This now, is the tale of two rival hotels, located along the same street in the heart of Arusha
Boma Road which was the first and main street in Arusha and still is, the home to two famous hotels.
The first, then known as the ‘New Arusha,’ displayed a board announcing that it was exactly midway between Cape Town and Cairo.
A few meters up the street there was the newer Safari House which boasted an unusual copper topped bar to which a baby elephant had been led in for a drink in the 1962 John Wayne led Hollywood film Hatari.
Located much far away from the two rivals, there was, and still is, Mount Meru which overlooks the pretty garden town beyond the now Gymkhana golf course and the main road to Nairobi to the north.
In his book, ‘Tanzania: Journey to Republic,’ Randal Sadleir, a former colonial servant in the former Tanganyika, describes the profile of Arusha Town as it looked in the late 50s.
“The streets in the residential areas of Arusha used to be lined with purple jacarandas and the well-kept gardens displayed a profusion of tropical zinnias, petunias and marigolds mixed with the roses, hollyhocks, ferns and carnations of England.”
The botanic appeal of the city has since disappeared with irresponsible urban management.
At 5000 feet above sea level, the Arusha climate used to be perfect.
Especially for newcomers arriving from either Tanga or Dar-es-salaam where they used to experience the sultry heat of the coast.
Arusha morning used to be golden, a delightful landscape with dew-dappled lawns, mists and a nip in the air, mingled with the fragrant scent of cedar hedges.
Brian Herne in his book, ‘White Hunters: The golden age of African Safaris,’ also relates his experience of the two rival hotels in town.
Stan Lawrence-Brown had his office in the Safari House which became Safari Hotel building, as he was the manager of the property.
Safari Hotel, which retains the name to date, even under new management, was located one hundred yards up the street from New Arusha which was run by Brown’s rival, Russell Douglas, who was in charge of the older property.
The Safari Hotel was newer, and probably fancier than the New Arusha, but it did not have the trout river frontage, lovely grounds, or the Old World charm of its rival.
It seems the New Arusha, currently operating as the Four Points by Sheraton, used to have a frontal opening towards Themi River and possibly that the water body named after an even larger river in central London, provided the hotel guests with some form of fishing sport.
The Safari Hotel on the other hand, was a four-story rectangular box built of stone and concrete, and in its time the interior was comfortably appointed with lofty rooms.
Even today, while the Safari has sunk into obscurity with the advent of newer hotels, including ‘The Palace,’ next door, one cannot help but notice that this large hotel has all its plumbing on the exterior of the structure, a result of an oversight by the contractors, who had forgotten to include plumbing.
The hotel was owned by two aristocratic English sisters, Gladys and Margot Rydon.
Both women also owned prosperous coffee estates.
Gladys lived in a magnificent mansion overlooking a mysterious crater lake called Duluti, seven miles east of Arusha.
Margot’s son, David, was killed by a buffalo near Arusha in 1964.
