General Update

This last while has been a lot of admin and planning work but things at the site are about to start picking up speed with marking out of foundations and final campsite layouts commencing.

Also recently got hold of an article that appeared (April 23 - 27, 2007 publication) in the East Africa Business Times on Ikoro Tented Camp after an interview with one of their journalists. We got a full page in the digest section and a very positive article. A copy of the article appears here http://www.rwandagateway.org/article.php3?id_article=5258

The number of tourists in Musanze is rising very fast as we hit the peak of the season with larger numbers also staying longer in the area, partly also due to people waiting for their turn to track gorillas and permits are spread out over a few days.

At the house, we've appointed Dio as the new housekeeper and cook. He has some previous cooking experience from Hotel Muhabura here in town, so we'll be teaching him a few more skills as we go along. The idea is to reach the point where he runs all household matters including the cooking side of it - maybe even end up at Ikoro as one of the staff there.

4x4 Campsites B (11-26 April)

This particular 4x4 site has a stunning view of Mt Karisimbi from the dining area which is on area about 1.5m above the parking for this site. The campsite per se for this site is about 2m higher on the other side of the parking area.

View from the Dining Area





View of the parking area showing the high rocks on the left.
We've kept the rock walls covered in moss, lichen and vegetation here to retain the rustic look. This site in my opinion one of the nicest 4x4 sites.




A very large tree being removed to make space for the parking

In the left of the pic is the western leg of the 4x4 circular road going to the NW corner.

4x4 Campsites A (11-26 April)

View of the site from its Parking
The parking has been constructed with volcanic rock similar to the rest of the roads on the site and each campsite will have its own dedicated parking spot.


The Clearing Team
The group of guys who cleared and levelled the site in 2 and a half days. This included removing all the existing vegetation and most of the buried rock except where they're standing where the fire place for cooking will be.


Planting Grass after clearing
Grass being planted which should be growing quite quick with all the rain we were having at this stage. The grass being planted around the rock where the fire place will be - so the rock plate will standing out from the grass where the tents can be pitched.

Update after Long Delay

Yes back on and able to update the blog again. I'll be posting the updates from the April 15 post with the relevant in the header. There was some great progress and a short delay but with other things happening though.

I've also been doing some exploring around Lake Bulera checking out future options for activities as well and have some pics of the spectacular Rusumo Falls too. Those pics I'll post on here and/or on the Africa Photo blog too (link from this blog on the left).

Mpisi, my 4-legged girl is also doing brilliantly and hasn't stopped growing yet but being my best friend out there and also our security. There'll be some recent pics of her too.

Anyway, enjoy the following posts.