Introduction

For those out there reading the blog that don't know what the project is all about, just a little introduction.

Elegant Africa Ltd was registered in the UK with Sarah Speake and myself as directors. Our goal was to establish a Tented Camp and campsite in Ruhengeri (Musanze) and separate luxury lodge in Northern Rwanda. Our initial focus would be the Tented Camp and campsite which would feature 10 luxury en-suite safari tents, restaurant, lounge adn separate bar and recreation area. Further facilities would include campsites with dedicated ablutions for 4x4 safaris and overland safaris.

Through this we hope to employ people from our immediate communities and also increase their skillset in so doing. The construction process would also utilise local materials, labours and traditional skills as far as possible.

April 2005 we presented our business plan to the Rwanda Investment & Promotion Agency (RIEPA) after having registered Elegant Africa as a Rwandan company as well. This was received very favourably with huge support from the Rwandan government and the tourism auhtorities. Our visit in June saw the presentation of our concept design from Symbion (architects)

After lengthy discussions, negotiations and meetings etc, we purchased 6.25hectares of land in Ruhengeri from the community and signed our initial lease with the newly established District Council of Musanze. The land consists of about 20,000 eucalyptus trees fo varying thicknesses with only a few indigenous trees on soil that's mostly made up of volcanic rock. Our goal is to eventually have replaced all the eucalyptus trees with indigenous plants.

Since then, hedges have been planted around more than two thirds of the property leaving the only most of the road facing border open for construction purposes. The whole hedge planting was managed by Andy, a Rwandan we've appointed as our manager and well worth his weight in gold.

At present we are awaiting the finalising of the Environmental Impact Assessment which then has to be submitted to REMA (Rwanda Environmental Management Agency) for final approval. In the meanwhile, our building plans have been approved by the Musanze council, although we await the final approval from REMA before commencing with anything.

We still make regular visits to the site, about 3-4 a week to check the hedges all in place and all well. We do also have some of the guys from the community checking on things there when we're not there. In particular, I keep my eye on the bird and plantlife which seem to think they're in heaven now with no grazing of livestock etc going on anymore - becoming quite wild actually.

You may ask why a blog. There are so many things happening that we felt we wanted a something to look back on and probably smile about some of the things we stressed about. The blog also gives our supporters and friends the opportunity to follow our progress on a daily/regular basis and at the same time have the opportunity of making comments etc.

I will be updating the blog on a daily basis, usually in the evenings. Pics of the site, concept design and copies our previous newletters are also available on our website.

Cheers and regards

Marcell