Bar, Lounge & Restaurant

During May the concrete slabs for the bar, lounge and restaurant were completed. In order to deal with the varying levels between sections and buildings as well as aesthetic purposes, the concrete was poured 'within' a perimeter of small shaped volcanic rocks. This then also hides the level of concrete from view when the buildings are seen from the outside as the walls will be erected inside but against the edge of this little rock perimeter.


The photos below show clearly how big the difference in levels between sections and buildings really is.

From foreground to back: edge of bar, lobby from reception, lounge, restaurant to far left and bathrooms serving restaurant and lounge to the far right.
Bar and recreation area (far left) - looking across to where the campfire area will be

April 2008

April was a bit all over the shop for me with a week in Kenya meeting people including somebody from a group lodges that have offered to assist in training our staff at one or more of their lodges in the Masaai Mara. This program would also involve them helping out with their trained staff assisting and shadowing our staff during the first couple of months Ikoro Tented Camp is open. A massive boost thus for our proposed training program for our staff.

I had also been in London for Sarah's birthday party with the obligatory champagne of course which also coincided with a house move in London. Speaking of which, please make sure if you have any correspondence for our London address, to confirm you have the correct address.

Back in Musanze, Andy and I went to see how the stone-cutting machine operation was going that we thought would provide cut volcanic rock for building. This has since fallen by the wayside and all our building is now with hand-shaped rock from quarry in an area known as Gahunga.

End of April saw Sarah and I hosting our first dinner for guests in the new covered entertainment area with about 15 people present. After some snacks and drinks, a 3 course dinner followed around a lovely big fire. Definitely not the last time we'll be doing this - if you're in the area, give me a shout and I'll set-up a dinner/bbq for the late afternoon or evening.

Trip to South Africa (March 2008)

The visit to South Africa was very productive and included a visit to the company whom we intend buying the roofing for the public areas from. It was decided that we would use a synthetic thatch which serve us much better as far as durability and transport costs go. Furthermore, this would also mean we could harvest rainwater from these roofs. The synthetic thatch is well manufactured with custom-made colours and looks like the natural thatch. This also bring down the total weight and stress on the overall roof structure as this product is all in all with waterproffing material and backing, max an inch thick. 'Installation' will also be a fraction of the time-frame it would take to use natural thatching on the 2,000sq.m roofs.

I also went to get some examples of toiletries for our safari tents and both Sarah and I agree with the quality that we'll be able to provide quality in even this to our guests. There was also a visit to a firm in Cape Town which it seems we'll be sourcing the majority of our linen from who is also a large supplier to the hotel and hospitality industry in SA.

Kitchen design was also on the agenda and I had a very informative and productive meeting with a specialist company in Cape Town.

'New' House in Musanze

December 2008 we moved house in Musanze. A lovely property we're renting at the moment but decided it needed some work to on the gardens and outside - for a start anyway. A little bit further from centre of town but generally still a reasonably central location and 1.5km from the site. The one side of the property was previously all dedicated to a vegetable garden which, by the time we moved in, was totally overgrown.

The idea was to convert part of this to a lawn and garden adjoining the existing front garden and formalising a section into a vegetable garden towards the back of the property. I also designed an outdoor bbq area with a banana fibre roof which would also prove to be a worthwhile 'test drive' for similar structures at Ikoro for the campsites etc.

The photos here are of the work we'd done to date and the way it looks at the moment.

Part of the rock garden at dusk I built with some of our guys using large volcanic rocks. Some rocks took 4 of us to carry.

A view of the vegetable garden with rock pathways between the beds.

View across part of the back lawn of the covered bbq and entertainment area

Updates

The next couple of days I'll be updating the blog with photos of the project and snippets of news since the last update. Unfortunately, I only have photos after March as my laptop was stolen during a visit to South Africa which contained about 5,000 photos including ones of the project - a dear lesson and reality check in backing up the data and photos to external media.

Anyway, as you'll see from the posts after this, there has been huge progress in all aspects of the project. Our number of employees has also swollen and now stands at around 260 people with 200 working on the site itself and another approx. 60 on a stone quarry we purchased for the rock to be shapped for the building.

Enjoy the journey with us through the review of the last few months.

New Pathways

To date most of the photo updates have been shown pathways that are in the area of the safari tents and the 4x4 campsites. Some new pathways have now been completed in the overland campsites areas. These link different levels and/or terraces of campsites to each other as well as roads and facilities. In some places I've laid them out so a path end on a ridge near some campsites which would have a nice view and/or is just a quiet spot away between some trees where people can sit and have a read or think.

