Interesting article in Guardian about the dam construction at the Nile

environment.guardian.co.uk/energy/story/0,,2091819,00.html

It's easy to judge the spoiling of the nature heritage for electricity, but do they have a choice?

In Finland the biggest river system of the country has 16 dams built and 17th is allready planned... I guess the developing countries are just following what the western countries have done for decades.

What a terrible shame! How's this part?

\"
Smaller, cheaper options such as micro-hydro, solar and geothermal projects located in areas that would be of more benefit to the rural poor have not been adequately explored, he said.
\"

Such a waste to build that. A typical situation can be seen in Swaziland. They spend all this money building power stations, but the normal infrastructure like roads, are not even really there. Even with electricity the people still live in shacks and still, there is no employment for them.

We see it in South Africa all the time. People get given electricity, for free. All this does, is put more strain on the countries economy and resources. This past two weeks we've had so many power cuts because they supply too many people for free. Not enough supply as well. People stealing power is also a problem. If we don't have power, we cannot work. Economy suffers with each hour a factory is down. The Ugandan government wants more electricity for their people. But can their people even pay for it, no. For those not living in Africa, it might hard to imagine. Unemployment is rife in Africa. They need to address those problems first. Education/employment...

It seems they just want to provide light for people for a few more extra votes without really addressing the real problems. There are workable alternatives. It actually just annoys me. I feel for the people there and for those that make a living from the river and the tourism. The north of Uganda is a bit of a no no area and once they eliminate the rapids, what will happen to the tourism there?

I fully disagree with the dam.
Well, I'll just be quiet now Cheers

It is a shame, but what can you do. The country needs the money.
As far as I can tell the most of the electricity will not go to Uganda at all but will go to some or other first world country. (Europe I suppose). I know Eskom was interested in the project, hence bringing the power into SA.
The article was not too clear.

The problem with situations like that all it takes is for one of the parties to get greedy and the entire thing is a balls up, like Cabora Basa on the Zam. or Kariba for that matter.

On the other side of the debate is that the revenue brought in by the dam could help the country out. The dams build in Lesotho have, to some, degree enriched the country. And it has, ironically, created a all year river to paddle here in SA.

There are a lot of issues here with this dam though, it is also a religious site.
We are a power hungry society and need to produce electricity.
Hopefully PBMR can get their arse into gear and solve our power problems, but I don't want to get into nuclear debate.

kayakSA wrote:

Interesting tough that there is a dam planned on the lower orange to simulate a natural flood so that \"food\" can be carried down the river to the sea where large groups of birds nest during certain seasons. This is planned due to existing dams stuffing up the seasonal flow of the river and thus the bird colonies have shrunk over the years.

That is very interesting, is there anything on the web on this?

There are some very large scale HEP development going on in northern India aswell - spoiling many of the classic rivers in that area. It's really sad to see the peril of these magnificent rivers around the globe. Living in northern Scandinavia a lot of the biggest rivers in Finland and Sweden have long gone be dammed. On the other hand living just an hour away of the largest free flowing river system in Europe outside Russia makes one feel really privileged.

Dams have many good and bad points. I know too little about politics but from my point of view ( a kayaker ) I hate them. They are necessary though and South Africa will see many more being built, as well as many other African countries. I read in the Farmers Weekly about 5 proposed dams in the Transkei region. What a terrible shame! For those that don't know, the former Transkei was an area with SA that is still very rural and underdeveloped with few tared roads and little infrastructure and also some of the biggest, steepest and best whitewater in South Africa. The ideal spot for a lovely dam.

They wish to irrigate several thousand hectares of land and introdude Nguni cattle again to the area to boost the locals there and up food production, a problem we will soon face. The necessary evils of development. Damn dams!

In the mean time. I suggest you hit the Nile before we loose that area and the only other choice will be the bigger, better and more far more dangerous Murchison section! Too bad there are so many rebels, hippos, crocs and lions there to make it commercially feasible.

There were many great rivers that now are underwater (still water!) because of damming. Ever heard of the Bio Bio in Chile? Underwater now for years... Prevention of dams and groups against them weren't as rife as now. As Tuomas already pointed out. There are loads of dams in Scandinavia already, from years ago. Africa is just behind the times, as always.

Well, enough rambling from me . Have a great day on the un-dammed rivers in the meantime. You don't know what you've got until it's gone

How long until the dam is complete...aka how long do I have to get over there???

I am planning a trip for next year, will that be too late?

so which features will be effected by the dam?

It sounds like they are going to flood the river all the way up to Silverback which would drown out both the Nile Special and Mulalu waves.

I think the biggest problem (ignoring the kayaking aspect) is that often times the banks that finance the loans to build these billion dollar projects KNOW that the country will never be able to repay the loan because they financial experts THEY send overpromise the country's economic growth.

It get's complicated but basically they over promise national economic growth - due to the increase in available power - and when the country doesn't achieve that growth they default on the loan payments. Now they are effectively the banks B#TCH!

