Tuhende Safari Lodge, Kampala, Uganda

Location:

When we arrived at the hotel, we were a little unsure of the location and thought the area was a little suspect; however, it turned out to be a pretty convenient base from which to explore Kampala. The hotel is located in Old Kampala, within walking distance to the main center of Kampala and most attraction. If you don't feel like walking, taxis and boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) are readily available on the street in front of the hotel. The location is noisy because it is on a busy street but does have a supermarket, bank and Internet service near by. Surprisingly the street noise could not be heard in our room so it really wasn't a factor during our stay. After speaking with the hotel owner, we learned that the Tuhende Safari Lodge will be moving to a new location across town in the near future, but could not verify the validity of that statement. This hotel is a popular hotel for backpackers and volunteer groups.

Room Comfort:

The rooms at the Tuhende Safari Lodge are old and not well maintained. It's unfortunate because the hotel has the potential to be something very special with very few improvements. Although you can book rooms individually, we ended up booking an entire section which contained two rooms, a bathroom and a common area with a fridge and a sink. The two rooms were basic and small. Other rooms available at the hotel are set up like a typical hostel with multiple beds in one room and a shared bathroom. The way the rooms are set up on the interior of the building structure, it does offer for a quiet evening after a busy and loud day in Kampala, but again, the areas are worn down and in a need of a make over. Furthermore, the showers did not always have hot water and the mosquito nets over the beds were dusty and ripped.

Cleanliness:

Although the bed sheets seemed clean, the rooms didn't. There were spider webs on the corners of the ceiling, chipped paint on the walls and the bathrooms were slowly falling apart. The rooms, especially the bathroom, had lots of mosquitoes which is quite common in Uganda, hence the need for intact mosquito nets over the beds. Despite the lack of western style cleanliness, the rooms weren't that bad for Kampala's standards. We believe the problems in these rooms could be easily fixed with some minor maintenance and a good cleaning.

Service:

The service was good as the staff tried to do everything they could to make our stay enjoyable. On our first night at the hotel, the water heater in our bathroom wasn't working. One of the staff in charge, Patrick, was very quick to get help but despite their best efforts they could not manage to fix it and it ended up leaking all night. Even though Patrick offered us a different room where the heater was working, we decided it wasn't worth moving that evening, since we were checking out the next morning, but instead Patrick allowed us to shower in that vacant room. Patrick was extremely friendly and always found the time to greet us and tell us interesting stories about life in East Africa. When we returned to the hotel a few days later, Patrick was excited to welcome us back and to show us that the water heater in our room was fixed and had hot water again. Check-in and check-out were a breeze and we received timely responses via email when booking.

Food:

The hotel has a popular restaurant on-site with great prices on meals, but unfortunately we can only say that the food was average. We expected much more as we read multiple positive reviews about the delicious food that the Canadian chef prepares, but instead we were left a little disappointed as we felt that the food was lacking flavour.

Overall Value:

If you're looking for a relatively cheap place to stay for a night or two and don't mind the worn down rooms, the location and friendly staff at this place make it ideal.  Otherwise, we would suggest you looking for accommodation elsewhere. Although finding good accommodations in Kampala can be difficult, there are better options for the same price. We can't recommend staying at this hotel, but should the rumours be true and a new Tuhende Safari Lodge opens its doors in Kampala, we would be more than glad to pay them another visit.

Other Notes:

If you do decide to stay here, ask for Patrick and take the time to talk with him as learning about him and where he came from is an eye-opening experience. We really enjoyed our conversations with him and they were the highlight of our stay at the Tuhende Safari Lodge.

Our Rating: 2.5/5   Year Reviewed: 2009 

For the best possible price, please visit Expedia.ca. You can also visit the hotel's website at: www.tuhendesafarilodge.com

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