Lake Volta Cruise, Weekend #2

Sunday we headed out to Lake Volta, a large man-made dam used to generate all of Ghana’s power supply. Apart from it being a picturesque location for a dam, the main attraction is a boat cruise along the lake to Dodi Island. The cruise takes three hours to reach the island, where you then spend 30 minutes, and then three hours back to the starting location. The boat cruise is the experience, not the island.

So we arrived at 8:00 to ensure that we got tickets for the cruise, which can be very popular. We were told on arrival the boat was leaving today at 10:30, instead of the scheduled 9:30. No problem, we just amused ourselves with the limited selection of souvenir sellers. There’s always a chance to haggle for a bargain.

We finally got to board the Dodi Princess at 10:00, where we found a nice set of tables to enjoy the view from. So we sat back, sipped on our one complimentary drink, and just chatted. Soon enough our buffet lunch was served; we got fried rice, jollof rice, coleslaw, and a choice of chicken or fish. It was a little cold, but I wasn’t expecting much for a boat.

The boat eventually arrived at the island and boy were we in for a shock. The tour company had organized some traditional drummers and dancers on the pier to greet the boat, but after the pier there was a swarm of people begging for money. We spent our 30 minutes walking around the island, getting harassed, and then we went back to the boat for the cruise home.

Funnily enough, I actually enjoyed the boating part of the experience; it was relaxing and an enjoyable way to see a different part of the countryside. If they just improved the Dodi Island experience a bit, it would definitely be a lot better.

We ended up getting dinner at a restaurant a little downstream, but we didn’t manage to get back to the hotel until 9:00pm.