Day 8: Akosombo

Volta lake panorama

We got up pretty late that day. We had decided to go to the bus station and try to get a bus to Akosombo to visit the Volta dam. At the station we found out that due to cancellations and delays, the first bus would go perhaps around three in the afternoon. This was too late for us so we went to Frankie’s for a cup of coffee and to discuss our plans. We decided to take a taxi and were very fortunate to find a suitable one outside the door. It was a “Gold Taxi” – a taxi company that has actually decent cars. It was a Fiat something that you would not have looked twice at in any western city. Here however it was remarkable. The taxi driver was nice enough and did not overcharge us. He would drive us to Akosombo and back and we would stay there for 3-4 hours.


The Akosombo dam is probably the most beautiful part of Ghana that I saw. The nature around it is just amazing – reminiscent of the great Italian lakes (like Lake Como).

View from on top of the dam

The dam itself is impressive, not perhaps as much in its looks but what it stands for and what it does. It was built in just three years (1963-1966) by an Italian engineer and has been the main provider of electricity to the whole of Ghana and a number of other neighboring countries since then.

The Akosombo Dam

After a very brief tour by a local engineer we had a nice meal at the Volta hotel which is located above the dam.

Outlet pipes. Each pipe is more than 100m long.

Our final mission for the day was to find some palm wine. It is a traditional Ghanaian drink made from palm sap. It has to be fresh and isn’t available in Accra. Our taxi driver managed to get a lead to where we might find it and we set off in the Volta rural areas. This was most interesting as we had not been in the real country side before. Here people lived in mud huts, the old school African style. Once we got to the target village, there was a funeral there and they had used up all the palm wine. Nevertheless it was a very interesting experience.

Yours truly, very sweaty at the Volta Hotel