March 29, Thursday - Bergendal - - Gene’s Birthday but he is not feeling well!
After the breakfast buffet and made-to-order eggs, I opted for a ½ day tour of the newly built Afobakka dam and several local villages. It turned out there were only TWO of us on the tour – Fran and Luisa. We had a private meeting with the engineers of the Afobakka dam (who were not used to visitors, period.) No touring is usually allowed. On their own time schedule, they showed us a nice video of the dam and its inner workings (in Dutch) and we donned our hard hats and safety glasses to walk around. At the time of its construction there was, of course, much conflict if the dam should be built and the 5000 people displaced. The manager said he was one who doubted but now he sees the wisdom in the country’s move to build. They are saving incredible amounts of money on producing their own electricity and he can’t even begin to think where they would be now if they had been forced to pay the going market rate. They are paying $18 a barrel as compared to $150 a barrel at today’s rate. It is owned today by SURALCO LLC and will be under total Surinamese control in 2032. Their STOP signs have the words: Stop, Think, Observe, Prevent on them.
We walked on the top of the dam and saw several tree tops sticking out of Brokopondo Lake, which was 450 feet deep, so imagine how old and tall those trees are!! The lake is plentiful with fish and there are several islands in it. One is a gold mine and from the village of Afobakka, we could see the “gas station” at the river’s edge where barrels were filled and placed in the longboat to be motored out to the gold mine on the island. Interesting.
Most of the shops are owned by Chinese immigrants. There are Hindu temples and Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques beside Catholic and Baptist churches. There are over 22 languages spoken in the country and the people have every skin color of the world. It is a true microcosm of the future – a blending of all races and features.
The next village we visited was Balingsolla and then Tapoeripa. They are both off the main highway on a paved road in a hilly area. The homes are built in short stilts (to avoid insects in the home) and there were large containers to catch the water. The school was at the water’s edge and across the way was the bauxite mining.
There is a bus system that goes from village to village. We saw one washing machine in the town center for everyone’s use. Times are a-changing! No more “down at the river’s edge.
The full day tour, which six members of the group opted for, was to Brownsberg Nature Park. This is a protected nature park with views of Brokopondo Lake and the surrounding tropical rainforest. There are numerous nature trails to refreshing streams and small waterfalls interspersed throughout the mountain with spectacular flora and fauna of the area.
Poor Gene did not make it to dinner on his birthday night nor out for the Night River boat tour. We went out caiman spotting! (a reptile related to the alligator but smaller and slimmer and with a proportionally longer tail.)
We saw a set of eyes peering at us from the water and then I realized how close we were to them – the boats are sturdy but they hold 20 people. If one person over-reacts, it could tumble all of us and there were piranhas and caimans in the river. But we were all calm and all went well. We heard the monkeys howling in the trees above us, enjoyed the ½ moon shining above us with the clear sky and twinkling stars. I really enjoyed that night ride.
