-Robert Louis Stevenson-
Today was going to be a pretty cruisy day. As we had 2 nights in Akosombo, we really
only had a visit to the Akosombo Dam this morning and then free time for the
remaining time. We originally only had
one night here, but the itinerary has some ‘flexible’ days included and
feedback from the last tours that came through we are better off having an
additional night here rather than at some other place down the track which I
don’t know the name of. After seeing
this place in the daylight and having one of the best showers since leaving
Nairobi 4 days ago, I am all for an additional day here. Breakfast this morning was my team again
‘Cooking with Gas’ and on the menu we had scrambled eggs and toast. It wasn’t until this morning when we got up,
unpacked the table and stove and popped on the kettle just how much you take
for granted having a cook on your crew and appreciating what time they have to
get up to make sure that the kettle has boiled by the time you get up and how
long it actually takes to feed a number of people off a 2 plate gas cooker. I always knew that these people (Liz, Simon,
Sue and Gray) did an amazing job, but when it takes nearly 45 minutes to boil a
kettle, it reminds you of the hours that is put into preparing your meals while
on the road. We had toast and eggs on a
plate within 50 minutes and the coffee/tea was not far behind that to feed the
group and again, like dinner last night I think that Cooking with Gas has set a
high standard for team 2 tonight which is Andy and Pat.
After breakfast, we had to pack away the kitchen and we
were on the road at 9.50am for our tour of the Akosombo Dam. The short drive to the Volta River Authority
Centre only took 15 minutes and we waited a further 20 minutes while Sam ran in
to organize a guide to take us out to the actual dam. While we were waiting Patty spotted some
girls signing and you could just see the light in her eyes as she busted out of
the truck to say hello. It really was a
sight to see her interacting with people and it made you appreciate exactly
what you do have and for hearing to be lost I cannot imagine a world without
music. It was a buzz to see her so happy
and she bought the girls over to say hi and one was sporting an envelope asking
for donations and stating on the envelope that just because they were deaf
didn’t mean that they could sit idle and were raising money for them to buy
their own sewing machines. I’m happy to
report that everyone was happy to contribute and I wish the girls all the
best.
At 10.25am Sam returned with a guide called Nat, and Nat
would be showing us the Akosombo Dam and a little background information on the
project. The Akosombo Dam (also referred to as the Akosombo Hydroelectric Project), is a hydroelectric
dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority. The construction of
the dam flooded part of the Volta River Basin, and the subsequent creation of Lake Volta.
Lake Volta is the world's largest man-made lake, covering 8,502 square kilometers,
which is 3.6% of Ghana's land area. The
primary purpose of the Akosombo Dam was to provide electricity for the aluminum industry and was called "the largest
single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana." Occupying the central part of Ghana, the
Volta Basin covers about 45 percent of the nation's total land surface.
The dam was conceived in 1915 by geologist Albert Ernest Kitson, but no plans were
drawn until the 1940s. The development
of the Volta River Basin was proposed in 1949, but
because there was not sufficient funds, the American company Volta Aluminum Company (Valco) loaned money to Ghana so that the
dam could be constructed. The estimated total cost of the
project, in its entirety, was estimated at $258 million and in May 1960,
the Ghana government called for tenders for construction of the hydroelectric
dam. In 1961 an Italian consortium, Impregilo which had just completed the Kariba Dam,
won the contract. They carried out the dredging of the river bed, dewatering of
the channel and completed the dam a month earlier than scheduled in despite
flooding of the Volta River in 1963 that delayed work for over three months.
Between 1961 and 1966, 28 staff of Impregilo died during the construction of the
dam. The dam necessitated the relocation of about 80,000 people, that represented
1% of the population and people of 700 villages were relocated into
52 resettlement villages two years prior to the lake's completion.
The dam is a 660 m long and 114 m high
rock-fill embankment
dam. It has a base width of 366 m and a structural volume of
7,900,000 m3. The reservoir created by the dam, Lake Volta, has a
capacity of 148 km3 and a surface area of 8,502 km2. The lake is
400 km2 long. The dam's power plant contains six 170 MW Francis
turbines and each turbine is
supplied with water via a 112–116 m long and 7.2 m diameter penstock with a maximum of 68.8 m of hydraulic
head afforded. The dam provides electricity to Ghana and its
neighboring West African countries, including Togo and Benin. Initially 20% of
Akosombo Dam's electric output (serving 70% of national demand) was provided to
Ghanaians in the form of electricity, the remaining 80% was generated for the
American-owned Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO). The Ghana Government was
compelled, by contract, to pay for over 50% of the cost of Akosombo’s
construction, but the country was allowed only 20% of the power generated. Some
commentators are concerned that this is an example of neo-colonialism.
In recent years the production from the VALCO plant has declined with the vast
majority of additional capacity in Akosombo used to service growing domestic demand.
We got to walk along the top of the dam as Nat spoke,
which was pretty cool. The last BIG dam
that I had been to was Itapu Dam in Brazil last year and we got to tour inside
the facilities there for a gander but we didn’t have that here and looking at
it, even though it is the world’s largest manmade lake, it was a quarter of the
size of the Brazilian one that I had toured.
