Robert Ghana Wild!: Me Ko Akosombo

Thursday, June 13, 13

Feeling adventurous, I decided I’d venture to Akosombo today. After a discussion with the hotel personnel to get a feel for how long it would take me to get there, and after a delicious half pineapple for breakfast, I set off for town. Thursday is Market day in Ho, and due to all the extra foot traffic, car traffic hit gridlock, so I just had to walk to the station about 20 minutes away. I ended up getting “Laswaa Laswaa” on a car headed to Tema. “Laswaa” is really just a slurred “Last One,” meaning the car is almost full and there’s room for one or two people. In my case, I really was the last one, and had the pleasure of sitting on the “fun seat.” Another totally Ghanaian thing to do – in any vehicle, you maximize profit by maximize seating capacity, and all the TroTros here have extra makeshift seats welded into the isles of the busses. They’re often rickety, collapsible seats that can move to allow people to exit and enter the vehicle. Oh, and they’re the least comfortable seats. At least they have a comical name.

As we passed through a police barrier, a women immigration officer pulled us over and told me to get out. I though that maybe I had made it, but it wasn't the case. She took me over to a station and asked for my passport with a smile. Meanwhile, the door on my vehicle closed, and the car drove away! The immigration officer asked me the typical questions – where I was from, where I was going, when I was leaving the country…then she asked if I was married, single, and for my name and phone number. It wasn’t just a flirty gesture; she took my phone number down and wrote it on her wooden clipboard. After a warm smile, I left, and found my car stationed at a food stand down the road.

I soon reached a town called “Atipoko,” and the driver asked me to leave. Hmm, this isn’t Akosombo! I asked around, and found out that Akosombo is a taxi ride away. I convinced a driver to take me not just to Akosombo, but also a few places to take pictures at the dam. Here are a few shots; the dam itself was underwhelming, and to go inside it I needed to have a permit and schedule an escort, so outside is the best I could do. This dam holds back Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world. As you may have guessed, it also provides a whole lot of hydroelectric power for the country as well as some much needed fresh water.