Hotel Rwanda

Kempinski is embarking on an ambitious expansion phase, including some launches in more unconventional destinations. The compay's vice president MEA, sales and marketing, Roland Obermeier tells Laura Collacott how the plans are unfolding.

That's a nice bit of kit," notes Roland Obermeier pointing to our photographer's camera; "I just bought a new one myself. I was taking photos in Rwanda with it."

This leads naturally to an inquiry as to how Kempinski's Middle East and Africa Vice President found himself in one of Africa's more recent trouble spots. The answer lies in the group's ambitious expansion plans for the Middle East and Africa region: "We're growing at the moment from nine hotels in the region to over 25," he reveals.

This expansion includes several new properties across the Arab world (Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar) but also an interesting push into some more exotic (and arguably less stable) African locations, including Chad, Sudan, Djibouti and Namibia.

But it is the Rwanda project that particularly whets my appetite, a sentiment echoed by Obermeier who has just spent six months working on it; "That's quite an exciting one. Which is why I had the camera with me."

The development involves a network of hotels: A hub in the capital Kigali alongside lodges in three different national parks; a game park, a rainforest park and a volcano park. The Volcano National Park boasts a particularly exotic attraction that Obermeier is confident will attract a variety of guests.

Leaning in conspiratorially, he describes the special selling point of the project: "The second lodge that we have there... will be upgraded to a Kempinski standard over the next few months and will, after a white label phase, be re-branded as Kempinski Lodge, Gorilla Nest. From there you have about five minutes to the briefing centre for the gorilla hiking. You drive up in cars from here to the rainforest and then you walk into the bush with so-called trackers who locate the gorillas for you. When you find them, you sit between them - they are as far away as you are from me - you sit between them and take as many pictures as you dare of this incredible experience!"

Few people can claim to have had such a unique experience with one of nature's most rare creatures. And that is precisely the point that Kempinski plan to play on.

"There's a charge of US$500 for you to go to the gorillas; it's limited. There are only a few gorilla families that you can visit. (There are a few others but they are there purely for research purposes; nobody can visit them.) The families that you can visit are restricted to 56 visitors per day in groups of [a maximum of] eight."

Some tour operators even claim that the trip is booked up years in advance, so coveted is the prize of an audience with the silverbacks. The very fact that it is not easily accessible is key for Kempinski.

"It's a limited experience and for us, luxury goes hand-in-hand with a limited experience..." explains Obermeier; "like the Fabergé egg." Quite.

This philosophy makes almost immediate sense of the company's African drive, a continent rich in natural but isolated assets, but is not the only motivation.

Kempinski is a hotel management company that works in collusion with owning partners to develop its international hotel network. Arab investors in particular are investing heavily in the African projects. Why?

"The Middle East - and partners that we have here - have invested a lot in Africa now because they see it as a key growth market," reveals Obermeier. "Our property in Djibouti, for example, is owned by the same company as [the Rwanda hotel], Dubai World."

The particular locations in the vast continent that these investors choose to put their money into depends on their individual strategies.

Institutional investors may, for example, ally new developments with their subsidiaries in various African countries.