Hydro Electric Plant revisited

Today I visited the remains of Mount Coffee Hydro Electric Dam with 14 other crew in two Land Rovers, one year on since I was last there. The Liberian Electricity Corporation has wisely employed security guards there now, to prevent further looting of the iron and copper from the engines, motors and turbines. The place seems a little cleaner, somehow, without dozens of looters loading container trucks. Since we are in the heart of rainy season, the river was very high, and it rained all day - just getting to the plant was a challenge, with flooded roads and deep mud that no other vehicles had been through in days. After a brief look around the power station, we went on a long walk that too us into the heart of the dam itself, where we walked through the remains of the control gates and down the tunnels that used to take water into the turbines. There remains a few feet of water at the bottom of the tunnels in which crocodiles and boa constrictors live, our LEC guards told us. After shouting at some bats, we then continued up the river bank for an hour, and saw the spectacular unspoilt Liberian bush, complete with fire-ants and snakes. We returned to our Land Rovers having waded through chest deep creeks in the pouring rain, tired, soaked to the skin and covered in mud. A great day out. Olly