦s Royal Goliath Beetle was over 10 centimeters, the biggest we had seen on both expeditions. It would be awesome to pass along his genes in captivity. Unfortunately, the villagers had no tools to catch Goliath Beetles. This giant male was shot out of the canopy with a catapult and preserved in Akpeteshie. We thanked her and gave her a nice tip. Another girl ran to us and told us that she also had one at home. She would bring it to us tomorrow. We shook hands to make a deal. We promised each other to be here at the same time tomorrow. Today was not a good day to catch Goliath Beetles. It had been rainy until about 2 p.m. with temperatures between 26 to 28 degrees Celsius. Goliath Beetles didn¡¦t like to fly in rain as the water would weigh them down and make them slow and prone to predators such as hornbills. We checked several Oba Trees but didn¡¦t see any Goliath Beetles. On our way back to the village, we came across a hunting swarm of the Driver Ants. The width of the swarm was at least two meters. We could not jump over it. We had to take one step into the swarm before we could cross it. It was not much of a challenge for us because we were wearing tall rubber boots. Some villagers got stung as they crossed the swarm with sandals, which was heart-wrenching to see. It was 3:50 p.m. when we got back to the village. After the rain, all the farm animals had come out to forage. We walked through sheep, goats, and chickens as they strolled through the fields. There was also a herd of cattle in a distance. The villagers were chatting with each other as they sat on the benches outside their huts. It was a tranquil and picturesque scene. I took a good look at everything around me as I knew I would be leaving soon. There was no telling when I would visit Africa again. Back at the motel, we briefly discussed the situation with the Chief Goliath Beetle over dinner. We had looked for it in eastern Ghana, central Ghana, and western Ghana with no signs of its existence. Although there were a handful of records of the Chief Goliath Beetle from Ghana, they were half-a-century old and no longer applicable today. Locations included Accra, Elmina, and Kumasi. We had already visited these places and they were completely deforested. Furthermore, whether the Chief Goliath Beetle existed in Ghana in the first place was questionable. It was entirely possible that specimens of the Chief Goliath Beetle were brought to the seaports of Elmina and Accra by seamen and merchants who had previously made stops in Liberia and Ivory Coast. When they were sold or exchanged at Ghana¡¦s seaports, the new owners documented them as Ghanaian! These mistakes frequently happened in the past. As a matter of fact, when the Chief Goliath Beetle was described in 1789, the author thought it was from Latin America and gave it the scientific name Goliathus cacicus, which was derived from ¡§Cacique,¡¨ Spanish for Latin American tribal chief. Should we continue our search in Ghana, or should we shift our attention to Ivory Coast? All specimens of the Chief Goliath Beetle from 1980 to 2012 had come exclusively from Ivory Coast, with Abidjan and San Pedro being the two biggest localities. Obviously, we would not be visiting Ivory Coast anytime soon. A lot of planning would have to go into it. But at this point, it appeared we would have to start thinking about visiting Ivory Coast. Judging from the information we had gathered on this trip, winter seemed to be the best time to find the Chief Goliath Beetle; when we were in Ankasa, all the signs showed the beetle season was November through January. As a matter of fact, the last known specimens of the Chief Goliath Beetle were captured in Ivory Coast in December of 2011. If we were to visit Ivory Coast, the most likely time would be winter of 2017. The next morning, we returned to the elementary school to meet the little girl who had a Royal Goliath Beetle for us. We could see her waiting for us from a distance. She eagerly came up to us and handed us a plastic bag with a knot. David untied the knot to reveal a medium-sized male Royal Goliath Beetle preserved in Akpeteshie. We thanked her with a nice tip. It was recess and many children were singing in the schoolyard. We watched them for a while before continuing our hike in the Forest of Djin Djin. We didn¡¦t see any Goliath Beetles yesterday because it was rainy. Interestingly, although today was sunny with temperatures between 26 and 28 Degrees Celsius, which were great conditions for Goliath Beetles to take flight, we still didn¡¦t see any today. Granted, we took it easy and didn¡¦t check all the Oba Trees today. If we had, we probably would have seen some Goliath Beetles. We revisited David¡¦s old residence that was deep in the Forest of Djin Djin. When we got there, we were surrounded by a familiar fragrance. The lemon-flavored guavas were in peak season. Not only were the fruits in abundance, they were also in maximum ripeness. We were thirst and sweaty. What better to quench our thirst and replenish our vitamins than these amazing fruits? I picked a big one off the tree and gave it a gently squeeze. The soft, but not squishy, texture revealed the timing was perfect. I eagerly bit into the thick and smooth flesh coupled with citrus flavor and sweetness. It was intriguing, rejuvenating, and one of the highlights of the day. After some rest, we headed back to the village. It was 5:04 p.m. when we arrived at the village. We decided to walk to the nearest town for no particular reason. It took a little over one hour to get there on foot. When we