Today we’d like to introduce you to Dagmara Ikiert

Hi Dagmara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

After running a leased hotel in Morocco for 5 years and a lodge in Mambo, Tanzania for 4, time has come to venture into ownership and that’s how in 2023 Uvi House & Restaurant was born. Located on a Cliff in the Tanzanian Usambara Mountains, it’s a restored hotel that didn’t survive the COVID-19 pandemic. It was my major goal to preserve the original soul of the place while creating an eco friendly business concept to empower the community.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Tones of struggle! Being taken seriously as a woman in a men dominated hospitality business, as a very young woman, was terribly hard work. Bureaucracy, legal issues, expensive residency, jealousy of others. Own business is always a rough path, but at the end of the day – hard work, persistence and confidence will get you where you belong. Even if it’s not where others would have pictured you.

As you know, we’re big fans of Uvi House & Restaurant . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?

Nested on a spectacular cliff, at 1841 m altitude, Uvi House & Restaurant offers a comfy, reasonably priced rooms with en-suite bathrooms and an incredible view of the mountains and the Masai step.
It’s an eco friendly, socially involved business concept with the main goal of improving the local employment opportunities while giving the visitors a taste of an authentic, cultural immersion in the Usambara mountains. The word „Uvi” means chameleon in the local language of the Usambara mountains Kisambaa. We are located in the Western Usambara Mountains chain in the Northern Tanzania, East Africa. Elevated at 1900 m above the sea level our Cliff offers a Nature immersion experience. Surrounded by tall Eucalyptus trees Uvi House rests spectacularly overlooking the Masai Step and Pare Mountains. With good weather conditions Kilimanjaro can be spotted as well above the clouds. Usambaras are also home to the Shagayu Cloud Forest where Black&White Colubus monkeys live. Our trees are full of chameleons and birds including some endemic species. Hills are covered with small villages and your stay will give you a unique insight into Tanzanian rural life.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?

We have learned that the ability to adapt is the most important marketing skill. Before others have realized that the hospitality business would never be the same again, we took immediate actions in order to promote our business on the local scale, among domestic travelers and expats. It saved the hotel and rather than struggling we were thriving!

Pricing:

• Superior cottage from $40 per person per night
• Cliff tent from $30 per person per night
• Camping from $5 per person per night
• Homemade meals from $5

Contact Info:

• Website: https://uvifoundation.com/index.php/uvi-house-restaurant/
• Instagram: https://uvifoundation.com/index.php/uvi-house-restaurant/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/RAHv4KQUhsjP9o4n/?mibextid=LQQJ4d