Animals & Insects

Moth - possibly Palpita sp.
The last three days including today was spent in the office with e-mails, spreadsheets etc, so nothing really interesting there.

What I've started doing to brighten up my day though is to spend an hour or so in the morning or late afternoon, photographing insects and/or other little creatures that make their appearance in and around the house. These pics I'm using to compile checklists of insects, reptiles, spiders etc. The most fruitful of this lot has been the moths with some interesting and sometimes weird looking moths making their appearance. (around 4,700 known species in Africa!!)

The butterflies are a bit harder but we'll eventually get there. To date I haven't been able to find existing checklists of various species for Rwanda but only lists of endemics of the Albertine Rift. Granted, that at least gives one a bit of a starting point to work from otherwise its compiling and collating from various sources and see what comes out.

In the meanwhile, Andy and I are making arrangements to go and visit some caves in Musanze and Kinigi tomorrow. Exciting prospect of exploration.

Productive Kigali Day!

Yesterday, (another day in the office) was spent setting out everything I needed to do today in Kigali. This all turned out to be quite worthwhile as today was huegly productive and I actually managed to do everything I had planned to do in Kigali plus more.

Best of all was that by 2pm we were ready to set off back to Musanze! Nothing really interesting though - things like insurance and passport matters. I did meet Edwin though who was the officer in charge of tourism (for ORTPN) at the Volcanoes Park. He's presently back here, working on his thesis,from the UK where he's busy with his masters degree. The degree he's studying for is tourism related. We'll be meeting in a couple of days to discuss tourism and the present and potential future community involvement.

A Batty Weekend

The weekend turned out to be hugely interesting although it was in front of the pc at home. I had posted a request for information on a forum about the species of bats in Rwanda and received a reply that made my jaw drop.

This reply I received had a list of bat species for Rwanda but there was a note stating that it was considered incomplete and more species await "discovery" - the list contained 48 species! That's incredible considering the country's size and included a Rwandan endemic! I immediately set to work to formalise the list a bit i.e. on a spreadsheet and then started collecting information on the species and bats in general.

What an education! I knew bats were very interesting and actually quite intelligent mammals but I spent every other moment gaping about some other information about bat behaviour and some great bat trivia. This culminated on Sunday morning with a basic document compiled on general info on bats and a checklist containing some pics/drawings of different species.

This got me going on some of the other checklists I've collected, collated and/or compiled from a variety of sources including frogs and birds and the start of the reptile checklist, the latter being compiled as we go along and are able to identify species.

Sunday evening, one of the overland tour groups came over to the house with their crew for a BBQ and a dvd on the gorillas. A pleasant evening indeed and lovely end to a weekend that I felt like a kid in a toy store with all the new information on our natural history here.

End of Week & a Hospital

As the week was drawing to an end it seemed to slow down a bit to a virtual standstill but as usual this may be just before it all picks up again to the speed of light. Yesterday I spent the morning doing an article on the Pitta we had at the house for a magazine. This is apparently going to be in the August/September edition, once there, I'll give the name of the magazine and the link. The rest of the day was spent catching up on phone calls and e-mails, the "I'm still here, what's the progress?" type.

This morning I had my first experience of the Ruhengeri Hospital which I had to visit due to some insect bite I had that looked decidely dodgy and needed a bit more than just homegrown TLC. The experience wasn't bad as would be expected but definitely an eye opener again on how admin slows things down - something I know people even complain about at hospitals in the first world. It was all about getting paid up before hand for anticipated treatment and consultation and no, I don't know how the anticipated treatment costs is measured having only paid 60pence for that and £3 for the consultation.

Luckily Andy was with me as my Kinyarwanda and French is definitely not up to par for the admin process. The doctors are fine, most of them, if not all speak English as well. Then down to waiting for your turn, seeing the doctor went pretty smoothly and quickly but the "treatment" was a "bit" of a longer wait. At the latter, one collects your number which they call as they finish treating patients. Interestingly, not surprising though, is how some people slip in and one could be forgiven for thinking that your maths teacher in primary school had her counting all wrong as there seemed to be 6 numbers between 17 and 19. I know people will ask and how was the treatment - well it was fine and hygienic as required. It did convince me though that nurses around the world are all taught how to deal with sensitive wounds etc with the least sympathy whilst producing the biggest flashing smile.

