Original Story Published by: Ian Gill for Post Magazine
(Above) The buffet lunch at the Itegue Taitu Hotel, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, would have pleased the protagonist of Evelyn Waugh’s satire, Scoop, greatly.
Once host to Scoop author’s eccentric, eclectic cast of fictional characters, the Itegue Taitu Hotel may play down its literary history, but the ghost of William Boot lingers.
The ghost of William Boot is back to haunt the resurrected Liberty Hotel.
Addis Ababa’s Itegue Taitu Hotel, made famous as the Liberty in Scoop, Evelyn Waugh’s acclaimed 1938 satire about sensation-seeking foreign correspondents, has been restored following severe fire damage in early 2015, more than a century after it was built.
“It is a heritage building and has been repaired close to its original form,” acting manager Woineshet “Winy” Teshome says, as I wallow in literary nostalgia over curried chicken in Ethiopia’s oldest hotel.
Today, compared with its many-starred rivals, the Taitu is modest in facilities and price; Lonely Planet describes it as offering “a cash-strapped overlander a classy experience for very little coin.”
The venerable hostelry’s two-storey black-and-white facade, its wraparound exterior veranda and, within, its high ceilings, wooden floors and monumental staircase would be easily recognisable by Empress Taitu Betul, after whom it was named. The third wife of Emperor Menelik II conceived it as a place where guests “could dine in tranquillity while enjoying the cool breeze and views of the plains below,” according to the potted history written on the hotel menu.
In 1896, Menelik II had stunned the world by defeating a large and well-equipped Italian army at Adwa. It was a shocking reversal in the scramble by Western powers to colonise Africa.
In its aftermath, Menelik II sought to unite and modernise a nation fragmented by feudal fiefdoms scattered over a vast and often inhospitable terrain. This involved bringing in foreign advisers, diplomats and businessmen – all of whom had to be accommodated.