After getting the run down, getting some photos and walking over
halfway, we turned around to head back to the truck. We dropped Nat of back at headquarters and
with a tip and a wave we were on our way back to camp arriving at 11.45am. Cooking with Gas was on its final serve of
meal at lunch today at 1pm. So in the
meantime people got books, some sorted bags and I took my computer to the bar
and bought an icy cold coke and started to pump out a blog. I know I have to keep on top of them because
if I don’t before I know days will pass and then I’ll get behind and I
definitely don’t want that. As it always
happens, you are sitting trying to blog and people come over for a chat and
then I have buckley's of getting anything done, which doesn’t worry me so much
about the blog time rather than the battery life of my notebook. This little laptop has done this traveler
proud. I bought her before my world
odyssey trip back in 2010 for a whooping price of 220AUD and there was a cash
back of 50AUD, so for 180AUD she has been to every continent, experienced all
sorts of temperatures and dust and is still going strong on this trip. I only get about 2 hours battery out of the
old gal now, so when she is on I try and work as fast as I can as I never know
when my next charge will be coming from.
Lunch was to be ready at 1pm. I asked the bar ladies if I could charge my
laptop during lunch and I was told yes but it would cost me 3GHS (1.50AUD) and
even though I think it was overpriced, I agreed and asked her to keep an eye on
it and I would be back. Lunch today
consisted of sandwiches and the left over pasta from the spaghetti was turned
into tuna pasta with tuna, tin corn and onions (Sue would have been very
proud). We also had sandwich ham, but as
the fridge on the truck has not been working properly I personally thought the
ham smelt a little dicey, and I do have a sensitive nose when it comes to meat,
but everyone else thought it was okay, so we still popped it out, but I didn’t
have any and I think part of it was just in my head eating meat that hadn’t
been refrigerated for 24 hours just didn’t sound right but it all went down a
treat, nobody was sick from Cooking with Gas’s first serve of meals and now we
could relax for the next 3 days before our turn rocks around again!! Over lunch Sam ran through the jobs that had
to be done on the truck for the following weeks and we were asked to put our
names forward for them. I jumped on the
security of the truck which involves making sure all the windows are closed
when we arrive into places, the door is locked or you allocated that to the
last person and I watch as the bags get unloaded in cities. I am also the 2nd keeper of the
safe key as you always need 2 people to access the safe on the truck and I am
also a back locker helper along with Patrick to load and unload the bags and
the tents. As there is a small group we
all have numerous jobs, but it is a system that will start to flow in a few
days when everyone gets the hang of their new duties.
The afternoon was free and I headed back to the
pub/reception to continue my blog and for another 2 hours I tapped away. Again today was hot as an oven and the
humidity felt like 200%, so when Zoe mentioned that they were going to go for a
walk into ‘town’ (small village) I passed and decided to try and keep
cool. They came back around 4pm and then
I heard the guys jumping into the river from the swing rope that was hung from
a tree at camp. So I packed up and went
to have a look at what was happening and got some photos and then they
mentioned that they had stopped in at the hotel next door to see if they were
televising the soccer game between England and Uruguay, and they found that you
could get ‘fast’ Wi-Fi for 3GHS (1.50AUD) for an hour. Well you had me at Wi-Fi and after collecting
my charging laptop Andy, Patrick and I headed next door for a cold beer and to
touch base with the world, as it had been 24 hours since our last
connection!!! We figured we should make
use of it while we can as there are going to be days where we won’t have access
at all. The Continental Hotel was more
than gracious of us coming to use their internet, helping Pat get on when we
hit some problems and before we knew it, it was time to head back to camp for
dinner. Andy had to head back a little
earlier as he was on cooking and then Patrick and I followed 40 minutes
later. I got to upload a blog which is
always a bonus and add Pat and Harjit on as friends on Facebook.
Dinner consisted of chili con carne and team 2, now have
a team name of Ring of Fire. It seems we
are our most creative while in the cooking process and now only have team 3 to
name when it is there turn to cook tomorrow. I had to be a bit of a woose and
ask for my con carne to not be too spicy, but I was the only one, so a portion
was taken out for me before they loaded the last of the chilies in for the
final spice. The usual clean and pack up
was done after dinner and as the others set up around the truck with the guitar
and mini keyboard Sam and Zoe are both musicians in their former lives amongst
other things) and I headed for wonderfully delicious COLD shower to wash off
the day’s sweat and grim and I am telling you after that 10 minutes of coldness
on your body you really do feel rejuvenated and like a million bucks, it is so
hard to explain just how good that cold shower feels at the end of such a humid
day. Once I was showered it was 9.30pm
and feeling so refreshed I slinked off to my tent to read my book for a while
as I listened to Zoe and Sam play and sing and it was really cool to have that
just outside my tent and to think about where I was, camping in Ghana, with a
great group and in a tent feeling refreshed as the world passes and turns
outside. I have a lot to be thankful for
and it is the simple times like this that make you do a check and say a little
prayer to the life I am lucky enough to live.
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