From here it was on to the "Pharmacie" to get the tablets the Doc had prescribed, two sets for a week. This went very quickly indeed and although not expecting to pay a fortune, I never expected to only pay £1.3 for the medication.

One thing I can say is that all the staff were hugely friendly and helpful, from the doctors to the security guard at the gate and on the grounds. I presume the security guy who looks after the grounds has built up a little bit of medical knowledge too (well, it seemed like it) as he was often shown/explained some wound, injury or illness and he looked suitably sympathetic and directed the patient to be to the correct place.

Another new experience in Rwanda albeit a hugely educational one.

Kigali & BBQ

Greg and I had to go through to Kigali this morning to sort some things out. Other than a few minor chores the visit turned out to be unproductive. I went and bought some good sausage in town and some condiments for the house and returned to Musanze. Greg remained to sort out some gorilla permits.

Getting home, Andy had started the coals on the BBQ in preparation for some friends we'd invited over for dinner and drinks. On the menu was some good sausage, beef kebabs, ugali (maize meal porridge) and sauce and the obligatory pre-BBQ toasties with onion, tomato and cheese. Turned out to be a really good evening with much laughter.

Kinigi Again

Yesterday I went to Kigali to drop Sarah off at the airport. On returning home, I sorted out some things before returning to Kinigi to meet the tourists I took up there on Sunday. As I was getting ready to leave a massive thunder storm broke out and I decided to wait till it lightens up a bit. The thunder and lightning was quite impressive though. Eventually it was raining a little lighter and I set off to Kinigi to try and get there before another session like that.

I got to Kinigi fine and met with the tourists and also booked a room for the night. A very pleasant evening was had with Greg meeting us too and helping them sort out their itinerary for the next few days. The buffet dinner was also a most splendid spread.

This morning I saw the tourists off on their way to go trekking and gorilla tracking and had some coffee before setting off back to Musanze. Today was dedicated to a bit of TLC for the car, going over everything and changing the wheels around. Very productive day overall though.

Site Tour & Kinigi

This morning we set off to site to show Sarah what and where everything had been marked out. We took a tour leader and her crew with to show them around. We spent a pleasant couple of hours on the site touring nearly every corner.

After this we to town to have lunch at a local restaurant near the house. While we were here a group of tourist arrived on local transport from Kigali and due to them not being able to get some reliable transport to Kinigi immediately we offered to take them up to Kinigi Guesthouse where they had reservations. I took them up there and made sure all was fine and had a chat about their programme for the next few days. I said I would be back the tomorrow evening with Greg who can then sort out their arrangements and plans.

It was quite a pleasure driving up to Kinigi as most of that road had been repaired for the Gorilla Naming Ceremony and what usually a 45min drive was only about 20min now over and above getting off that road onto one of the not so good roads.

Gorilla Naming Ceremony

Yesterday Sarah arrived again for the Gorilla Naming Ceremony. Obviously another prospective nice weekend. Last night we went to have a drink at the new accommodation that we'd found the tour group in the week.

This morning we set off for Kinigi where ORTPN was hosting the 2nd Gorilla Naming Ceremony and 12 new gorilla babies since last year's ceremony would be named. Claude went with to keep an eye on the car during the ceremony.

On arrival we got a pleasant surprise being directed to some early tea, coffee and bites before the ceremony commenced. This was also an opportunity to catch up with some people we hadn't seen for a long time. Eventually the traditional dancing and drumming started as everyone made their way to their seats awaiting the arrival of the guests of honour. The President of Rwanda was unable to attend but the First Lady attended with the President of the Senate.

The speakers included the Minister under whom tourism falls, the Governor of the Northern Province and Rosette Rugamba, the Director-General of ORTPN. In the latter speech, Rosette referred to all the projects that had commenced and/or progressed from last year's ceremony and how some of the $1.4 million raised had been spent. Reference was also made to the new luxury community lodge in Kinigi that would be opening the end of the year and our project in Musanze and that we're planning to open June next year.

