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.

Snow in Rwanda

Karisimbi with snow on during the week. We had a bit of a cold spell for a couple of days when the windscreen of the car had ice on as well.
Lovely crisp Central Africa. This photo was taken from one of the campsites on the western side of the site.

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

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

Photo Updates (2) - Foundation trenches

The trenches for reception, shop and bathrooms




Restaurant, Lounge and their bathrooms trenches dug and ready for foundations

Photo Updates

Pathway past one of the 4x4 sites to a viewpoint of the volcanoes
This pathway joins to the one below and also leads the bathrooms and another campsite

One of the new pathways between the 4x4 Campsites

Happy and Prosperous 2008

Just wishing all a very happy and prosperous New Year and may all your dreams and wishes come true.

All holding out we'll be celebrating our first Christmas and New Year in Ikoro Tented Camp in 2008. Things are moving fast and furiously - most of the time anyway.

Last week we employed another 40 people and this week will be another 50 employed bringing our total of people working on the site to 170. This coming week sees us connecting to our mains water supply and also the first concrete being thrown for floors.

Foundations commence on the restaurant, lounge and bar in this coming week too.

Please feel free to contact me if you're in the area and we'll show you around.

BEST WISHES

Marcell, Sarah and Andy

Photos of Rusumo Falls, Lake Bulera

I mentioned before about the trip I did to Rusumo Falls at Lake Bulera. A few photos have now been posted on www.africa-photo-tour.blogspot.com/ - the link is also in the on the left side of this page.

There is only one of photo that includes Lake Bulera, although a stunning lake, the air was extremely hazy on the day and long distance photos did not come out well at all. Enjoy

General Update

This last while has been a lot of admin and planning work but things at the site are about to start picking up speed with marking out of foundations and final campsite layouts commencing.

Also recently got hold of an article that appeared (April 23 - 27, 2007 publication) in the East Africa Business Times on Ikoro Tented Camp after an interview with one of their journalists. We got a full page in the digest section and a very positive article. A copy of the article appears here http://www.rwandagateway.org/article.php3?id_article=5258

The number of tourists in Musanze is rising very fast as we hit the peak of the season with larger numbers also staying longer in the area, partly also due to people waiting for their turn to track gorillas and permits are spread out over a few days.

At the house, we've appointed Dio as the new housekeeper and cook. He has some previous cooking experience from Hotel Muhabura here in town, so we'll be teaching him a few more skills as we go along. The idea is to reach the point where he runs all household matters including the cooking side of it - maybe even end up at Ikoro as one of the staff there.

4x4 Campsites B (11-26 April)

This particular 4x4 site has a stunning view of Mt Karisimbi from the dining area which is on area about 1.5m above the parking for this site. The campsite per se for this site is about 2m higher on the other side of the parking area.

View from the Dining Area





View of the parking area showing the high rocks on the left.
We've kept the rock walls covered in moss, lichen and vegetation here to retain the rustic look. This site in my opinion one of the nicest 4x4 sites.




A very large tree being removed to make space for the parking

In the left of the pic is the western leg of the 4x4 circular road going to the NW corner.

4x4 Campsites A (11-26 April)

View of the site from its Parking
The parking has been constructed with volcanic rock similar to the rest of the roads on the site and each campsite will have its own dedicated parking spot.


The Clearing Team
The group of guys who cleared and levelled the site in 2 and a half days. This included removing all the existing vegetation and most of the buried rock except where they're standing where the fire place for cooking will be.


Planting Grass after clearing
Grass being planted which should be growing quite quick with all the rain we were having at this stage. The grass being planted around the rock where the fire place will be - so the rock plate will standing out from the grass where the tents can be pitched.

Update after Long Delay

Yes back on and able to update the blog again. I'll be posting the updates from the April 15 post with the relevant in the header. There was some great progress and a short delay but with other things happening though.

I've also been doing some exploring around Lake Bulera checking out future options for activities as well and have some pics of the spectacular Rusumo Falls too. Those pics I'll post on here and/or on the Africa Photo blog too (link from this blog on the left).

Mpisi, my 4-legged girl is also doing brilliantly and hasn't stopped growing yet but being my best friend out there and also our security. There'll be some recent pics of her too.

Anyway, enjoy the following posts.

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.

Before and After Review

These photos are of the bar delivery road which although short, took exceptionally long to clear due to amount of trees growing seemingly out of solid rock. The roots had found/created cracks and grown around the rocks.

View of the road (looking south) from where a ridge separates the road from the back of bar area. It took almost two weeks to remove one tree(People working furtherest from camera)that had been growing through cracks in massive slabs of rock


The Bar delivery road photographed toward the north after completion. The actual delivery ramp will start at the far right hand end of the road, angling over the ridge to back of bar.

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.

Good News

We got some very good news from Andy today about Mpisi. She's recovered very well from the tick bite fever and become very lively and playful. This has been a week of concern with regular updates from Andy about Mpisi's recovery.

A big thanks again to the vet's who've been checking up on her. Its really good having our new member of management i.e. Mpisi back and healthy and I'm looking forward to seeing her again next week when I get back to Rwanda.

Updates from the site indicate that most of the footpaths are finished and the roads are progressing well. Next week I'll take some more photos and post them here.

A Tribute to Imondo

We received very sad news yesterday that after two days after a lot of attention and hard work by the vets and Andy, Imondo died from a bout of tick bite fever. This tribute I also want to use to thank all the vets for the professional attention they gave Imondo from the moment they found out she was ill.

We will miss Imondo immensely having being the most lively (and tallest) of all the girls and always the one to make us laugh. She was also the bouncy one keeping her siblings out of the their sleep and on their toes, starting many a game of mad run-around.

Now leaving Mpisi alone with us, we will never forget her and are happy that at least she had a good quality of life for the last 2 and a half months of her life.

Andy will be burying at Ikoro near the spot where we found them abandoned just before Christmas.

Mpisi has also been tested and is being treated as well for tick bite fever. We're all holding thumbs with the vets that they've caught it in time and she recovers.

Progress with English

The English lessons now being led mainly by Andy is progressing very well. There is a core group of 10-20 (varying on whether there are any community activities etc) who still attend the lessons every Sunday afternoon.

Last week they had some 'homework' to do with basic sentences in English. Working through them today, Andy and I were pleasantly surprised yet proud and impressed with what the guys had done. They had made an effort to incorporate place names and activities they had learnt over time at the site into their sentences. So, in addition to being able to construct basic English sentences in conversations, some of them can now write it as well. Although the spelling is still phonetic at times, it is extremely pleasing to see this progress.

There are of course some who can't write (never learnt to write) but that has not put them off as they push forward by remembering all that's said and practicing the sentences. This pleasingly puts to rest some people's opinions that if someone had not gone to school, it is very hard, if not impossible to teach the person(s) the new language.

At this rate, this part of our staff training will be well advanced by the time we start the training in hospitality matters.

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.