got there, it was filled with smoke and barbeque flavor. We walked to the roadside vendor that was doing the cooking. He was grilling beef and beef intestines. They smelled absolutely fantastic, not to mention it was dinner time. Normally, we stayed away from street food to minimize the risk of diarrhea. This trip was almost over and we weren¡¦t looking for the Chief Goliath Beetle anymore. It wouldn¡¦t matter if we got diarrhea now. Q-san and I decided to be adventurous. Andy had always had a sensitive stomach so he would hold back. The beef tasted great, but it was the beef intestines that fascinated me. The small intestines were grilled until the outside was crispy. The seasoning and texture were perfect. The most memorable part was when the intestinal juices oozed out when I bit down, which were fermented grass slush. The content was creamy with mild sweetness, similar to yogurt. I was so impressed that I ordered a second portion. Mohammed met us at the market and drove us back to the motel. I never developed diarrhea. The experience was totally worth it. July 29, 2016 came, our last full day in the Forest of Djin Djin. It was a day of mixed feelings. On the one hand, we were saddened that our trip was coming to an end with the certain fate of no Chief Goliath Beetle, a failed expedition, essentially. On the other hand, we felt a sense of relief as we were exhausted and covered in insect bites. It was sunny most of the day with temperatures between 26 and 28 degrees Celsius. We hiked through all the trails and checked all the Oba Trees we knew. Not surprisingly, we saw several Royal Goliath Beetles today, but all of them were on giant Oba Trees beyond the reach of our insect rods. There was no emotional rollercoaster because we had already obtained several Royal Goliath Beetles on this trip, not to mention we already got a breeding colony of the Royal Goliath Beetle established back home. We powered through all the trails and came out of the forest by 4 p.m. We were covered in sweat. I could literally easily wring sweat out of my clothes. David told us that he would try to catch those Royal Goliath Beetles at night. Goliath Beetles didn¡¦t typically fly at night as the temperatures dropped. He would hit the nearby branches with a catapult. The vibrations would cause the beetles to let go of their hold and fall to the ground. We returned to the motel a bit early to do some final packing and laundry so that it would dry by tomorrow morning. Although we didn¡¦t find the Chief Goliath Beetle, we still had much to be thankful for, such as health and safety. We met David at 8:30 a.m. the next day. He told us the Goliath Beetles had already flown away when he checked the Oba Trees at night. We all gave him a big hug and some gift money. Like last year, we left behind our tall rubber boots, shoes, and common daily commodities, which were highly treasured by the villagers. Then we departed for Accra in flip-flops. As Mohammed drove away, I turned my head to the back. With great sadness, I saw David and the Forest of Djin Djin become smaller and smaller. I didn¡¦t turn back around until David completely disappeared from my view. We had no idea when we would visit the Forest of Djin Djin again. At 1:45 p.m., we stopped for gasoline and lunch. We had the timeless fried chicken and fried rice with Shito. We brought the Goliath Beetles into the restaurant too because we would not want them to overheat in the car. Again, they were a novelty even to the locals and drew many exclamations. Sometime in the late afternoon, we arrived at the Volta River for the fourth time. Once more, I saw that island with lush forests in a distance. I couldn¡¦t help but wonder if the Chief Goliath Beetle lived there. It would be such a pity to miss it like that. ¡§I guess I will never find out,¡¨ I murmured to myself. At 7:31 p.m., we arrived in Accra. We decided to check in to the motel, unpack, and feed the Goliath Beetles first before going to dinner. I carefully unpacked the Goliath Beetles and fed them slices of fresh banana. I did not close the lids because I wanted them to enjoy fresh air after travelling all day in small containers. It was already 8:41 p.m. when we got to the restaurant. This time we had something different. We had some fried peanuts, chicken kebabs, lamb kebabs, beef kebabs, and fresh mangoes. We also tried a new drink called Alvaro, which was another non-alcoholic beer. The version I tried had pear flavor added to it. We didn¡¦t stay too long as it was getting late. Shortly after eating, we returned to the motel. When I opened the door, a chemical fragrance rushed to my nose. At first, I didn¡¦t think too much of it, albeit it was a bit odd. After a few seconds, my memory cells awakened and a chill went down my spine. Oh my god, it was pesticide. While we were gone, the motel staff out of courtesy came into our rooms to spray pesticides to kill mosquitoes. I ran to my Goliath Beetles. They were all dead. Things could not be worse. Not only had I not found the Chief Goliath Beetle, I had also lost the Royal Goliath Beetle. The second expedition had become a total failure. I was going home with absolutely nothing. I was devastated. I sat on the bed reflecting on the second expedition to West Africa. There was so much hope and anticipation prior to departure. After all, we succeeded in 2015. There was no reason the same couldn¡¦t happen in 2016. But then day by day, the dream of rediscovering the Chief Goliath Beetle drifted further away. I couldn¡¦t even keep the consolation prize of the Royal Goliath