Two representatives from community projects also gave a brief rundown of what they were doing, one of them from the Beekeepers association in Kinigi. Then down to matter of naming the new baby gorillas. Ambassadors and representatives from various countries had also been invited to name some of the babies, amongst them the ambassadors from the USA, United Kingdom, Belgium and Netherlands and a representative from the city of Brussels. One of the sponsors, Rwandex (exporter of Rwandan coffee) also named their adopted baby and announced that this baby would become the face of one of their new products.

A representative from the DRC tourism/wildlife authority was also there to name a baby in one of their groups that had been born whilst the group was in Rwanda. It was great to hear that that the Rwanda and DRC governments had signed agreements on cross-border co-operation in conservation and in particular that of the gorillas.

After the ceremony all the guests were invited to attend a lunch nearby in marquee tents that had been set up. This turned out to be a fantastic lunch with more meetings with people we hadn't seen for a long time as well as testing the banana wine that had been put on all the tables - fairly strong too. We gave one of these little bottles of banana wine to Claude who told us that even by local standards it was very strong.

Another hugely successful day for ORTPN and for tourism in Rwanda in general.

Admin & Tourists

Wednesday was an all day admin day again with a meeting late afternoon with a group of tourists and their tour leader whom I know from my days on the road. So a relaxing evening and some of the tourists keen to visit the site to do some birding today and an opportunity for the tour leader to see where the site is and the sites we've marked out.

This afternoon we didn't get to and do some birding though as there had been problems at the place where the group was staying and they were more intent on sorting that out or moving to a new campsite. So Greg and I helped them out in getting another place for them to stay at for their last night in Musanze. All very hapy with the new accommodation, they chose to stay there to watch the English World Cup match against Trinidad & Tobago. They set off the next day to Kigali for the final night of their tour before flying out from Rwanda.

Kigali Again

Monday morning Greg and I set off to Kigali for what we anticipated to be one day at least but with the possibility of an overnight. Not an early morning but a pleasant drive (as always with the scenery) and some good chatting along the way.

Part of the reason for going to Kigali was to for Greg to apply for a visa for the UK for the World Travel Market in November in London. We managed to get that sorted and got the appointment for the next day for biometrics at the British Embassy (also in Kigali).

A lovely lunch at Hotel des Mille Collines followed and a fairly relaxing afternoon next to the pool meeting our lawyer etc. The evening at the hotel there were some traditional dancing and drumming of which I got some good video footage which I can use as inserts and soundtrack in the making of the video I'm busy with.

The next morning after coffee we finished the biometrics and returned to Ruhengeri and more moderate weather - Kigali was blazing. Getting back pretty much just entailed on catching up with Andy what had happened on Monday at the site and on outstanding admin.

Andy and the lads had gone to the site on Monday and cleared around the marker pegs so they're more prominent and cutting some of the 1.5m grass a little bit shorter in the marked areas.

Quiet weekend

The weekend was quiet yet productive and pleasant. The Saturday morning at 10am we had a meeting with a candidate for the site engineer's position and discussed the planned construction processes and durations. The meeting had just finished when we got a call from an overland truck asking for help on finding accommodation in Musanze.

On getting there I discovered its one of my good mates from the road. After getting the clients all settled in at a little guesthouse in town, we settled down for a bit of catchup over a few drinks. He had two new crew with him so agreed to take them out on Sunday morning to the site and show them around. We managed to get Greg to come with too as he hadn't been at the site since October 2004 when we found the site the first time.

Sunday morning thus was a bit of a walk around the site and showing what and where everything will be as we've set it out then spent some time up in the north on a nice little rock lounge chatting about the site.

As the new crew hadn't been around Musanze much, I took them on a little drive to Ntaruka at the northern end of Lake Ruhondo where the Hydro plant is. It was a pleasant surprise driving down the road as it had been done over and was an absolute pleasure driving on. With good light the views over the lake were also fantastic. Unfortunately didn't take photos this time but there will definitely be a photo session out there in the very near future.

Safari Tents & Mapping

Early morning in Ruhengeri (earlier this week)
The remaining 5 safari tents were marked out today with an extra one also set out as an option to one of the other tent sites.

