Our Staff at Work

Some photos of our people at work on the site.

Rock being thrown over the sub-terrain walls for foundantions of the inner walls.

Volcanic rock being broken in preparation for shaping for building. The rock is also shaped with hammers, albeit small ones.

Volcanic rock being carried from where it's been delivered on the site, to the place where required by the masons.

Bar & Recreation Walls

After reception walls were done we started with the bar and recreation area with their shared toilet facilities (restaurant & lounge have their own as well). These buildings have large windows and around the front will have many wooden full-length louvred doors opening to a 2m wide wooden deck and the forest beyond. Part of the view from the bar and restaurant will include the large communal outdoor campfire area.

The bar/lounge lobby entrance from reception on the near right with 2 of the large windows of the bar visible to the centre.

The lobby between the bar and lounge seen here from the lounge in the foreground. The bar is beyond the the lobby.

View across the floor of the bar towards the recreation area. The wall on the left will form the back of the half-moon bar. From centre to the doors (visible in the right of the shot) is an 8m radius - this building will also have the highest roof with the centre post in excess of 12m high.

The location for the bar centre post visible in the foreground. Further across, the opening where full-length louvred 'shutter doors' will open to a 2m wooden deck.

Walls Start going Up!

The first walls started going up on 3 June - a long awaited and exciting day. The excitement spread through all our employees as well and our top masons got the honour of starting the walls of reception. As you'll see in the photos below, the walls of reception is now complete as well as window and door lintels with only the concrete ring-beam to go.

The laying of the first volcanic rock "bricks" - this particular spot being where the little shop would be located.

Walls in progress - looking toward the half-moon where the reception counter will be located.

View of the completed walls from the main parking area - the main entrance would be up the stairs in the foreground.

Closer view of the completed reception walls, over the stairs that will make out part of the main entrance.

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.

'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

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