Making waves in the wrong place

IT'S a mystery why eco-warrior organisation Surfers Against Sewage picked on Guernsey for its latest campaign.

Perhaps it has been starved of publicity since European bureaucrats cleaned up all the West Country beaches.

Guernsey does not need a sewage treatment plant, has nowhere to put one and cannot afford it.

We have numerous Blue Flag beaches, including those used by surfers, which are a testament to the quality of our water.

Local shellfish are among the best in the world, as our brilliant seafood restaurants illustrate amply. Guernsey waters attract foreign fishermen to plunder our scallops, crabs and lobsters, which would not be the case if shellfish were polluted with sewage.

SAS members claim that surfing in Guernsey gives them ear and throat infections. But year-round swimmers have not leapt to support the surfers' claims, not even those who use Havelet Bay, the nearest to our sewage outfall.

The view from a surfboard is bound to be limited, but surely SAS could have raised its horizons slightly.

I was in Ghana, on the beautiful West African coast, when I heard the surfers' demands. They were repeated on a BBC Countryfile programme I had recorded for late-evening listening.

It was a balanced piece, setting out the surfers' views and those of the States. But its very broadcast and the banner campaign waged at ports serving Guernsey must have done serious damage to our tourist industry.

The campaign was outrageous.

Ghana has a beautiful but deadly coastline. It would be an amazing place for surfing holidays except for one horrendous feature: the sea is so heavily polluted that little lives in the water up to a mile offshore.

Every stream and river running into the pounding waves is a thick sludge of sewage, chemicals and heaven knows what else.

On my first morning in a smart tourist beach-hotel my gaze out to sea was countered by the stares of men squatting on rocks performing their morning toilet. There were scores of them hoping that a rising tide would wash away their contribution to the sickening sea.

Nobody enters the water off the capital, Accra. The local dug-out fishing boats are so far out to sea as to be almost invisible. Fishing inshore is pointless.

Worse by far, however, is the effect of the gross pollution on water supplies. Wells dug near the fetid streams and rivers are polluted.

Yet they are the only source of water for thousands of people. Children stand in the stinking streams because it is cooler there. Needless to say, child mortality is high and lifespans among adults low.

So here is my solution to the problems perceived by SAS and the local surfers who must have delighted in the publicity gained at Guernsey's expense. How about starting a fund to pay for sewage treatment and clean water supplies in Ghana?

Success would open a wonderful surfing destination - a tropical climate, palm-topped sandy beaches, rolling surf and happy, healthy people grateful for the aid given.

The States could assist with a £500 levy on every surfboard brought into Guernsey, either on the top of a vehicle or imported for sale locally.

Surfers could then decide if the fund should be spent on a sewage treatment plant in Ghana or Guernsey.

If they chose the latter, SAS could consult local surfers to see who would like the plant in their back yard. Perhaps they could argue to the toss with golfers - Vazon would be an excellent place to put such a plant. Surfers could then gaze upon it with pride as they sped towards the beach, 10 toes curled.

Of course, at say 200 boards a year, the £10,000 raised would mean a wait of about 2,000 years before the facility was ready.

No, helping Ghana would be a better bet for SAS and its misguided followers - go to it.

GHANA is developing a strong eco-tourist industry to compete with The Gambia. Served by scheduled airlines into Accra, it is fast becoming a Mecca for birdwatchers.

There are a range of sites giving access to West African birds in a variety of habitats.

Lagoons on the coast attract large numbers of British and Channel Islands birds that spend the winter there. Terns and waders are the main groups, with exotic herons and marsh-birds thrown in. Top birds for me were collared pratincole, red bishops and a stunning yellow-throated long-claw (a type of lark).

Moving inland, the first reserves within the Guinea rainforest belt appear, including the fabulous Kakum national park, which has a brilliant canopy walkway.

Early morning here means encounters with canopy birds and mammals unsurpassed in Africa, to my knowledge. Great blue turaco - what a stunning bird - black-casqued hornbill and fire-bellied woodpecker topped my list, while spot-nosed monkey and mona monkey were also great to see.

Moving further inland, the climate dries and savannah takes over from rainforest. Safaris are on foot in Mole national park, where standing 70 metres from an elephant while it had a mud bath was a great and novel thrill.

In east Africa, wildlife is watched from vehicles which swarm around any mammal. Birders are looked upon with some contempt - I have even had some dedicated mammal-watchers insist that we do not stop to look at birds.

In Ghana there is little such pressure on the birds or mammals and the experience is far greater as a result.

I am leading a tour there in January and look forward to giving a more extended report on this fabulous country.