Once again one of the sites turned out to be an absolute winner with an amazing location. The tent will be set in a depression that seems custom designed for a safari tent with views up the surrounding outcrops. This also screens the main part and the balcony from other tents. I have now reached the point where its hard to decide which of the tent sites are my favourites.

From here we started measuring and taking bearings on the 4x4 circle and reference points so we reconstruct the overall plan of what has been set out so far. This was basically just loegwork for Andy and I with the two lads adding the odd peg or two for the marking process.

A pleasant was also improved by sightings of some bird species we hadn't before seen on the site and a pair of Augur Buzzards calling each high in the air above us. Another fantastic day in the bush.

Marking out the Safari Tents

Butterfly at Ikoro
Leaving the best till last, well almost anyway. We started marking out the sites for the safari tents today which was quite a pleasure considering the massive area we've set out for them. In the initial concept drawings, the tents are all arranged in a neat arc north of the campfire but the architects had mentioned that we would probably want to and could move the sites according to the best locations for each tent.

We did the eastern five tents today with one of them in a location that warrants having special status i.e. the "honeymoon" or "premier" tent. Situated on a rise but with rocky ridges along the sides isolating it from the rest, it has a lovely view of the volcanoes. The one thing I must say though is that every tents location has a special location in its own way with certain features around it that the others don't have. The fact that they're some of the first, if not The first, safari tents in Rwanda will enhance their allure even more.

These tents are set in an area where we will retain as much of the present wild vegetation as possible and meandering footpaths for the guests afternoon or early morning. The eucalyptus trees will gradually give way to indigenous trees and other indigenous plants which occur naturally in this particular environment and with the rate plants grow here, it could all be a little indigenous forest before long.

I had to shoot off quickly for a 10am meeting but was back in an hour and we continued working. The lads do sometimes think I'm a bit mad with me putting in pegs as markers and the moving them umpteen times before I'm happy with the location but it keeps them entertained every now and then.

Getting home I started putting all the measurements, bearings etc to paper, plotting it all out on graph paper. The idea is that eventually I can draw a basic master plan reflecting how everything is set out now. This is just as rewarding to actually see how everything is set out in relation to each other - unfortunately the drawings don't reflect what the actual location looks like i.e. vegetation and contours.

Central & South West

Part of southern campsite for Overland clients
Today was the turn of overland campsites and their ablutions. The same principle applies as with the 4x4 sites whereby every two vehicles have a set of ablutions.

This is probably the most overgrown area of the site at the moment with primary vegetation in some places regenerated to over 6ft. So yes, truly working in the bush today. Getting the ablutions marked turned out to be the easy part and sorting out the truck parkings and roads the "find your way through the bush".

Now marking out the truck parking at the two sites and their turning circles was definitely a bit of a challenge but it certainly helped that I used to drive overland trucks and could work out the best lay of each with the minimum "work" by the drivers and/or risk taking out rock outcrops or trees when arriving or leaving. Anyway, mission was accomplished and the sites look good. The camping areas also look very promising with most, if not all, the camping areas will be on different levels through terracing. There is one stunning site I suspect the crew will fight to get into first but I won't let the cat out of the bag now.

This afternoon, our EIA consultant also visited the site to see how the marking out is going and comment on locations etc. He was impressed how we'd used the natural lay of the land although he was probably a little less impressed with the pace Andy and I took him through and around te site ( a quick 1 km), we found him lagging behind at times. Advice for anyone visiting us during the next couple of months - don't wear fancy little city shoes :-)).

The Kinyarwanda and English exchange lessons are also going very well with the lads greeting me in proper English in the morning and me greeting them in Kinyarwandan. Its great fun working with them and we're moving onto bird names in Kinyarwandan and English too now.

The North West

Marking out southern 4x4 site ablutions
Today we finished the final touches on the marking out of the Bar, lounge, restaurant etc and moved over to the 4x4 sites in the north-west of the site. This is also a lovely part of the site with views from the western border of Karisimbi, Bisoke and Sabinyo mountains.

This part also feature big depressions down the centre i.e. when going from north to south. Its in these depressions that we marked out the ablutions for the 4x4 sites and ensuring that spaces are available on the western and eastern sides for six designated camping sites, cooking and dining areas.