If you want to be scared read the book Economic Hitman

karlmoser wrote:

It sounds like they are going to flood the river all the way up to Silverback which would drown out both the Nile Special and Mulalu waves.

The dam will flood the river upstream of the Silverback. Silverback is in the middle of the day 1 section so the second half of the day 1 section and the day 2 section should still run. The Nile Special and the Malalu are both on the day 2 section so they should be ok.

For what its worth In North Queensland Australia we have a couple of rivers, the Tully and the Barron both have dams and power stations on them. however the rafting companies Rageing Thunder and RnR both pay the sub stations a f%ck tin of money for there to be a daily let down. This means for us local paddlers there is always going to be a runnable river 24/7:notworthy: so what am i doing here?

Found this on an update at kayakthenile.com:

www.kayakthenile.com/Bujagali_Dam_Press_Release.pdf

Does not sound good...

Ouch! Thanks Dima. Some mates of mine are going next week! Lucky buggers. I wish I was going.. hehe

Big OUCH!
I am going end of the month. Keep fingers crossed for THAT not to mess it up for me...
Adrian' why don't U come along? It's allmost your neighborhood...

D

wwdemon wrote:

Big OUCH!
I am going end of the month. Keep fingers crossed for THAT not to mess it up for me...
Adrian' why don't U come along? It's allmost your neighborhood...

D

Hmmm, it's very tempting! I'm working my last day at work on 25 Oct. Might be heading to the Zambezi for the whole of November.. If my shoulder is 100% strong by then! But Tuomas is also tempting me for the Nile. He's heading there for a little of Nov and more of Dec.

End of this month you say?

Thanks Philip. Enjoy the Nile you lucky bugger. Take some photos of the destruction for us..

How's this chop:
\"
Lockwood said: “The mighty Nile has yielded willingly and allowed us to build the first cofferdam in her fast-flowing waters when she could easily have swept away man’s efforts to tame her.”
\"
I hope the Nile kicks back a little

Jamie asked me to post the full text of the press release here as well:
____________________
Press Release

Bujagali Dam, White Nile Uganda
____________________
Construction has begun, finally, on the site of the new Bujagali Dam. The work will take a minimum of 4-5 years to complete:

www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/582543
www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/584793

When completed, the New Dam will wipe out arguably the best 45minute stretch of white water in the World.

The initial construction requires a cofferdam to be built across ‘The Ugly Sisters’ channel. We are likely to lose this run within the next two months. Furthermore the dam company has started blasting for rock beside the ‘Total Gunga’ rapid and during blasting they have established an exclusion zone stretching from 200metres below ‘Bujagali Falls’ to the top of Silverback.

We are working with the dam company to maintain access to this top section of the river for as long as it is safe to run. They have very kindly limited blasting until the afternoons for the moment, which permits rafting and kayaking to continue. During the blasting period we ask that all independent kayakers register with Kayak the Nile or Nile River Explorers and check the blasting schedule daily.

We will post blasting-schedule notices both on-line and in the NRE bar.
We often receive less than 12 hours notice, so Kayakers please be aware of this, and ask a member of staff!

The dam company do have the power to close this section with immediate effect if we do not adhere to the exclusion zone regulations. It is important that all kayakers stay off this section during the restricted periods. This will help to maintain the current good relationship with the dam company.
If we can maintain this good relationship we should have access to the main stretch from ‘Bujagali Falls’ to Silverback for around two more years.

The Nile Freestyle Festival 2007 will take place this year from November 30th to December 2nd. It is possible that this could see the last-ever Bujagali- Hairy Lemon Extreme Race. This has to be the toughest race in the World and we are hoping for a huge turnout, to make sure that this ‘section’ goes down in history as it should. With discounted flights available from Brussels Airlines (details on www.kayakthenile.com) There is no excuse to miss it!!

For more information and updates on the dam progress, log-on to www.kayakthenile.com. For festival details and flight discount details, log-on to www.kayakthenile.com/events_freestyle07.htm

It must be stressed that the new dam should not affect the levels of the lower sections of the River. We should still have ‘Nile Special’ and with luck, and a bit of higher water , ‘Malalu’ will again be available.

It will be a tragedy to lose the top section, but Uganda does desperately need power for economic development.

If you want the chance to paddle the top section again, then get here fast!
_______________
Jamie Simpson
Kayak the Nile
[mail address protected from spambots with javascript]
www.kayakthenile.com/

What date is it up to date to?
It mentions a coffer dam at Ugly Sisters in a couple of months, I hear it is already done...

Not sure. Jamie sent me the text yesterday. It's hard for him to post here right now, as he's having Internet problems...

Got a mail from him:
The update is fresh, but the Ugly Sisters channel IS gone already...

D

I put a gallery on my site from a trip to Ugand in June 2005 that some mates of mine went on. All photos are courtesy Brendan Bosman. Thanks

adrian.playak.com/index.php?option=com_z...atid=44&PageNo=1

There are two pages. Hopefully you'll see some different angles and more off the river shots here that you haven't seen before.

Hopefully I'll put up some photos of their trip from a few weeks ago as a comparison.