Beetle. Would I ever find the Chief Goliath Beetle? Would the puzzle of Nickerl¡¦s Beetle ever get solved? I was saddened and exhausted, which made me fall asleep pretty quickly. I didn¡¦t set any alarm for the next morning. There was no need. My flight would not depart until 11:15 p.m. I could sleep all day if I wanted to. I was greatly disappointed again when I woke up the next morning realizing the deaths of the Royal Goliath Beetles by pesticide were not just a nightmare. It was a hard reality to swallow. Luckily, I was comforted by the fact that a robust breeding colony of the Royal Goliath Beetle had already been established back home. Had the pesticide incident happened in 2015, I would have cried my eyes out and probably had a heart attack. We didn¡¦t do much for the rest of the day. We even had time to take an afternoon nap. Originally, we had set time aside to go to the Ghana Forestry Commission Wildlife Division to apply for export permits to export Goliath Beetles. But now there were no Goliath Beetles to export as they had succumbed to pesticide. We arrived at the airport at 8:03 p.m. We had our last fried chicken and fried rice with Shito at the airport restaurant. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Mac went back to Canada. Andy and Q-san went back to Taiwan. I went back to the United States. It was not clear when we would meet again. As the plane took off, I looked at Accra one last time through the window. A lot of planning had gone into our second expedition. I had paid several hundred dollars extra to fly to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York because it was one of the designated ports by the United States Fish and Wildlife Services for wildlife importation. Flying there also added extra travelling time for the trip. But all the planning and efforts went down the drain. We didn¡¦t find the Chief Goliath Beetle. We lost the Royal Goliath Beetle. I sat pitifully in New York waiting for the flight back to North Carolina. I could only imagine how happy I would be if we had found the Chief Goliath Beetle. It felt surreal to be home. The buildings, the streets, the climate, the plants, the smell in the air, everything was different from tropical West Africa, which my senses had been acclimatized to. I unlocked my apartment door with some apprehension and went straight to the beetle room to see if the Royal Goliath Beetles were alright. My pet sitter Rebecca had done a fantastic job; all the beetles were alive and well. I could not afford to lose this breeding colony. It was back to the drawing board. I needed to figure out exactly where the Chief Goliath Beetle still existed. I would not make a third expedition without first knowing its precise whereabouts. So far, we had explored every location purported to have the Chief Goliath Beetle in Ghana, except one: Bia National Park. I first read about it in 2014 in a scientific publication. It was documented that two specimens of the Chief Goliath Beetle were collected in 2011 in Bia National Park. There was also an Internet photo of a Chief Goliath Beetle purportedly from Debiso, a town adjacent Bia National Park. We never visited Bia National Park because it was simply too far away. Plus, it didn¡¦t fit the classical habitat of the Chief Goliath Beetle: coastal forest. Bia National Park was approximately 200 kilometers from the coast. The driving time from Accra to Bia National Park would be twelve hours. At this point, my options were boiled down to two: visit Ivory Coast or Bia National Park. If the presence of the Chief Goliath Beetle in Bia National Park could be definitively confirmed, then I would still prefer Ghana because there was no language barrier. We had plenty of time to do more research. The earliest we would revisit West Africa would be December of 2017 because we had already discovered on the second expedition that the best season for the Chief Goliath Beetle was winter and we also needed time to save up for the third expedition. Our lives resumed normalcy. Andy returned to pet industry. Q-san returned to vegetable trading. I returned to veterinary medicine. In the meantime, we kept an eye out and an ear open for any information regarding the whereabouts of the Chief Goliath Beetle. Time flew. A year went by. In 2017, Mac and a group of European entomologists returned to Ankasa in July. Unfortunately, they did not see any Goliath Beetles. However, one of the entomologists got in touch with the entomologist who found the two Chief Goliath Beetles in Bia National Park in 2011. The time of collection was December. This confirmed the location and time of our third expedition to West Africa. December was just around the corner. We needed to get the ball rolling. Sadly, Q-san expressed his deepest regret that he would not be able to join the third expedition because he was still in debt. Each expedition to West Africa cost approximately $5,000 USD per person. We paid for everything out of our own pocket. We preferred not to rely on any donations or grants because we enjoyed complete autonomy and freedom. There was another challenge. Mac would be in South Africa in December with another group of scientists and would not be able to join us. Furthermore, travelling in December was always risky because flights were prone to cancellations due to severe weather conditions. But nothing would stop Andy and me. We had gone too far to stop now. The Royal Goliath Beetle was standing by. All we needed was one male Chief Goliath Beetle and we could solve the mystery of Nickel¡¦s Beetle forever. I contacted