CENTENARY park: from crime spot to bridal paradise

Mar 17, 2006

Picture this. You propose to your sweetheart, she accepts. Next, you plan a classy wedding where you will invite over 500 guests. You would love the wedding ceremony to take place in an exotic locale, say, like a garden or park.

By Joseph Batte

Picture this. You propose to your sweetheart, she accepts. Next, you plan a classy wedding where you will invite over 500 guests. You would love the wedding ceremony to take place in an exotic locale, say, like a garden or park.

Sarah Kizito, the proprietor of Lady Charlotte, is turning the Centenary Park into the first bridal gardens in East Africa, if not Africa, called Lady Charlotte Bridal Gardens.

But it is more than just that. It is a public park, an amusement park and bridal garden all rolled into one. The gardens will have a swimming pool, a health club, children’s park as well as basketball and tennis courts. It will also have restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and ice-cream shops –– meaning that other than hosting weddings, Lady Charlotte Bridal Gardens will serve as a peace escape from the urban environment, where one can go and “recharge the mind in many ways.”

The fact that the bridal gardens are situated right in the middle of four hotels — Hotel Africana, Garden City Hotel (under construction), Shimoni and another to be constructed next to her park, will add to their profile. In the wake of the Commonwealth conference next year, the park will not only enhance the beauty of Kampala, but will also serve as a place where delegates can go and recuperate after a hard day’s deliberations.

Where did Kizito get this ‘crazy’ idea of bridal garden’s in a public park? “Actually, I borrowed this idea from the US where I had gone to attend a friend’s wedding a long time ago. Four years ago I made up my mind to put up one like that somewhere in Uganda but I did not know where.

“I realised that with this wonderful weather, this country would be having the most beautiful gardens and parks in the whole world. Look at Dubai, it is built in the middle of a desert, but plants and flowers make it one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Most Chinese cities I have visited during my business trips also have very beautiful gardens. Unfortunately Ugandans seem not to have a culture of loving flowers and plants,” Kizito says.

She says one day as she drove by Centenary Park on her way to work, an idea struck her. “Why not the Centenary Park?’ She wondered. The place was not properly maintained. Years of neglect (save for the odd mowing from Kampala City Council) had taken their toll.
During the day, the park looked neglected and at night, it became a den for thieves and one of the most dangerous places in the city where one would easily be raped, robbed, beaten and murdered. A number of victims were actually killed there. That did not put her off. She applied and was given the tender because she was the only applicant.

“It was initially offered to two big investors, but none of them could touch it. The idea of keeping it green did not appeal to them. They preferred constructing buildings there. When one of the investors learnt I had won the tender to develop the Park, he asked me: “Onafunira wa?( will you make profit out it?)” Kizito says.

“He could hardly see the glory of parks, especially the freedom they offer and the simple, innocent pleasures like jogging, relaxing, children playing on the swings.” Kizito says the venture is a natural culmination of her love for beauty, flowers, plants and beautiful clothes since her childhood. Indeed every motorist and passerby at Centenary Park can see that love.

Within five months, one can see the transformation of the park from an eyesore into a sublimely beautiful place and Kampala’s brightest natural spot. It even caught the eye of President Yoweri Museveni recently as his motorcade drove past the park, he ordered it to slow down so he could say “hello” to the workers.

Its distinguished features include the lush lawns, the flowers and new trees that have been planted, the streams, walk ways and stone gardens. Kizito says she is strictly following the environmental guidelines put in place by Nema, the environmental watchdog in the country, and the international requirements for putting up a public park like shades, walk-ways and toilets but without affecting the environment.

Of the 13 acres of grass land, they have only utilised one acre. The rest of the area remains green. Sarah Kizito has also planted over 1,000 trees and flowers in the park.

Asked how much money she has spent on the garden, she says hundreds of millions of shillings. “I don’t want to even talk about it because I am still spending more as you see the job is not yet finished.”

However, despite being a prime spot and great idea, Lady Charlotte’s Bridal Garden’s has one or two “rough patches” that should be “stitched up.”
One: No bride or groom wants their dream wedding to be a disaster. Some kind of semi-permanent structure, like tents, should be put in place just in case it rains as couples exchange their marriage vows.

Two: Such a unique place also demands imaginative management. Thus, a small permanent structure to house administrative offices and a store for delicate furniture and decorations should be put up (with permission from Nema of course) to protect them from heavy torrential tropical rains that often pummel Kampala and turn it into a flooded swamp.

The goods news is, though Kizito is shaping the gardens into an exceptional place and a tourist attraction, anybody wishing to enjoy the freedom and pleasure of her bridal garden will not be charged.

“Nobody will be charged to enter the place. It will be open for public use. The only items that will be on sale are the sodas and other beverages and a few exclusive services like the health club, the children’s play ground and functions,” she says.

Her initiative makes you wish there were more local investors out there who appreciate beauty and nature.

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