Out of town for fun

High castle towers, with long winding staircases, beautiful yet vulnerable princesses, dashing prince charming in shining armour, wicked witches and evil step mothers. Fairy tales do sound exaggerated in this day and age. But nonetheless, when you set eyes on the cottages at Nile Village Hotel & Spa in Jinja, these images conjure up in your mind.

The orange cottages stand tall between the stone-paved walk ways and neat flower beds. The interplay of the colours of nature and the buildings including the main hotel establishment make for a great canvas. Situated in a town renowned as a worthwhile getaway spot, I was glad that the environs met my out of town aspirations.

When I picked a top floor room on one of the cottages, I didn’t think much of it until I was on my balcony looking down at the hotel and up to the sky. I was glad to have a moment to explore the room as my children hurried off to take a dip in the swimming pool.

The dark wooden polished floor blends quite well with the wooden furniture. It was tempting to leap on the seemingly thick bed in a childlike manner heading straight for the pillows, that very first time I entered my room.

But after driving to Jinja, nothing seemed as fitting as a bath, but not just any bath. For your holiday experience you need to wash up in a luxurious setting. I would have loved to soak in a bathtub and pretend I didn’t have to check on the children in the pool area, but all I had to contend with was a shower.

Meals time
Dinner is one of the things I look forward to- give my daughter and I an exotic menu any time of day. Nile Village’s menu that Josh Geldenbuys, the general operations manager described as international, when he stopped at our table as he walked around chatting with the dinners, left us spoilt for choice.

Forgetting about the calories, I opted for lasagna, a favourite of mine. My friend Pauline and our children also managed to pick some really great dishes popular in any uptown restaurant, the prices were not any different too.

Geldenbuys later told me that the hotel seeks to fill in the gaps in as far as culinary tastes go with a rich variety given the limited option of food in most restaurants in Jinja. A Ugandan influence however is still kept in some of the offerings.

Clientelle
Being situated on Kiira Road, not far from town centre has thus made the hotel’s Taste restaurant popular with non-residents especially at lunch and dinner hours when the restaurant is busy.

During our stay, being the holiday season, families made a big part of the guests present and some prominent faces. We bumped into the Nnabagereka Sylvia Nagginda’s father, John Mulumba Luswata with some family members. Being relatively new, during our stay in late December, the spa was still under construction.
In the day time you could see constructors busy on one side of the establishment. Managing director Harry Kasigwa could not apologise enough for the activity as he explained the big plans for a luxurious spa. The jovial former politician took his time to chat to guests at the pool side bar as some of their children played football in the adjacent garden.

Throughout my stay one question played in my mind. With the services in some once popular establishments deteriorating over the years, I wondered if this place will maintain its tagline, ‘comfort and luxury on the Nile’. “You have to constantly reinvent yourself that is the only thing that will enable you keep high standards,” was South African native Geldenbuys answer to my question.

He added that competition in an industry such as theirs will also encourage them to work harder. Theirs, he believes, is a task explained in a few words, “to make you feel at home when you walk in here. Needless to say my little ones couldn’t stop whining and coercing me into spending one more day. A holiday can’t be forever, though, one ought to make the best of those brief moments and we excelled at it.

WHILE THERE…
• Nile Village Hotel has 30 rooms including cottages, suites and apartments
• In the hotel, you can indulge in the spa or have off side activities in other parts of Jinja arranged for you such as water rafting, bungee jumping, or quad biking.