It is almost an inevitable late night topic of conversation among journalists. ‘What is your most memorable hotel?’
Usually people respond with a fond anecdote of the cocktails in the Long Bar at Raffles in Singapore, the impeccable service at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, or the creative accountant at the Commodore Hotel in Beirut who would write the bill out so you made a small profit on your expenses.
For me, the most memorable hotel has to be the Hotel Des Grand Lacs in Goma in the former Zaire. In the last years of Mobutu Sese Seko’s reign we were travelling and filming all over the region – from Kinshasa to Rwanda to the war across the border in the eastern part of the country which brought us from Bukavu to Goma.
Today the hotel is buried in volcanic ash, but then it was an old Belgian edifice that had very little of the mythical colonial splendour left. The building must have once been quaint. The ground floor was made of face brick. The upper floors were supported by painted wooden beams. The rusting corrugated iron roof was steeply gabled.
The garden was rundown, and the swimming pool had been empty for decades. Above the entrance was a forlorn sign that read ‘Holiday Zaire’, but no one came any longer.
My room had a good view of Lake Kivu, but the windows wouldn’t close properly. As soon as the sun went down mosquitoes swarmed above the bed. Shrivelled corpses of moths clung to the single light bulb that hung off a cord beneath the sagging ceiling.
We had arrived exhausted from a long trip in neighbouring Rwanda. All we wanted that first night was to relax with a cold beer, and, perhaps, a plate of chicken and rice
hamilton wende
For leaders seeking a powerhouse speaker on high-stakes leadership, Hamilton Wende delivers unforgettable insights on navigating uncertainty and leading teams through crisis.
Based in Johannesburg, this veteran international journalist has spent forty years reporting from the front lines of 17 global conflicts for networks like CNN, the BBC, and National Geographic.
Hamilton translates his unparalleled battlefield experiences into actionable leadership strategies for the corporate world. A multi-year National Press Club Journalist of the Year and Gold Telly Award winner, he is a trusted advisor to multinational corporations, including Nedbank, Bosch, and Transnet, helping executives master crisis communication, narrative branding, and strategic resilience.
A prolific author of nine books and a top-tier keynote speaker, Hamilton blends gripping frontline storytelling with practical business wisdom, showing leaders exactly how to maintain focus, build trust, and drive results when under pressure.
