The Coffee Pot Hotel: A Family’s Legacy
Kisoro’s Coffee Pot Café is an institution. Known all across the Ugandan slopes of the Virungas, this cozy place of mixed German and Bafumbira DNA opened its doors in 2010. After 15 years in the business, it’s currently reinventing itself.
At the heart of this transformation is Joseph Ndagijimana who was a kid when his granny launched the Coffee Pot. Sent to Kampala for studies, boarding at Vienna College Namugongo. A couple of years later he moved to Europe where he would eventually complete a hotel management course. Now he’s back in Kisoro to help run family enterprises, with the Coffee Pot Hotel as their pinnacle.
“Long beloved for its cuisine and lively ambiance, the café used to be only a daytime spot, often leaving travellers wishing they could linger longer,” Joseph explains the thinking. In mid May the first two rooms were ready, and they will expand gradually to five rooms before November comes. The price range will be USD 55 (single) to USD 200 (suite).
“My uncle Benjamin and his wife Lidi have also recently opened the Hama Spa on the same compound. My job is to make sure the cafe, hotel and the sauna work well hand in hand. Some kilometres away we also have the Mutolere Coffee Pot Guest Houses. These are the predecessors of the hotel, we used to rent them to volunteer doctors from different countries, but now they are available to anyone.“
All in all, Joseph’s has a lot on his plate, and we are eager to see where this is going. The Coffee Pot is an important stop for the hikers on the Gorilla Highlands Trails, and a lunch place for any traveller we bring to Kisoro.
“It’s a great fortune that my grandson Joe has joined me in the hotel venture,” says Waltraud Ndagijimana. A florist’s daughter from Western Germany, she stole the heart of gynaecologist Dr. Damian Ndagijimana. In the 1970s he brought her to his home town Kisoro as he became the first African doctor at St. Francis Hospital Mutolere. Following a literature teacher career, Wal started a small craft shop that eventually grew into the Coffee Pot business. “I have been working harmoniously with all my staff, and I hope this will continue in future,” she keeps her fingers crossed.
text by Owen Bright and Miha Logar; photos by Miha Logar and Joseph Ndagijimana
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