Ebenezer Alhassan of Koforidua Ecotourism again and he would be our guide for the third expedition to West Africa. On August 10, 2017, I bought my tickets. I would visit West Africa for the third time from December 12 to December 29 and spend Christmas in Bia National Park. There was no room for error for the third expedition. Everything had to be meticulously planned out. I paid Ebenezer to visit Bia National Park in advance from November 21 to November 25 so that we could get a solid idea of what the area was like and prepare accordingly. One of the most important things was lodging. The nearest lodging was in Debiso. Ebenezer found a perfect one. It was right across from the police station and had a backup generator. Ebenezer also advised that a powerful four-wheel drive was a must. It was the rainy season. Many roads had turned into mud. The bus that Ebenezer was on got stuck in the mud for an hour. All the passengers had to get off and push the bus in the rain! While Ebenezer was in Debiso, he also passed out photographs of the Chief Goliath Beetle to the villagers and asked them to spread the news. If we got lucky, another ¡§David¡¨ would be waiting for us when we arrived. I started paying close attention to the weather forecast one month out. To my relief, it didn¡¦t look like there was going to be snow around the time of my departure. But no calculation was perfect. There was a big scare just one day before my departure. The flight twenty four hours before mine got cancelled due to a snow storm in London. I thought for sure my flight would be cancelled, too. If multiple flights got cancelled, I might not be able to get a seat until days later, which would greatly affect my schedule, or even terminate my third expedition. I was greatly concerned because I had waited one and a half years for this trip. I didn¡¦t want to wait another year, not to mention all the lodging and car rental had already been paid in full in advance and the ongoing deforestation in West Africa. The chances of finding the Chief Goliath Beetle diminished with each passing day. I checked the flight status online frequently and prayed for the best. Thankfully, the snow subsided in time and my flight took off as scheduled. When I arrived in London, I could see some snow that had been pushed to the sides of the runway. I crossed my fingers that it wouldn¡¦t snow anymore. After waiting anxiously for six hours and thirty five minutes at London Heathrow Airport, Flight AA6415 finally took off for Accra. Now I was in the clear. The third expedition would materialize. But would the weather be good for my return flight? That was a worry for another day. For now, I would just focus on finding the Chief Goliath Beetle. After another six hours and thirty minutes, Accra¡¦s orange city lights entered my eyes through the windows. Alas, we met again, the mesmerizing tropical West Africa. I arrived in Accra for the third time on December 12, 2017 at 8:55 pm. I navigated through the airport with ease like an old horse that knew the way. The immigration officer was exceptionally friendly with a huge smile. He was very pleased that I chose to spend Christmas in Ghana. It was a foggy night about 29 degrees Celsius. For some reason, the luggage took one hour to come out on the conveyer belt. By the time Ebenezer took me to the motel in Koforidua, it was already midnight. In addition to Ebenezer, I also met his brothers Sylvester and Asamoah. We would all be going to Bia National Park. Andy was supposed to have arrived a few hours before me. However, there was a delay in his visa so he had to take a later flight. At one point, there was a possibility that Andy might not be able to join us. I woke up at 7:30 a.m. the next day to take a shower. Shockingly, our motel had hot water! It was Ebenezer¡¦s surprise for me because he knew how much I complained about cold showers. I enjoyed it as much as I could because I knew Bia had no hot water. After the unexpected and rejuvenating hot shower, I went to the dining hall for breakfast, also the first meal of the third expedition. It was toasted bread, omelet, and hot chocolate. After breakfast, Ebenezer took me to the bank to exchange some of my US dollars for Ghanaian cedis. It was 9:26 a.m. There was a market nearby. The streets were busy with grocery shoppers getting ready to make lunch and students in uniforms on their way to school. It was good to be back in Africa. I frequently thought about it when I was in the US, especially when work got intense. They were two different worlds with different worries. Back home, I worried about work and paying bills. In Africa, I didn¡¦t have to think about work; I just focused on chasing my dream, which was a form of stress nonetheless. Now that I had returned, would it finally give me what I had been looking for in all these years? This time around, I didn¡¦t ask Q-san to get another fortune stick from Xingtian Temple. It had already been another 1.5 years. Surely it was time. We walked around town for a little bit before it was time to pick up Andy from the airport. This was my first winter in Ghana. It was clearly hotter than July. Today¡¦s temperature was about 31 degrees Celsius. I felt good about this third expedition. They said third time¡¦s a charm. We got to the airport at 11:33 a.m. Unlike most airports, Accra¡¦s Kotoka International Airport did not allow any non-passengers to enter the terminal. We had to wait for Andy outside in the heat. Both Andy and I were a lot calmer than in 2015. By now, we knew our way through the airport and Ghana