Kikonko Lodge - Lake Albert - Uganda

I have just been to the site to check on the progess. It was amazing! The last time I was there in December and Stefan had been up there 2 weeks ago. Incredible how much has changed! The cottages are all nearly ready to be roofed and on the first one the roofers actually already started. The restaurant's foundation is about to be laid. It was great to be there and check that the original structures are according to plan and sure enough Richard and myself found a few small deviations that we were able to correct. We discussed a lot about the bathrooms, the steps in the restaurant and whether or not the bar should have a step. We also re-positioned the kitchen to ensure that less noise gets to the restaurant part. And the landscaper were also on board. They measured the whole place, we talked about which plants could possibly grow in the soil and in the harsh weather conditions. There is just too much progress!!! Have a look at it yourself:

It becomes more and more visible how Kikonko Lodge will eventually look like!  Some of the cottages are standing and waiting to be roofed!!! And while the cottages will be roofed, the foundation of the restaurant is being laid:

The structures are standing and the roofing can start. The only challenge that presents itself right now is: how to get wood preservative?? I spent the whole morning calling different companies trying to find Tanalith C, which is the stuff that is needed to preserve the wooden poles of the roof against termites. Without it, the termites will nicely chew away on our lodge and in no time the roof will collapse.  "Tanalith C, ah no madam, we are out of stock." is the answer to my question. "When will you get more?" "Ah, maybe soon." "How soon is soon?", I am getting slightly impatient. "After some weeks." "After how many weeks exactly?" "Maybe after three or four weeks." Aha, there was my answer finally. Three to four weeks! That is way too long, the builders are on the site and we were hoping to have the first cottage roofed by next week. So, next shop.  "Tanalith? Ah, no, we don't have that....

This past week the "real" building has finally started! The walls are being raised at a crazy speed!The roofing is supposed to start towards the end of the week as well. This would mean that possibly in March we will have the first cottages standing. It is super exciting to now see how a plan, drawn in Kampala on a dining table, actually materializes! All the discussions we have had around how it should look, which walls to build where - all that is now THERE, on our site. Now it beomes quite visible how the place will look like once it is finished.

To get a better idea, here is a small video... Progress, progress, progress!

Stefan and Richard left Kampala today really early in the morning to go to Hoima. Once they reached the site, Stefan was quite surprised to see all the progress that has happened since the last time he was there in July 2018. Getting ready for the concrete sealing of the foundation The view of the final cottage will be amazing! At the moment there are about 20 people working on the site The foundations are being filled with rocks, boulders and sand What now looks like a parking will be the restaurant later on

The land in Buseruka is DRY! Well, when we bought it, we had obviously thought that we would simply drill a borehole and that this would give us water. Hmmm, after the water engineer came to the land and asked two very simple questions "Do you have a palm tree on the land?" and "Do you have termites?" and we had to answer "No" to both (well, actually, the termites somehow found their way to us now) it was clear for the engineer that there is no water whatsoever. Drillig a borehole would not work, getting water through pipes from the lake was also not an option. So we decided to buy a water truck and supply ourselves. Here is our truck with its unique colors! Stefan quickly designed a small advertisement flyer for it. We also saw that some of the villages nearby our construction site have very little water and that people struggle to get water for their every day lives. We bought four 10.000 litre water tanks and positioned them in strategic pla...