diff --git a/src/libfetchers/github.cc b/src/libfetchers/github.cc
index 985f2e479..07d7e15fe 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/github.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/github.cc
@@ -248,10 +248,15 @@ struct GitArchiveInputScheme : InputScheme
             getFileTransfer()->download(std::move(req), sink);
         });
 
+        auto act = std::make_unique<Activity>(*logger, lvlInfo, actUnknown,
+            fmt("unpacking '%s' into the Git cache", input.to_string()));
+
         TarArchive archive { *source };
         auto parseSink = getTarballCache()->getFileSystemObjectSink();
         auto lastModified = unpackTarfileToSink(archive, *parseSink);
 
+        act.reset();
+
         TarballInfo tarballInfo {
             .treeHash = parseSink->sync(),
             .lastModified = lastModified
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/tarball.cc b/src/libfetchers/tarball.cc
index 2d05eb41d..3acf96e20 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/tarball.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/tarball.cc
@@ -155,6 +155,9 @@ DownloadTarballResult downloadTarball(
 
     // TODO: fall back to cached value if download fails.
 
+    auto act = std::make_unique<Activity>(*logger, lvlInfo, actUnknown,
+        fmt("unpacking '%s' into the Git cache", url));
+
     AutoDelete cleanupTemp;
 
     /* Note: if the download is cached, `importTarball()` will receive
@@ -179,6 +182,8 @@ DownloadTarballResult downloadTarball(
     auto parseSink = getTarballCache()->getFileSystemObjectSink();
     auto lastModified = unpackTarfileToSink(archive, *parseSink);
 
+    act.reset();
+
     auto res(_res->lock());
 
     Attrs infoAttrs;