A Sunday at Month End

Today started out rather quiet with a coffee outside and a view of the volcanoes on a cool cloudy Sunday morning. There was of course also the meeting to be had with Michael (EIA consultant) today as he promised on Friday.

Got to work on putting together some drawings for Sarah of the Safari Tents as they related to the meeting with Rob at East Africa Canvas. This turned out to be more of a little chore as I had to use the drawing taskbars in MSWord but it worked out ok. I added to this notes on the discussions we had and reasoning behind some of the decisions we made. In retrospect, and working my way through the notes, this meeting was definitely worth it - even if I went to Nairobi just for that. Anyway, got this all sent through to Sarah.

This was followed by converting the HTML document on the kitchen quote I had received from New World, Nairobi. This document eventually ended up as an MSExcel document and got sent through to Sarah as well.

Then, the BIG month end chore, accounts! Luckily my own accounts weren't that many and I got them sorted pretty quickly. Then it was Andy's accounts' turn - putting in all the data. The good thing is its all noted very well and clearly. All followed by the EA (Rwanda) invoice and 'Voila!' - done. Late afternoon (approx 17:00) but fine - always a relief when thats all done. Just sending it all through to Sarah now

As if on cue - at 18:20 the obligatory and normal power cut which, if 'normal', will last till 9 or 10pm. This is my cue as well to sit down and do some reading and get away from the pc for awhile.

Long indoors day today but actually very productive. Also managed to do a fair amount of filing too.

Oh yes, somebody never turned up as promised and his phone has been off all day too. Good thing I didn't rely too much on that and carried on with the loads of other stuff I have to do.

Between all this, had an amazing little black and white jumping spider on the wall. Managed to get some digital pics and video. I've never seen one of these - white fangs/pedipalps with black tips and then a white stripe over each of the body parts. I will be definitely be looking out for them again to try and get a good close-up pic with the SLR.

Back in Rwanda

Arrived back in Rwanda yesterday from London and Nairobi after having spent two and a half days in the latter. This was with Kenya Airways on a fairly smooth flight from Nairobi but using every inch of the runway in Kigali on landing - interesting!

Very quickly got back into standard meeting mode when I waited for someone I had to meet for 2 hours. Eventually gave up waiting and went home to Ruhengeri. Andy and I went out to dinner to discuss the latest developments and news.

Whilst out at Hotel Muhabura, met Faustin (Regional Police Chief) who immediately asked if had gone to visit my beautiful wife. Also Glen, wife of Kate from Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Overheard that the lodge being built by Governor's Camp in Kinigi is a joint venture with IGCP (International Gorilla Conservation Project) - VERY interesting news! Also that Governor's Camp and IGCP are a bit nervous about the EIA being done at the moment - they feel its very strict.

Today started off reasonably relaxed and by 1:30pm was ready for meeting with Andy to bring us up to date with the latest progress on all fronts. Also had a short meeting with Claude to check all still fine with him. He does mention though that if we feel the time's right, we can review and discuss a wage increase. He does also say though that he's mentioned this due to me asking if has anything to discuss and appreciates he hasn't been employed for a year yet and can wait for the annual review.

Andy's then off to go and do his Saturday afternoon football game on TV - think its a Chelsea Man U game

Introduction

For those out there reading the blog that don't know what the project is all about, just a little introduction.

Elegant Africa Ltd was registered in the UK with Sarah Speake and myself as directors. Our goal was to establish a Tented Camp and campsite in Ruhengeri (Musanze) and separate luxury lodge in Northern Rwanda. Our initial focus would be the Tented Camp and campsite which would feature 10 luxury en-suite safari tents, restaurant, lounge adn separate bar and recreation area. Further facilities would include campsites with dedicated ablutions for 4x4 safaris and overland safaris.

Through this we hope to employ people from our immediate communities and also increase their skillset in so doing. The construction process would also utilise local materials, labours and traditional skills as far as possible.

April 2005 we presented our business plan to the Rwanda Investment & Promotion Agency (RIEPA) after having registered Elegant Africa as a Rwandan company as well. This was received very favourably with huge support from the Rwandan government and the tourism auhtorities. Our visit in June saw the presentation of our concept design from Symbion (architects)

After lengthy discussions, negotiations and meetings etc, we purchased 6.25hectares of land in Ruhengeri from the community and signed our initial lease with the newly established District Council of Musanze. The land consists of about 20,000 eucalyptus trees fo varying thicknesses with only a few indigenous trees on soil that's mostly made up of volcanic rock. Our goal is to eventually have replaced all the eucalyptus trees with indigenous plants.

Since then, hedges have been planted around more than two thirds of the property leaving the only most of the road facing border open for construction purposes. The whole hedge planting was managed by Andy, a Rwandan we've appointed as our manager and well worth his weight in gold.

At present we are awaiting the finalising of the Environmental Impact Assessment which then has to be submitted to REMA (Rwanda Environmental Management Agency) for final approval. In the meanwhile, our building plans have been approved by the Musanze council, although we await the final approval from REMA before commencing with anything.

We still make regular visits to the site, about 3-4 a week to check the hedges all in place and all well. We do also have some of the guys from the community checking on things there when we're not there. In particular, I keep my eye on the bird and plantlife which seem to think they're in heaven now with no grazing of livestock etc going on anymore - becoming quite wild actually.

You may ask why a blog. There are so many things happening that we felt we wanted a something to look back on and probably smile about some of the things we stressed about. The blog also gives our supporters and friends the opportunity to follow our progress on a daily/regular basis and at the same time have the opportunity of making comments etc.

I will be updating the blog on a daily basis, usually in the evenings. Pics of the site, concept design and copies our previous newletters are also available on our website.

Cheers and regards

Marcell