The Story so far….

So how did an Irishman come to run his own lodge in Tanzania? This is the question so many bemused clients often ask me and indeed it is a question I occasionally ask myself! Let’s start at the beginning.. When I first met my wife Pamela Lupembe-Egan in Ireland back in 1997 I had little idea of Tanzania let alone the notion that I would be living and working there a few years down the line. Pamela Lupembe-Egan, my wife, comes from the southern highlands of Tanzania where her grandfather presided over his own region of Lupembe. After she graduated from high school in Dar Es Salaam Pamela decided to go to university in Ireland where she did a degree in business and law. However a career as a lawyer was not to be as Pam followed her heart into the food business, establishing a highly acclaimed and successful catering business. But a law degree and a catering business was not the only thing Pam picked up when she was in Ireland and when she went back home for a holiday in 2001 she took an Irish husband with her!

My first experience of Tanzania was love at first sight. With so many unique and incomparable attractions from the beaches of Zanzibar and the Tanzanian coast to Mount Kilimanjaro, the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti it has to be said that this country has it all. After graduating from Oxford University with a masters degree in Literature and working for numerous years as an actor, one would not have thought that building a safari lodge in Tanzania was the next automatic choice on my list of things to do! But then again, we decided, why not? And so, after much discussion, a few pints of Guinness and a little bit of brainstorming the idea of our lodge was born! The lodge was built between 2003 and 2004 and opened for its first customers in the autumn of 2004. The concept and design of the lodge was first and foremost to create the feeling of home away from home. With this idea in mind the Irish Bar was created thus guaranteeing the genuine feeling of home away from home for at least one man in Tanzania! The bar and dining area are comfortable yet intricately designed and the small size of the hotel guarantees an intimate and memorable experience. The rooms evoke the spirit of indigenous African design and the food, we hope, will encourage you to ask for more! We welcome you to the Octagon Safari Lodge and look forward to seeing you there soon. Karibuni Sana!