Keep in mind that all these pathways will have lanterns hanging along them at night so its not going to be a hunt/fallover in the dark to see where you're going.

Pathways leading from the large main campsite to 3 other campsites and bathrooms.

Zoomed in to the upper left of the previous photo - showing a terraced campsite to the right of the pathway.

Path leading off on one side to the bathrooms (far mid-left) and one onto a little rise on the ridge and the nearest one leads to another campsite and viewpoint.

Snow in Rwanda

Karisimbi with snow on during the week. We had a bit of a cold spell for a couple of days when the windscreen of the car had ice on as well.
Lovely crisp Central Africa. This photo was taken from one of the campsites on the western side of the site.

Overland Campsites & Facilities

A collection of photos of the overland campsites, their access road and one of the cooking areas which every truck will have. Each of the cooking areas and campsites have been laid out individually taking into account the contours of the area and/or other prominent features.

Another campsite along one of the ridges

One of the smaller campsites hidden behind one of the ridges.




The main southern campsite with more campsites terreaced between the contours on the farside of this photo.








One parking and turning area for 2 trucks at the southern end of the overland sites. Campsites off to the right of the road.




1st Cooking area being finished off, the next one should be done by Monday

Photo Updates (3) - Foundations

Reception seen from the office side




Reception foundations seen from the lobby exit that will lead to the restaurant, lounge and bar. Main reception in the foreground with the office at the furtherest end.







The foundations completed of the bathrooms for the crew/guide rooms







Completing the foundations of the Crew/Guide roomsAll the foundations being done with volcanic rock as well

Photo Updates (2) - Foundation trenches

The trenches for reception, shop and bathrooms




Restaurant, Lounge and their bathrooms trenches dug and ready for foundations

Photo Updates

Pathway past one of the 4x4 sites to a viewpoint of the volcanoes
This pathway joins to the one below and also leads the bathrooms and another campsite

One of the new pathways between the 4x4 Campsites

Happy and Prosperous 2008

Just wishing all a very happy and prosperous New Year and may all your dreams and wishes come true.

All holding out we'll be celebrating our first Christmas and New Year in Ikoro Tented Camp in 2008. Things are moving fast and furiously - most of the time anyway.

Last week we employed another 40 people and this week will be another 50 employed bringing our total of people working on the site to 170. This coming week sees us connecting to our mains water supply and also the first concrete being thrown for floors.

Foundations commence on the restaurant, lounge and bar in this coming week too.

Please feel free to contact me if you're in the area and we'll show you around.

BEST WISHES

Marcell, Sarah and Andy

Photos of Rusumo Falls, Lake Bulera

I mentioned before about the trip I did to Rusumo Falls at Lake Bulera. A few photos have now been posted on www.africa-photo-tour.blogspot.com/ - the link is also in the on the left side of this page.

There is only one of photo that includes Lake Bulera, although a stunning lake, the air was extremely hazy on the day and long distance photos did not come out well at all. Enjoy

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.

Pics of the roads

View south of the road leading down to the southern overland parkings and sites - about 10m from the main southern parkings.


View from Reception side, of the two northern overland parkings. (Mpisi walking around in the foreground)


Northern leg of the 4x4 circular road (looking west). 4x4 Parking and campsite planned about a third of the way on both sides of the road.

Western leg of the 4x4 Circular road (looking North)A 4x4 campsite is planned just past the small banana tree midway up the road on the right.

Before and After Review

These photos are of the bar delivery road which although short, took exceptionally long to clear due to amount of trees growing seemingly out of solid rock. The roots had found/created cracks and grown around the rocks.

View of the road (looking south) from where a ridge separates the road from the back of bar area. It took almost two weeks to remove one tree(People working furtherest from camera)that had been growing through cracks in massive slabs of rock


The Bar delivery road photographed toward the north after completion. The actual delivery ramp will start at the far right hand end of the road, angling over the ridge to back of bar.

Roads and Campsites

Sarah and I have been spending some time around the site reviewing the progress that's been made with the roads and earmarking locations for the 4x4 and overland campsites.

The 4x4 circular road has been completed with the guys just finishing the final levelling with small pieces of rock rubble. The whole junction between the first two overland parkings have been completed with major progress being made on the road down to the southern parkings and sites.

The bar delivery road has also been completed. The plan is to make a 'ramp' from this road over the ridge between this road and the bar and a pathway with which deliveries can then be moved by a trolley to the bar store.

In the next 2 weeks I'll be taking a lot of photos showing the completed road sections and also the clearing and layout of the various campsites.