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!

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.