Immigration. There was nothing to worry about. Andy exited the terminal at 12:30 p.m. We gave each other a big long hug. We were really looking forward to the upcoming adventure. We drove back to Koforidua and immediately began preparing for tomorrow¡¦s departure. We bought large quantities of storable foods such as cookies, canned sardines, canned tuna, rice, etc. We also ended up buying many fruits because they all looked so delicious. We bought mangoes, pineapples, bananas, papayas, and oranges. We got all sweaty from the shopping and packing under the winter Ghanaian sun. There was nothing more satisfying than a soothing shower and nice meal afterwards. There was a nice restaurant within walking distance from the motel. We got there at 7:51 p.m. We had fried chicken, fried rice, Shito, and Malta Guinness for the first time in a year and a half. Memories of the good old days came back. We really wished Q-san was here with us. It would be a very early departure tomorrow. We had to leave by 5:30 a.m. as the drive to Bia National Park would be twelve hours or more. I was very excited and feeling optimistic in bed. After all these years of planning and waiting, I felt it was time to go home with some Chief Goliath Beetles! It still boggled my mind that no Chief Goliath Beetle was found in the Ankasa Forest Reserve, despite Mac revisited it in 2017. It had the highest rainfall in all of Ghana and bordered Ivory Coast. It was geographically perfect. It was surprising to me that there were records of the Chief Goliath Beetle in Bia National Park but not Ankasa. But we would go with science. If Bia National Park was where the Chief Goliath Beetle was found, then it was Bia where we would go. On December 14, 2017, we departed Koforidua in darkness. We saw many scenes along the way. There was a very large truck with an overload of charcoal that was bulging out on all sides. I was surprised the tires and road could take such a brutal beating. Sylvester said that was why so many roads had potholes. There was another very large truck carrying old growth timber. These were blatant reminders that deforestation was ongoing. On the lighter note, we drove through an extremely busy market. Anything you could imagine was sold here. It took us a good while to pass through because there were too many shoppers and mobile vendors on the road. At 10:24 a.m., we arrived in Kumasi, Ghana¡¦s second largest city. In the past, it was known as the Garden City due to its lush rainforest. Historic literature had documented Kumasi as a locality for the Chief Goliath Beetle. Whether or not the information was accurate didn't matter anymore. Today, Kumasi was fully developed with absolutely no forest in sight. It was depressing to drive through the former Garden City which potentially harbored the Chief Goliath Beetle in the past. Had I been here a few hundred years earlier, the story might have been different and we might have crossed paths. We experienced heavy traffic in Kumasi. It took us about one hour to drive through it. After we left Kumasi, plant life gradually increased. Metropolis transitioned into grasslands, which eventually transitioned into shrubbery. Along the way, we drove by a sawmill selling lumber on the side of the road. It was difficult to not think about deforestation and the ultimate fate of the Chief Goliath Beetle. Due to the time lost to the traffic congestion in Kumasi, we decided not to stop for lunch. It was a tough decision because we drove by many delicious-looking restaurants! We ended up just eating cookies and snacks in the car. At 3:36 p.m., we came upon a roadside sign for Bia National Park. We were very excited that we were approaching our final destination. I felt an unprecedented amount of optimism because we were going to the right place at the right time. At 4:14 p.m., we finally came upon a forest zone. What was in front of us appeared to be a mature forest with some trees over twenty meters. Although we were still more than an hour away from Bia, I wondered if we could find the Chief Goliath Beetle in this forest. But we didn't have time to check. We needed to get to Bia before dark. We did not want to be stranded in a forest at night. Not long after, we began to see disturbing scenes. Large trucks carrying old growth timber passed us. The trucks were so big and heavy that their tires kicked up clouds of dust intense enough to blur our visibility. With this trend of deforestation, the Chief Goliath Beetle was doomed to extinction. We had got to find it and propagate the species in captivity before it was too late. As I looked around, all the plants on the sides of the road were stained brown. During times of rain, vehicle tires would splash mud as they struggled on this path. This was also where Ebenezer's bus got stranded. We were lucky the road was dry and easy to travel. The traffic to Bia was light. Very few people visited Bia due to its remoteness. Perhaps this allowed the Chief Goliath Beetle to cling on. Finally, after driving more than twelve hours, we arrived at the motel at 5:43 p.m. There were no restaurants in Debiso that served hot meals. We would have to do our own cooking for the entirety of the stay. We came prepared. We had brought a propane burner and kitchenware from Koforidua. For our first meal in Bia, we ate steamed rice, canned tuna, canned beans, canned mushrooms, and fresh pineapple from Koforidua. The temperature today was 33 degrees Celsius, which made the cold shower much more tolerable. My bathroom for the next twelve days was not in the best shape; the doorknob was missing and the toilet seat was heavily fragmented. If not careful, my flesh would be caught in the cracks. But I didn¡¦t care. The only thing on my mind was finding the Chief Goliath Beetle. