Culture Quest 2022: Ghana & Ivory Coast

For ten days in late December and early January, Lauder Institute students and guests travelled abroad for their annual Lauder Culture Quest (LCQ) adventure, this time to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Lauder Culture Quest is an Amazing Race-style program that enables students to vote each year on a quest location and travel in teams to explore a different region of the world.

LCQ Ghana and Ivory Coast began in the vibrant city of Accra. Teams visited Independence Square, the National Museum of Ghana, Oxford Street and Mokola Market, and sampled the local street foods.

The Ghana trip’s highlight was the two nights spent at the Afrochella festival. Afrochella is a music and arts festival that attracts people worldwide to celebrate afrobeats and other African music genres, culture, and fashion. Following the Afrochella festival, students visited Elmina Castle on Cape Coast to learn about the history of the transatlantic slave trade, and toured Kakum National Park.

On New Year’s Day, the teams flew to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, for the second leg of LCQ where they visited Yamoussoukro, Maison d’Akoula, and ecotourism site Domaine Bini Lagune.

Learn more about the 2022 LCQ here.