Overland Sites

Photos of the main overland campsites and the cooking areas which we've paved with the locally made red bricks.

Looking northwards up the the main campsite. A cooking area for one group visible in the right of the photo.

The southern-most end of the main campsite with the cooking area for one group here. Parking for the southern 2 sites partially visible in the background.

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.

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

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.

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.

Finished section

After a lot of admin and meetings the past week, there is also some more good news from the site.

The second overland parking is also finished. Having been led by one of our new masons, this parking area looks brilliant and as level as anything. A lot of work has gone into this parking with, as mentioned before, tons of rock being used to fill up the area first. This was followed by a base layer of rock and finished off with a top layer of large rock compacted with soil again.

Looking at this spot before we started there shows how much work really had to be done. The front end of the parking had to be dug out, almost 1.5m deep. The centre hollow had large loose rocks that we then had to remove to see where our firm base is, this left a crater over 1m deep by 4m x4m.

For comparison, look at the pic in the previous post on 12 Feb showing the half-finished site. (I will post a photo of the finished product at a later stage)

Now follows the joining by rock of the entrance areas of Overland parkings #1 & 2 as well as the approach road from Reception. Every stage of this work now has to be monitored carefully as this is also from the road leads down to the southern-most two overland sites, which is also about 5m below the level of this section of road.

Overland Sites: parking & approach

The junction where the road to the right branches off the 4x4 campsites circle road and the one to the left approaches the overland campsites.



Looking in the direction of the junction in the first photo from the overland campsites. At this point about 10m from the parking areas.










Work in progress at Overland parking #2. This is post having filled in the site by hand with approximately 1.5ton of rock (looking west toward the front of the parking)










Overland parking #1 finished. The end of the parking in the foreground will be joined by an upslope 'ramp' from the approach road. Looking toward the front of the parking here in a NW direction.

The Past week reviewed

In addition to the excitement of our first foundations, work has been progressing very well. The "Ikoro Girls", the puppies, also had their next set of injections and two of them have left us today to Kigali. Akajama and Ingwe have settled in very well in their city home according to their new owner. Hopefully Mpisi and Imondo won't be missing their sisters too much. They will also now be going to the site with me everytime I go giving them and even bigger area to run around in but also more used to being in the car with me and being between people.

Andy and I have taken on another 20 employees on the site. 18 of them are masons which brings our number of masons on site to over 30. The total number of people working on the site is now 70! The enormity of the workforce hits home when one sees everyone setting off to their various workplaces on the site in the morning.

The pathways are proceeding quite rapidly as the guys are clearly into the swing of it with the masons knowing what we're expecting. Its becoming a more and more pleasing sight to see the pathways meander further and more widely through the site. Latest photos of the pathways in a follow-up post.

The roads are going very well with the 1st overland truck parking place completed. The second truck site has commenced which is quite a lot of work as there's a lot of filling up to do but the guys there are working hard with a high level of productivity.

The circle road around the 4x4 campsites is going very well too with a team that seem to outshine the rest in productivity with absolute ease.

In respect of the roads I'll also do separate posts to show some of the latest photos.