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and eagerly looked out the window of my room. The first morning of a new place always gave me a sense of mystery and anticipation. It looked right into the backyard of the neighbor. There were quite a few trees in the yard. I saw a big mango tree to the right, an oil palm in the middle, a citrus tree to the left, and a papaya tree to the far left among others. In the middle of the yard was a home made of cement and a tin roof. Next to the home was a small pavilion for cooking with firewood. I wondered what the owner did for a living. Was he a farmer, a shop owner, or something else? Soon afterwards Andy and I met up for breakfast. Our diet in Bia was very simple. For breakfast, we would each have bread, a can of sardine or tuna, a hard-boiled egg, and some fruit (mango, papaya, pineapple, banana, or orange). For lunch, we would each have bread, a can of fish, a hard-boiled egg, and an orange in the jungle. For dinner, we would have steamed rice, stir fried onion with canned sardines, and some fruit. On the other hand, the diet of Ebenezer, Asamoah and Sylvester was much more interesting! They bought dishes from local vendors daily. Although they smelled wonderful and looked delicious, Andy and I were hesitant to try them because they were not freshly cooked foods with a high temperature. Andy and I could not risk developing diarrhea early on the expedition. I said to myself that if we found the Chief Goliath Beetle, then I would try all the local foods in Debiso holding nothing back. After breakfast, we met up with Vincent, a park ranger from Bia National Park. He had arranged an activity for us before officially visiting the national park. He instructed us to buy some bread and follow his motorcycle. After driving through some dirt roads, we arrived at a small lake. We got out of the car and followed him to the edge of the lake. I was not sure what we were doing. I looked at the lake but couldn¡¦t see anything because the water was murky. Then he threw some bread into the lake. Suddenly, countless catfish came to feed on the bread. We also threw in some bread. All the catfish in the lake came to the surface. It became a feeding frenzy and the catfish were splashing water everywhere. I was very confused. Bia was a remote rural area with limited resources. Catfish were an excellent source of protein. How come these catfish didn¡¦t get eaten by the villagers? Vincent said these catfish had magical powers and were worshipped by the locals. Whoever ate one would be plagued by very bad luck. He brought us here to pray for good luck before we set foot in the primitive jungles. I was all about following local customs. I fed the catfish all the bread we had and prayed for safety and good luck. I, however, did not specifically pray for the Chief Goliath Beetle because I didn¡¦t want to appear greedy. From all the fables I had read as a child, gods and fairies never granted greedy people what they desired. With the catfish fed and catfish god hopefully content, we headed for Bia National Park¡¦s headquarters. We were greeted by Richard, the head of Bia National Park. He welcomed us and gave us a rundown of its history. Most notable was Bia National Park used to be the best location to study chimpanzees in West Africa. Through years of habituation, the chimps were trained to be not afraid of humans. This allowed researchers to reliably find them and study them up close. But all this changed during a civil unrest. Habituated chimpanzees were killed off during the civil conflict. Today, chimpanzees in Bia National Park were extremely elusive and difficult to study. Richard said we might see sleeping nests, but the chances of an actual chimpanzee sighting would be close to zero. After we paid our admission fees, Richard gave us the green light to officially enter the much anticipated Bia National Park. The European entomologist who personally collected the two Chief Goliath Beetles in Bia National Park in 2011 gave us some advice prior to our departure for Africa. There were a few camps within Bia National Park. In between these camp sites were dirt roads. He said the best strategy would be checking the trees very carefully along these dirt roads. This was how he discovered the two female specimens of the Chief Goliath Beetle. Unfortunately, it was not clear on what species of tree the two specimens were found. However, the tree was believed to be only five to six meters tall, which would be well within the reach of our 14-meter insect rods. The drive from Debiso to the entrance of Bia National Park was approximately twenty five minutes. When we got there, our spirit fell from heaven to hell. There were no dirt roads. Right by the entrance was a cabin in which stationed one park ranger. Today five eagerly came to greet us as they got word that visitors were coming, which they rarely got. I asked them where the dirt roads were. Due to lack of visitors and funding, the dirt roads had been completely engulfed by vegetation over the past six years. The general contour of the roads could still be made out, but they were buried in dense bushes. We were utterly unprepared for this devastating news, which shattered our original plan. What were we going to do now? One of the rangers asked us what we were here for. We showed them a photograph of a pair of the Chief Goliath Beetle. Shockingly, one of the rangers said ¡§Goliathus cacicus.