December 25th, Christmas Day!

Chickens in the Market

On Volta Lake

Kids on the Island

Dancing to some Ghanian tunes on the boat

December 25th, 2008
Merry Christmas! Today was our first full day in Ghana, and it was amazing! To begin with we had breakfast at 6 AM (which was nice and early for the many of us who only had 6 hours of sleep in the last two days). After breakfast we loaded up and headed out of Accra and traveled to the Volta Lake. Along the way we traveled through many villages and got our first look of what it is like to live in Ghana. We saw many of the modernized stores, but also saw the market life with people setting up small shops along the road. There were lots of chickens, goats, and cattle wandering the country side and streets. There was also an occasional corn field which caught many of our “Iowa” eyes (but note, these were not your regular corn fields). After we got to the lake we enjoyed a 4-hour boat ride which included lunch and dancing where we watched Dr. Manu shake some legs! We also stopped on Dodi Island and were greeted with lots of children and people singing and dancing. We ended the day with some pizza in Accra and are now ready to relax at the hotel.

About Volta Lake
Volta Lake is the second largest man-made lake in the world and the dam is used to create hydro-electric energy for the entire country of Ghana, as well as surrounding countries. The lake is located in a valley and, due to the topography, dynamite was used on the surrounding mountains to form the lake. Many rivers feed into this lake which allowed it to get so large. Although this lake provides fishing, tourism, and energy to the country, there are also many drawbacks. There was a vast amount of land taken from the agricultural sector, which caused 182 villages-or over 2 million people-to be displaced without much warning. Also, because there are mountains surrounding the lake, erosion is a serious problem. Due to slash and burn practices used to clear the mountains for agricultural and developmental use, there is a large amount of sediment and erosion which drains into the lake.

Click Here for a map of our day.

Iowa State University Ghana Trip 2008

Students from Iowa State University will be traveling to Ghana from December 23, 2008 to January 9, 2009. They will use this blog to convey their experiences and insights as they document their travels. Hopefully this will also include photos and video of their adventures.

Tune in daily starting December 24 to follow their adventures.