Masindi Hotel

Masindi Hotel and its lots of history

Masindi hotel is one of the oldest hotels that are still operating in Uganda. It is located in Masindi town in the west of Uganda. It is situated along the road that connects from Kampala to Uganda’s prime destination Murchison falls national park, to the biggest forest in the country Budongo forest and to the western rift valley escarpment. Masindi town has kept its fame because it was once a very busy town of economic work including commerce and trade and a close center called Butiaba was the airport where planes to Africa landed and refueled. Many travelers therefore used to spend their nights at Masindi Hotel. Masindi town is also one of the areas where the British explorers Sir Samuel and Lady Florence Baker crossed when they were in Uganda and Churchill Winston also passed there when he was heading to the Murchison falls.

On your way to Masindi town or to Murchison falls national park, you can stopover at Nakasongola to visit Ziwa rhino sanctuary for rhino tracking.

Masindi hotel was constructed in 1923 by the Ugandan Railways and Harbor Company when Butiaba port was still busy due to commerce and trade as well as tourism purposes. The port is on the eastern shores of Lake Albert and this is where tourists to Murchison boarded boats to transfer to the park to watch the game and the mighty falls. During the same period, Masindi was a gateway to Sudan and Central Africa. The area was busy with commerce and trade because it is where goods from Congo and Sudan were brought before they were taken to Europe and other parts of the world.

Masindi hotel was a transit stop for people who were involved in transferring goods along Lake Albert to Butiaba port, then to Masindi Customs Area from where they proceeded to Masindi port on Lake Kyoga. From Masindi Port, the cargo was shipped to Soroti and by railway to Mombasa.

Masindi Hotel has a lot of history including being featured in the ‘The African Queen’ movie, at this place Katherine Hepburn liked the place while Humphrey Bogart and Director john Huston relaxed at this same Hotel and took lots of liquor.

It is at Masindi Hotel where Ernest Hemingway and his wife rested when their airplane crashed after hitting an old telephone wire at Murchison fall. Ernest and his wife spend some time along the shores of the Nile after the crash. They were later on rescued and transferred to Butiaba where another plane also took off but also crashed. Ernest Hemingway was declared dead yet he was at Masindi hotel recovering from the bruises, burns and injuries while enjoying liquor. He was at the Old Stanley Hotel in Nairobi when he read his death notice in an international newspaper.

There are also celebrities like Lauren Bacall and the Travel writer Micheal Palin who stayed at the Hotel.

Masindi town is easy to access and its services and food and drinks are those that you will enjoy with the excitement of the next areas you are heading to and where you are coming from. A variety of dishes are prepared including local, Indian and Continental dishes. They also have lots of drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic and the prices are not so high. There are a lot of trees in the surrounding and you’ll break the day while watching the beautiful birds.

The hotel holds a lot of history due to the period it has spent in operation. It is still in good shape and all rooms are very comfortable to stay in. You need to consider visiting it and stay at the same place where many popular guests stayed when they were in Uganda.