¡¨ What the fuck?! He knew the Chief Goliath Beetle by its Latin scientific name! Then he said, ¡§Claude Joly.¡¨ Yes! The European entomologist who visited Bia National Park in 2011 was Claude Joly. Wellington, the name of the park ranger, was exactly right. He knew exactly what he was talking about. I was stunned beyond words. It was truly an emotional rollercoaster. One moment I was devastated and the next I was overjoyed. I immediately asked Wellington if he remembered where the Chief Goliath Beetle was found. He said yes! The location was approximately eight kilometers from the entrance of Bia National Park. Andy and I were so ecstatic. The moment we had been waiting for in all these years was finally coming. This time we would go home with the Chief Goliath Beetle. Eight kilometers was a lot to walk, especially with water and equipment, not to mention all the vegetation in the way. Round trip would be sixteen kilometers! We looked at the road by the entrance. It didn¡¦t look good. But we had a four-wheel drive. We could probably do it. We decided to drive through the undergrowth. Wellington opened the park gate and I felt like we were driving into Jurassic Park! For the next few hours, our vehicle drove through thick shrubbery. We could constantly hear the branches beating against all sides of our car. However, we were oblivious that the drive shaft under the car was simultaneously reeling in plants. Suddenly, Andy alerted that his seat was getting very hot. Just when everybody was wondering what the hell was going on, the car started to smoke! Everybody freaked out, jumped out, and ran away from the car. We watched from a distance in fear that the car might explode or something. There was white smoke coming out of the bottom of the car. Nat (our driver) and Wellington put out the smoke by frantically squirting precious bottled water onto the bottom of our four-wheel drive. As it turned out, the rotating drive shaft had reeled in and trapped many plants; the constant friction eventually set them on fire! After the car finally cooled down, we spent the next hour pulling out as many plants as we could from the drive shaft and wheels. It was a difficult task. We had to crawl under the car to do so. We were sandwiched between the vehicle and the prickly scrubs. The eight-kilometer target was not too far away at this point. We decided to walk there. It was mostly sunny today with a temperature of 33 degrees Celsius, clearly warmer than in July. December appeared to be the season for insects in southwestern Ghana as butterflies were ubiquitous. Things looked promising. Along the way, we came across a gorgeous swamp teeming with all kinds of water plants and surrounded by tall trees. We stopped to admire its beauty and took photographs. Suddenly, Wellington looked nervous and told us to get going. As I looked around, there were fresh large dungs. They came from forest elephants. Wellington later explained to us that forest elephants were known to attack and kill people in Ghana. Finally, at 2:42 p.m., we reached a small hill. Wellington said the two female specimens of the Chief Goliath Beetle were collected on this hill. I could feel the adrenaline rush. My heart started to pound. All the years of waiting was finally coming to an end. Wellington took us to the tree where the Chief Goliath Beetles were found. Andy and I were so nervous. We checked everywhere but there was nothing. Unfortunately, this tree did not have an active sap flow so no insects were attracted by it. Needless to say, we were very disappointed. The tree was not a Vernonia tree, either. Perhaps the Chief Goliath Beetle drank tree sap from multiple species of trees. There was another possibility. It had been six years. Wellington said he could not be one hundred percent sure that this was the tree. It was getting late and we were very far from the entrance of the park. Returning safely would be the top priority now. We knew the car would trap more plants on the way back. However, we had already moistened the bottom of the car, so it shouldn¡¦t initiate another fire. After a few hours of driving, we finally made it out of Bia National Park. But we were still twenty five minutes away from Debiso. It was 5:30 p.m. and starting to get dark. Instead of stopping and removing all the trapped plants, Nat decided that we should not get stuck in the dark in remote Africa. He sped up and headed for Debiso. After about twenty minutes, Nat kept looking at the rear view mirror. His facial expression looked very strange. Suddenly, he slammed on the break and told everyone to jump out of the car. I had no idea what was going on. It was very confusing and scary. As I rushed out in the African darkness, there was a trail of sparks on the dirt road! Our car was on fire again! But there was no water left. By the grace of God, there was a pond next to us. We all ran to the pond to fill our empty water bottles like gazelles desperate for water. While we were doing so, images of crocodile attacks plagued my head. Thankfully, they didn¡¦t materialize and we extinguished the burning plants trapped under the car fairly quickly. For the next hour, with our cellphones as flashlights, we crammed ourselves under the car and patiently cleared the car of tangled plants. Some of the vegetation had already been turned into charcoal. As we worked, we could hear mosquitoes buzzing around us. I prayed none of them carried malaria. After we were all done and turned off the flashlights, we were pleasantly surprised