Another week gone!

Another week has sped by with us still waiting for the EIA approval but that's possibly a little light we see blinking at the other side of the tunnel. This week was also mostly in the office again - bah!

OnWednesday morning decided to get the old legs exercised again and blood circulation going and went for some photography and birding to the site. What a pleasure, our nesting Golden-Breasted Bunting has a very healthy looking chick in the nest and the Paradise Flycatcher parents were flying around with their young one. A pair of Chinspot Batis (small flycatchers) was also busy building a nest. Oh yes, and another new species for the site - Black-headed Batis (a totally new one for me), that brings the site list to 51 species.

From there, we met our attorney in town and then decided we'll make a relaxing day. Andy went off to football practice and I went to see how my pool playing skills had deteriorated at Hotel Urumuli against the local patrons. Quite an entertaining and amusing time it turned out to be and I also became the target for "revenge" games whenever I won - yes, great fun.

Yesterday and today I was busy preparing for my trip to London and spent time at the banks this morning followed by a haircut at the local barber or "hairdressing salon". Its the second time I've gone to cut my hair there and it still remains a novelty for passersby (funny that - only the second time a "mzungu" has gone in there). The guy who cut my hair last time, proudly took his place this time and let the others know that he's an expert with mzungu hair now. A dollar later and I had a pretty good haircut, as good as anywhere else labelled as "civilised".

Sunny Weekend

Saturday and Sunday turned out to be lovely sunny days and also time for me to get a bit domesticated.

Saturday was car valet day, miles and miles of dust and mud to be washed off - inside and out. This turned to be quite a good day for it as I managed to get some good sun and a little bit of exercise (there was some serious scrubbing to be done). Turns out I got a bit of sunburn but these things happen. So after a good productive day, out for a beer with Greg and some of the people from the Dian Fossey research centre.

Sunday, a little bit more relaxing with some chores around the house. I also spent some time working on the birds of Rwanda checklist booklet and managed to make a big dent in that as well. Andy got back early from Uganda so we set about making some nice thick creamy vegetable and cheese soup - mmmmmm!

Today was more or less an office day and starting to get documents etc etc ready for my trip to the UK and sorting things here that need to be dealt with in my absence. We did have a nice spell of rain today, something we haven't had for quite awhile (being dry season and all) and it was very welcome indeed. The temperatures have dropped quite a bit now but living up here we're more used to these temperatures than the really hot days they have in Kigali.

Running Around

This past week turned out to be a bit of a run-around. I went to Kigali just after midday on Monday to try and sort out part of the EIA report and stayed overnight at the Hotel des Mille Collines. Things didn't turn out as planned, so back to Musanze and the next morning back to Kigali again.

The Wednesday trip was more productive as I handed in the documents required by REMA for the EIA. The time in between till now was spent mostly in the office at home on the pc - so unfortunately nothing exciting there.

A Nesting Bird

I went out for an early morning birding session again this morning which turned out to be really productive. Also had a young lad who has distinguished himself as a bird spotter. He's the brother of one of the guys who always help us out at the site but still at school.

One of his spectacular finds was a bird on a nest, a Golden-breasted Bunting - I had already walked straight past it when he called me back and pointed it out. I managed to get some photos and explained to the guys that we need to stay well away from the nest so that we don't disturb it and/or alert predators like other birds of prey etc to its location.

Now its time for some buckle down and write report(s) for the rest of the weekend.

TGIF

Most of today was set out for the admin set at home with an afternoon meeting set up with REMA followed by a late afternoon spot of birding at the site.

The meeting went very well and it was good to chat at length with someone from REMA just in general as well about their work (they're a very new agency). Discussed the EIA queries and I made a commitment for early next week to submit the required info.

Andy and I then left for the site where we very soon realised how much quicker it gets dark in our "forest" at the site than in general. Once again not too many species but really good sightings including a pair of African Harrier-hawks hanging around and a migrant (we think according to its plumage etc) Grey-hooded Kingfisher. I hadn't seen a kingfisher up here at all yet so this was a most pleasant surprise and managed to get some record shots - due to distance, the pics aren't good at all.

Also saw some of the waxbill species we saw yesterday that had been new ones for me. So a most productive day on all fronts. A long weekend of EIA work ahead for me which I'll temper with a couple of hours birding in the morning before settling in behind the pc for the weekend.

Tourism Association

I was in for some morning meetings here in Musanze and copious amounts of coffee.

Greg introduced me to Japhet, the chairman of the Amahoro Tourism Association which is the umbrella association for a large number of community-based projects in and around Musanze. Japhet hails from Birwa Island, one of the islands on Lake Bulera. There is estimated to be around 176 families (approx. 560 people) living on this island that also has a church and a school on. Almost all the people practice subsistence farming but used to historically fish in the lake for a living. They're of course hoping the moratorium on fishing is lifted soon so they can start fishing again. The soil is fairly poor, so they do battle a bit with crops.

The associations represent a variety of activities like banana-leaf weaving, tailors, woven chair making and then a variety of cultural activities like dancing, drumming and explaining the old traditional religion in which many trees play(ed) a significant role. I'll find out more about the latter because I know we have some of the trees that featured in this religion, on the site.

