Pics: 2006 work and the Girls

The Girls' new home/mansion I built for them with a section covered with wire mesh to protect them from birds of prey, the same reason there's a door. The door will come off once they're bigger and a more unlikely target for our avian predators.












The Girls in their temporary home inside the house and their Kinyarwanda names; Mpisi (Hyaena), Imondo (serval), Ingwe (leopard), akajama (little gangster











A before (insert) and after photo of one of the pathways leading to the safari tents

The SW section of the ring road around the 4x4 campsites (rock and soil)

The start of the road leading from the finished reception stairs leading to the campsites

Final week for 2006

Yes, in the home stretch of 2006 and everyone on the site is pushing to finish their team projects before Christmas when we'll be stopping construction until after the New Year. Also the time when we're sending out Season's Greetings to everyone who's been involved with the project and supporting us.

We do also have a little suprise for the guys on Friday, their last day of work. On Saturday Sarah will be arriving for a Rwandan Christmas and New Year whilst Andy and Claude go and spend the Christmas with their respective families. For Sarah and me their's a large, large turkey waiting to be cooked on Christmas Day - no oven, so it will be buried in a hole with hot coals and covered with sand and rock.

Looking back on 2006, we've achieved so much and the guys have really worked well. From a Eucalyptus forest to a place where one can now visualise where everything is going to be and roads, pathways etc are taking shape - already adding even more character to a lovely site.

Last week was also the 1st anniversary of us signing the purchase contracts for the land - feels like yesterday. This was followed by the hedges being planted on the perimeter and the start of the Enviornmental Impact Assessment and eventually the removal and clearing of trees, the latter being our first real big work on the site. Starting with 4 guys working for us, we end the year with about 50 people working for us. Projections for the new year is that this number is likely to at least double with actual construction commencing.