that in addition to mosquitoes, we were also surrounded by fireflies. Without light pollution, the stars and fireflies were a sight to behold. Our first full day in Bia did not go well. Not only were all the dirt roads in the national park gone, we nearly burned down the rental car twice! What were we going to do for the rest of the expedition? The original plan of exploring all the dirt roads had gone down the drain. Before the third expedition, I had done extensive research on the distribution of the Chief Goliath Beetle. One locality that repeatedly appeared on collection labels was Akoupe, Ivory Coast. It was only seventy kilometers from the southwestern tip of Bia National Park. That was another reason that convinced me to visit Bia. If Akoupe had the Chief Goliath Beetle, then Bia National Park must also have it. After dinner, Andy and I decided that we must travel to Akatiso tomorrow, a town situated on the southwestern tip of Bia National Park. People there must know the Chief Goliath Beetle. Akatiso was an extremely interesting town. The eastern half belonged to Ghana. The western half belonged to Ivory Coast. It literally sat right on the boarder of the two countries. Prior to our arrival, Ebenezer had already passed out photographs of the Chief Goliath Beetle to the residents of Akatiso. A few days after his visit, a woman called Ebenezer and told him that she knew the Chief Goliath Beetle. Now that we could no longer drive in Bia National Park safely, this gave us a reason to visit Akatiso sooner than later. On December 16, 2017 at 7:54 a.m., we left Debiso for Akatiso. The distance was only 40.2 kilometers, but it took us approximately two hours to arrive. The entire route was dirt road with many potholes. We had to swerve like a snake to avoid the defects. It was 10:07 a.m. when we arrived in Akatiso. Asamoah called the woman who told Ebenezer that she knew the Chief Goliath Beetle. She told us that she was preparing lunch for her family and therefore could not come to meet us. Instead, she wanted us to go to her home. Shockingly, she said she had a Chief Goliath Beetle for us! However, her home was in western Akatiso, which belonged to Ivory Coast! We looked around. The border was nothing but a short wooden fence with an open gate. Villagers crossed the border as if it didn¡¦t exist. No immigration officers were seen. The locals told us it was no problem. One of them even volunteered to guide us to the woman¡¦s home. Just when we were about to cross the border, a Ghanaian immigration officer stepped out of a nearby hut and stopped us. Then he checked our passports to make sure that everything was in order. We were very lucky that the immigration officer stopped us in time. Had we crossed the border and been caught by an Ivorian immigration officer, we would have been taken to jail for illegal entry as we didn¡¦t have any visa for Ivory Coast. Alternatively, had we been stopped after we returned to Ghana, we would also have been taken to jail because our Ghana visa was single-entry only. Things definitely hadn¡¦t been going well. On the first full day in Bia we almost burned down the car. On the second day we almost went to jail. We decided to wait for the woman on the Ghanaian side of Akatiso. We decided to use this time to pass out more photographs of the Chief Goliath Beetle. We came across a popular grocery store with good business. The name of the owner was Joseph. He allowed us to post photographs of the Chief Beetle on his door so that residents would know that we were looking for it. We also paid him to use the community microphones to announce that we are looking for the Chief Goliath Beetle. We were doing the best we could with the resources we had. A few hours later, the woman informed us that she was coming. I was extremely excited but reserved at the same time. After all, the experience in Mesomago taught me that misidentification was entirely possible. Finally, the women crossed the border. She was perhaps in her forties and wearing a white top, a yellow skirt, and sandals while holding a small plastic container. I assumed that was where the beetle was. My heart was pounding so hard when I peeked into the container. It was a female rhinoceros beetle. Some females of the Chief Goliath Beetle were brown and I could easily see how the villagers could confuse the two. We thanked her efforts and gave her a tip. We decided to spend the rest of the day distributing photographs of the Chief Goliath Beetle. As we drove back from Akatiso to Debiso, we handed out photographs in every village along the way. Hopefully someone would call us with good news before the third expedition ran out of time. But bad news came one after another. Later I found out that there were two Akoupe in Ivory Coast. The one with an abundance of the Chief Goliath Beetle was near Abidjan. It was about 5 p.m. when we returned to Debiso. We spent the rest of the daylight hours passing out photographs of the Chief Goliath Beetle to the local villagers. Very quickly, we were surrounded by children, who had never seen foreigners. We came prepared. Andy and I started to take out mini chocolate bars from our backpacks. Not surprisingly, these children were getting their first taste of chocolate, despite cacao plantations having a heavy presence in Bia. The children also had a strong interest in Andy¡¦s smartphone. Andy made a recording of them and played the video back to them. Seeing the big smiles on their faces made me temporarily forget about my worries.
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