Masindi Hotel in western Uganda has hosted Ernest Hemingway, Katharine Hepburn, and Humphrey Bogart, among other stars. The oldest hotel in Uganda is a perfect place to break your journey from Kampala to Murchison Falls National Park. Have a tasty lunch or just sip coffee while tripping down the memory lane.
The town of Masindi used to be a popular transit point between Congo, Southern Sudan, and Mombasa. The legendary East Africa Railways and Harbours Company built Masindi Hotel already in 1923 to strengthen the village’s role as a gateway to the hinterland of Africa. Beautifully renovated building is among the oldest in Uganda. ”Hemingway Bar” and the inner courtyard have both historical character and infallible colonial charm.
Ill-fated Ernest Hemingway recovered from two consecutive plane crashes in the room number 6. Humphrey Bogart had stayed in the very same room during the filming of ”The African Queen” that brought his only Oscar. Bogart’s counterbalance Katherine Hepburn stayed in the room 5. The filming was allegedly as adventurous as the movie itself. Hepburn’s book ”The Making of The African Queen: How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind” reveals that everybody except Bogart and Huston, the director, got sick from the foul water. The men were so marinated that they were unaffected.
Masindi Hotel lies just 20 minutes drive from the gates of Murchison Falls National Park and 3 hours from Kampala or Entebbe, in the town of Masindi.
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