The Kampala Serena: A celebration of African culture

• Kampala Serena is a continuous swell of artistic creativity and originality.
• Architecture and interior design was carried out by Symbion International.

But you are really expensive,” I said to Stephen Kangave, that evening’s Duty Manager at the Kampala Serena.

“Not so much!” he protested, with a confident smile. “When you compare the amenities and the services of any other hotel in the city, you will see that the small difference in price is well worth it!”

Well, after enjoying two pampered days and comfortable nights at his hotel – and having sampled, I think, all its main rivals over the last few years – I could only agree with Mr Kangave.

Mind you, a number of new hotels have sprung up Kampala in the last year or so, in a small frenzy of building in order to cope with, or cash in on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that was held there last November.

Some of those hotels might well struggle to survive – but not the Serena. Well before it was confirmed that CHOGM would go to Uganda, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Investment had decided to make the US$30 million investment in converting the old Nile Hotel.

Nevertheless, you could say that the Serena certainly cashed in, having hosted the opening ceremony and accommodated Queen Elizabeth.

The Kampala Serena is a very sophisticated and special place – ranking, without doubt, as one of the best hotels in the whole of Africa.

The architecture and interior design was carried out by the Nairobi-based Symbion International.

Some years back, after Symbion had refurbished the rooms of the Nairobi Serena, I spoke with Jon Cavanagh, their Managing Director.

He explained a basic concept of designing a hotel room. The bedroom, he said, should express something of the culture of whatever country you are in – but the bathroom, especially for women guests, should be as bathroom high-tech as anywhere else in the world.

Well, the Kampala Serena has exploded this concept. The bathrooms, yes, are as clinically efficient as you could wish. Otherwise, the whole hotel is a celebration of Ugandan and African culture.

“We brought the colours of Africa,” said Jon Cavanagh, “the lakes, rivers and fertile soils, into almost every aspect of the project.”

At the opening of the hotel in 2006, Prince Amyn Aga Khan elaborated on the same concept. “We took the Nile as our theme,” he said.

“The Nile as a place where different peoples met, different philosophies, cultures and aesthetics crossed each other and which, from this intermingling, produced a continuous swell of artistic creativity and originality.”

And that is how the Kampala Serena is: a continuous swell of artistic creativity and originality. I can think of no other hotel, anywhere, that has made such an investment in art.