Masindi Hotel

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Masindi Hotel Built in 1923 by the East Africa Railways and Harbours Company.
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Masindi Hotel | Uganda’s oldest hotel since 1923
A national heritage site near Murchison Falls National Park
Historic stays, dining, events & authentic Ugandan hospitality Masindi Hotel was taken over by the government after Independence and remained a part of the Uganda Hotel chain for nearly 30 years. In the year 2000, Masindi Hotel was privatised and has undergone major renovations to recreate much of its former charm.

Happy Independence Day, Uganda. 64 years free.At midnight on 9 October 1962, at Kololo in Kampala, the black, yellow and...
09/10/2026

Happy Independence Day, Uganda. 64 years free.

At midnight on 9 October 1962, at Kololo in Kampala, the black, yellow and red went up for the first time: black for the people, yellow for the sunshine, red for brotherhood. That same year, this hotel passed into Ugandan hands too.

To every Ugandan, at home and abroad: happy Independence Day. “For God and My Country”, Uganda’s national motto. 🇺🇬

Travelling with children? The Family House (Rooms 29–30) has two bedrooms — each with its own washroom and shower — a li...
08/10/2026

Travelling with children? The Family House (Rooms 29–30) has two bedrooms — each with its own washroom and shower — a living room, and doors that open straight out onto the gardens. USD 135 / UGX 520,000, bed and breakfast.

Other family options: Rooms 14 and 15 in the Baker wing combine into a family room, and the African Queen Triple (Room 7) sleeps three under the original 1923 ceiling at USD 105 / UGX 400,000. All our historic rooms have space for a cot.

For school or church groups, the Family House converts to a bunk arrangement sleeping fourteen — quoted on request.

Six and a half acres of gardens, vervet monkeys, and a free history tour at 17:30 that children tend to enjoy more than their parents expect.

[email protected] · +256 772 420 130

On 23 January 1954, Ernest Hemingway’s Cessna caught a telephone line near Murchison Falls and came down. He survived. W...
07/10/2026

On 23 January 1954, Ernest Hemingway’s Cessna caught a telephone line near Murchison Falls and came down. He survived. Within a day, the aircraft sent to fly him out of Butiaba crashed on take-off. He survived that too.

By then the news had travelled faster than he had. Newspapers around the world ran his obituary.

He came to Masindi Hotel to recover — in the room we now call the Hemingway Room, the largest in the hotel — and spent part of that recovery reading his own obituaries aloud.

Later the same year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The room is still here. So is the veranda he sat on. You can book it: Room 8, USD 115 / UGX 440,000 B&B.

The Birders — Rooms 23 to 27 — take their name from what is outside the door.Cycads and palms, old trees, a stone path, ...
05/10/2026

The Birders — Rooms 23 to 27 — take their name from what is outside the door.

Cycads and palms, old trees, a stone path, and enough birdlife that at 06:45 you will not need an alarm. The rooms themselves are small, comfortable and ensuite, and they face straight into the garden.

They exist because birders kept asking for them. Masindi Lagoon is 2 km away and best at sunrise; the Royal Mile in Budongo, widely rated Uganda’s finest birding site, is 40 km.

Every rate includes breakfast, a bottle of water, Wi-Fi and the free history tour at 17:30, and we will do an early or packed breakfast on request.

[email protected]

The courtyard, after dark. Tables under the thatch, cane chairs pulled round the fireplace, and the hour between coming ...
04/10/2026

The courtyard, after dark. Tables under the thatch, cane chairs pulled round the fireplace, and the hour between coming back from the park and sitting down to dinner — dust washed off, the day’s photographs still unlooked-at, nobody hurrying anybody.

Ask and we will light the fire for you. It goes on whenever a guest wants it.

Hemingway’s Bar is open throughout: cold b**r, local and classic spirits, Hemingway-inspired cocktails, a library of books and a table tennis table. Dinner in the Kabalega Restaurant runs 19:00–22:00, à la carte to 22:00, last orders 21:45.

Open to visitors as well as guests. If you live in Masindi, this is your courtyard too.

+256 772 420 130

In Bunyoro, everyone has a second name.An Empaako is an affectionate name used in greeting — a mark of respect, and of b...
02/10/2026

In Bunyoro, everyone has a second name.

An Empaako is an affectionate name used in greeting — a mark of respect, and of belonging. There are only a small number of them, shared across the whole region, and nobody chooses their own. It is given.

It is among the oldest living traditions in this part of Uganda, and one of the first things a visitor notices here: a greeting carries more in it than a hello does elsewhere.

Our restaurant is named for Omukama Chwa II Kabalega, and this hotel has stood on Bunyoro land since 1923. Knowing a little of what you are hearing around you makes for a different evening.

Dinner 19:00–22:00. Tables of eight or more, please book ahead.

A note for tour operators planning 2027 itineraries.• Confidential net rate sheet for the full contract year, in USD and...
01/10/2026

A note for tour operators planning 2027 itineraries.

• Confidential net rate sheet for the full contract year, in USD and UGX, across B&B, half board and full board
• Preferred Partner status at 20+ room-nights a year: better rates, lighter deposits, priority holds in peak season
• Green season discounts in April, May and November
• No undercutting: we don’t knowingly accept direct bookings from clients you introduced at lower rates, and we don’t resell contracted rooms through OTAs
• All operator requests answered within four working hours, 07:00–22:00 EAT
• Thirty rooms sleeping up to 75, held together on one property, with secure parking on site

Registration, licensing check, rate sheet and digital signature — usually two business days start to finish.

masindihotel.com/tour-operators

Everyone says they're going to “Murchison Falls.” Most mean the park. But the falls themselves are one exact place — the...
30/09/2026

Everyone says they're going to “Murchison Falls.” Most mean the park. But the falls themselves are one exact place — the whole Victoria Nile forced through a gap just 7 metres wide, dropping 43 metres. Often called the most powerful waterfall in the world.

We wrote the story of the falls: how they were named, Ernest Hemingway’s very bad week in 1954, and how to stand beside them in a single day from Masindi Hotel — 20 km from the gate.

Read it 👇
https://masindihotel.odoo.com/r/ggY

📞 +256 772 420 130 · [email protected]

Camping at Masindi Hotel: USD 7 per person / UGX 27,000, including breakfast.Six and a half acres of gardens under matur...
30/09/2026

Camping at Masindi Hotel: USD 7 per person / UGX 27,000, including breakfast.

Six and a half acres of gardens under mature trees, an established overlander stop for decades. Separate washrooms and showers — three each for men and women — Wi-Fi across the site, and full access to the Kabalega Restaurant and Hemingway’s Bar.

Vervet monkeys, a great deal of birdlife, and owls after dark.

Driver and guide accommodation is UGX 30,000 B&B, with secure vehicle parking and driver meals arranged.

20 km from the Murchison Falls gate. [email protected]

Room 8 — The Hemingway Room — is the largest room in the hotel: ensuite bath, separate toilet, and a private veranda loo...
28/09/2026

Room 8 — The Hemingway Room — is the largest room in the hotel: ensuite bath, separate toilet, and a private veranda looking over the gardens.

Ernest Hemingway recovered here in 1954 after surviving two plane crashes near Murchison Falls in as many days. The world’s newspapers had already run his obituaries. He read them himself.

USD 115 / UGX 440,000 bed and breakfast, including Wi-Fi, water and the 17:30 history tour.

Book direct: [email protected] · +256 772 420 130

Address

24-34 Butiaba Road
Masindi

Telephone

+256772420130

Website

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