Of course it wasn't all just hitting pegs into the ground and moving on, we had to partially mark out most of the circle road around the 4x4 sites. Its not really hard though to find where the road should be as the contours make it fairly obvious although we let the road go around the odd very large tree. Must admit when we were looking at the various campsites, they are really nice. Some in slight depressions and others on ridges with fantastic views. The existing terraces and contours also provide ready made demarcation sor campsites and 4x4 parking.

Every day at the site now is also a bit of wildlife checklist compilation with sighting of a huge variety of butterflies, insects and birds.

No Blue Monday

What a fantastic day it was, most of it at the site. Andy and I got out there about 10am after some business in town. Tomorrow we'll be out there bright and early though.

When we got there it was all rock n' roll and starting with building a temporary entry into the site for the vehicle - this is also where delivery vehicles will be coming in during construction. Some of the people passing along in the road stopped to stare at me working with the lads and packing the rocks but they'll get used to it. Result: our vehicle went in - the first vehicle on the site since demarcated and purchased (only about 20-30m in though - no way a vehicle can get deeper into the site at this stage).

We had decided to mark out the front of house buildings first and from there we'll do the rest. Well, success on that - finshed marking out reception and the office, also the bar, lounge and dining areas. It was a massively pleased group of guys looking at all those points we'd marked out today. All being done the old traditional way of handheld compass and tape measure and of course the wooden pegs and string. I must say, one does get a lot more respect for the surveyors of old who didn't have all the fancy toys.

Marking out was also not marking points, because of the contours etc we had to make sure what areas the building affect and which we will be leaving as they are. This is probably what made it even more rewarding to look back at everything in the afternoon.

The other little added bonus was that my learning of Kinyarwandan just accellerated today. I made a deal with the lads that for every term or sentence I learn and use in Kinyarwanda, they have to do the equivalent in English - if I don't watch out, these lads will be speaking English better than my Kinyarwandan is soon.

Friday to Sunday

A 3-day blog in one - well that's because the Friday and Sunday were two admin days in the office with not much happening but Saturday was definitely more productive - marking out at the site has commenced!

Friday was a month end admin day with all the normal monthly accounts to be reconciled, invoices, statements etc. Also a good opportunity to see how bad the cold was that had sneaked up on me the previous day.

Saturday Andy and I decide to get out to the site and get the marking out going to know what we're getting ourselves into and pretty much a bit of a precursor for the new week when we'll be going at it with all guns blazing. We started out by marking the proposed gate posts and entry area into the site. The pegs you see on the photo is actually the originally proposed left hand side of the entrance into the site. I say original because it became very clear that there would be some adaptations to incorpoarate and take into consideration the contours and rocky outcrops etc.

Sunday I decided to stay home and try and get as well as possible before going out to work at the site on Monday - it was hard as I'm really itching now to get out there. The evening I went out for dinner with Greg and his daughter and did our normal catch up on business and local gossip.

EIA Submitted!!

Yes, the big day today. Andy and I went to Kigali where had the EIA reports bound and headed to the offices of the Rwanda Environmental Management Agency (REMA). Handed it in and had a chat with them. Hopefully we won't be waiting too long for a reply as they are apparently also now getting some more staff which is good news. Copies of the report also went to the Dir-Gen of ORTPN (tourism) and to RIEPA.

At RIEPA we also had a good chat with James, the director of Investment Facilitation. About the project, Investment Conference, the potential spin-offs from and just Rwanda business and investment in general. Quite nice to have the time to sit and have an informal but yet informative discussion at RIEPA.

Then I got a very worried call from Greg who was also in Kigali but with the overland group I'd met over the last two couple of nights. Their truck's engine had caught fire! Andy and I rushed over and found that in the end it had only been the starter motor but the latter was well and truly fried. We then took them around Kigali trying to find a replacement - nothing. Then there was the issue of where they were going to stay as they had already lost too much time to make the border.

In the end, they push started the truck and set off for the border and finding a place to camp along the way or sleep at the border and set off in the morning. Greg, Andy and myself then set off back to good old Musanze - one does really miss it after a day in the city.