Itaipu

ihana.com - big trip - diary - brasil - december 2002

 

Expanding toad shows no fear

Wicked thing transforms itself near the landy

Dung beetle...dunno whos dung it is!

Loads of moths invade in the evening

Thursday 12 December

Leaving our jungley campsite we went to visit Itaipu hydro dam. Touted as one of the modern wonders of the world, it produces over 12 million kWs. As it is a joint project with Brasil and Paraguay the latter country makes a healthy income selling back its electricity to Brasil making it the largest producer of hydro power worldwide.

Just down the track from the campsite

Gas bottle delivery

A bit of a chat with a campesino

A giant reservoir was created which happened to wipe out a waterfall area which was 30 times bigger than Iguazu but theres no mention of this in the introductory film and no photos of how the area looked before the dam, the first pic being of a huge cliff blasted out of the side of a valley. Anyway, its pretty impressive and provides pollution free power which can't be such a bad thing in the long term.

Water blasting out of the spillway

Best appreciated from the air, or a pic at least!

Lots of fresh electricity in those wires

Tubes leading to the turbines

Installing a...

...more powerful generator

Now we cross the bridge to Paraguay but have a quick look at our special page on Brasilian beer adverts here.

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