Work, Work, Work

I'm safe and set up in Cape Coast, work is great so far, I feel like I'm getting a lot done and adding a lot of value to the projects I've started. I got out to Kakum in the back of a pickup the other day and met the staff there, and am about to start working closely with an accountant named Prince on how to segment park pricing to maximize revenue. Even though western foreigners make up only around 20% of the visitors to Kakum, they are responsible for the overwhelming majority of its revenue. By catering the business to Western foreigners and offering prices in between Ghanain and "foreign" entrance prices at the park for ECOWAS residents (non-Ghanain West Africans), I think the park will earn 10 - 30% more revenue on entrance fees alone, and attract more high margin clients who will pay a premium for western services. For western tourists, the entrance fees are a pittance, and can easily be raised, few if any who brave a $1000 flight are going to not go to a national park over a dollar or less.

Once we get them in the park, a basic example of "western services" would be selling candy bars. If you charge 1 GHC (around 70 cents) for a candy bar, no Ghanain in their right mind is going to buy one, and no western tourist would think twice if they were hungry and didn't want to sit down for a big meal. 1 GHC for a candy bar is somewhere around an 80% markup for the park. That money can go toward....

Removing litter. Nothing of what I've seen at Kakum has driven me more off the wall than litter. Ghanains litter. Everywhere. Even in the middle of a beautiful national park. Everybody tolerates it, and all of the westerners I've spoken to are appalled at the litter situation. If you remove the litter, you remove the issue, you employ someone locally, and you improve the quality of everything while creating another much needed job. My boss and I are convinced that the changes I'm suggesting are going to bring more money to the park. My only request so far is that part of that money be spent on cleaning it.

Another major problem facing the park is the dearth of information available online. Before this week there was no easily available information on Kakum National Park on the internet with correct prices, contact information, or maps to get there. By contacting a few websites, re-writing and completely re-linking the Wikipedia, Wikitravel, Google Maps, and other pages to Kakum, we've already begun to make the park more visible on the internet. There are two or three sloppy sites out there with mediocre information, but now the good stuff is rising to the top of major search bars.

Beyond the actual work, being downtown during the day is great, I work in the old Colonial Administration building and am figuring out where to go for lunch, how to act in an African office, and when I'm doing too much. Even compared to working in Madrid, this is far and away the most relaxed office environment I could ever imagine, and while having everyone come and go as they please isn't efficient at all, its really, really nice from a lifestyle perspective.