Vamos para a cascata

One of the good things with doing a Master’s thesis on small scale hydro power is that you get an adventure for free every time you go visit a power station

Our first field trip was to Makate, an area about 45 minutes from Chimoio. In Makate they don’t have access to electricity yet, but an NGO in the area has come up with the suggestion that they should build a hydro power plant. I and Kajsa joined a team of members from FUNAE and GIZ to see when they did measurements on the potential site. To get to the site we had to walk about 4-5 km through a winding path watching out for grass and branches to poke out your eyes. With us were some students from the local university who did the measurements followed by discussions in Portuguese about head and flow and where to go next to see where the power house could be built. We started walking in one direction, following the river and stopped after maybe 3 minutes walking. A new discussion starts. We hear nervous laughter followed by the word crocodile and some pointing up streams. Somewhere up there is their neighborhood. As we don’t really feel like hanging out with the crocs today we turn and go down streams instead.

Our next field trip was thought to be holiday. We went down to a place called Ndzou Camp where you can go out in the forest to find elephants. To get there we took a chapa to Sussendenga and there we were told to take first available transport further south. After about two hours and a long conversation in Portuguese with a kind man we found ourselves on the back of a truck. We thought we had routine on the Mozambican transports by now, but we forgot that the space at the far back of the truck is left empty because it is where you get the most dirt from the road whirling up at you and find its way to all the parts of your body that is exposed (I mean, my God my EARS). This is how lovely you look afterwards.

And yes, the holiday trip that became a field trip. The guide who would take us elephant spotting didn’t turn up so instead we were lucky enough that there was a hydro power station nearby so we got brought by George at the camp to the station. Passing by the locals who would get the electricity someone yelled after us: “Are you taking the girls up to the waterfall? Good luck my friend!” followed by a hearty chuckle.

Getting back from the very same waterfall George seemed noticeably proud of us. Mission accomplished.

After this we’ve seen one station in Rotanda and one in Ndirire and said hello to Senhor Farinha (Mr Flour) who is the operator of the Ndirire station. He told us about how he dreamed about building a water turbine and built one himself. Ambitious young man.