The birding at 11am was very productive although the numbers were obviously not as good yesterday, being over midday. We were also hugely distracted by the butterflies - their time of the day for hill-topping (checking and ensuring territories are in order). The picture above is one of the butterflies we encountered in the north-east of the site.

Liberation Day celebrations etc

Moth at the house a few days ago
Forgot to say, yesterday was Liberation Day in Rwanda. A National holiday with much celebrations around the country. In Kigali for example, veterans from the war in 1994 were honoured with medals at the Amahoro Stadium. In Musanze there were also celebrations at the Musanze stadium and was in a similar thread. I didn't attend unfortunately - was doing month-end admin.

This morning Andy and I started with a daily routine (for a few days anyway) of going to the site for 2-3 hours and listing the bird species on site. This morning we were there around 6:45am and ended with a pretty decent 28 species for the 2 1/2 hours with a few new ones I hadn't seen at the site yet. The flycatcher and seed-eater species were particularly well represented. Tomorrow we're going out there from about 11am and the next day after 4pm and so on. This way we get a fairly good idea of the species one can find on a regular basis but also the infrequent visitors.

There probably won't be much else on the agenda this week other than the birding etc as the week is set out for admin including finalising the EIA queries so we can get that back to REMA.

Kigali & Admin

Yesterday was a long day in Kigali again with meetings literally from arriving till departure at 5:30 the afternoon. Turned out to be quite productive though in most instances.

We got some short admin queries from REMA, the environmental agency, about the EIA we had submitted, so a bit of work there but nothing major though. There doesn't seem to be any problems with our proposals on being environmentally friendly and the general way we intend to do things at Kioro.

Also spent some time with one of the tour operators in Kigali and we ended up planning the publication of a bird list for Rwanda, possibly with corporate sponsorships from some Rwandan companies.

Then an afternoon meeting with an organisation that specialises in capacity building throughout Rwanda, a really worthy cause as this is something that is very high on the "Required" priority list here. Also discussed our plans as regards training of staff and people in the neighbouring communities.

Today was a more admin-ish day with all the work that goes with finishing off the month-end matters that still hang around - month-end having been on Friday.

Caving

Andy & I got all our gear together for a bit of exploration commencing after Andy's football practice. This included headlights, flashlights, cameras, extra batteries, first aid kit etc etc - one never knows what to expect you know.

First of all we set off for Musanze Caves which is about 2km from the centre of Ruhengeri with the entrance located just off the side of a school's football pitch. Arriving there, no indication of where the caves could be but venture toward the further end of the football pitch and you find this huge, lush green depression. On the far side of this depression (at least 15-20m at the deepest point and about 50x30m) there's a natural volcanic bridge - amazing with vegetation growing over the edges, hanging down and partially covering the opening between the bridge and the ground.

The cave is closer to where one parks the vehicle and has a massive entrance. We had established that this had been the site of a massacre during the war in 2004 and people were not encouraged to enter which was also enforced by regular checks by the military. We respected this and were allowed though to enter the immediate entrance area of the cave. Gosh!! Massive is an understatement - width and height and just disappearing into the dark. We didn't spot any bats but the some of the school lads who accompanied us say that at dusk one can see the bats coming out - another day to be set out for that!

From here, we set off to Kinigi Guesthouse for lunch and discuss the plans they had made for us to visit the Kinigi Caves. The manageress told us that she had managed to get hold of the Executive Secretary for the local council who had sent someone to accompany us and also give directions to the caves. After a fantastic lunch we set off with the 4x4, and was I glad we had a 4x4! The road made its way through villages, totally off the beaten track, and at times petered out to little tracks but great stuff. I was thinking that if I enjoy it that much, imagine how the tourists will enjoy it once its set-up as a proper excursion.

The distance was probably only in the region of 3-4km from the Guesthouse but trust me, it took us awhile to get there. Then out of the blue,between some Eucalyptus trees, the manageress and our guide says stop, we've arrived! My reaction was "Oh...?! Ok."

First to our right, we walked/trekked down about 10m in height through thick vegetation, not unlike the vegetation you find when tracking the gorillas. Eventually down there, a cave about 20m long and about the same width and up to 10m high roof with a small exit on the opposite side. While I'm there taking pictures and video, Andy starts chatting to some of the young lads who are telling us how regularly they see leopard going in and out of the caves. One sighting they had, the leopard had abotu 6 youngsters with her! Today though, no leopard.

Apparently one of the older men said that it would be of no use for us to take flashlights as they don't work in those caves. I only found this out when we left but the guy must have had huge surprise when my headtorch DID work! There was no explanation given for this belief but that is what they believe and its not negotiable.

Going up to road level, our guide took us above the exit of the cave we had just been in and you could see the entrance to another cave about 20m further. We didn't go into this but this one is apparently about 2km long until you exit to above ground and a few meters further enter another set. According to the guide and manageress, there are 3 sets of caves like this and believed to join up with the Musanze Caves we had been at earlier today. An estimated trip of 3-4 hours wlaking through the caves.

Community based tourism is on the agenda for these caves with ORTPN, Kinigi Guesthouse and IGCP preparing to train guides to take tourists on excursions through the caves. They do need to regular recces first before taking people in due to the leopards apparently finding these caves irresistable. What a day though!