Curtain falls on guru who founded Sarova hotels

It was common to see Gurcharan Singh Vohra, fondly known as Chani, driving his Mercedes Benz on Nairobi’s Argwings Kodhek Road.

The man, who had a calm aura and a smile to share with everyone, is best known for his contribution to Kenya’s tourism industry. He was the man behind the Sarova hotels, resorts and game lodges.

Family, friends and the tourism fraternity bid him farewell at the Hindu Crematorium last Saturday, one week after he passed on in London. He was 78.

As the chairman of Sarova Group, one of the leading hotel chains in Kenya, Mr Vohra was instrumental in shaping the hospitality industry, having capitalised on the tourism boom in the 1980s to spread his roots.

From its first property on Nairobi’s Moi Avenue, Sarova grew under Mr Vohra’s watch to a chain that owns two hotels in Nairobi, one in Mombasa, five lodges and a city hotel in London by the time of his death.

Mr Vohra was a second generation Singh who started working at the age of seven at his father’s bicycle shop in Nairobi’s River Road, where he grew up.

His father, Sardar Singh Vohra, had travelled from Rawal Pindi, in the Himalayan Ranges, to the south western coast to board a dhow that landed on the East African shore.

With encouragement from his school teachers, Mr Vohra applied to study law at the Honourable Society of Lincolns Inn, London, where he was accepted.

He graduated at the age of 17, in 1952 and had to wait a year before he was admitted to the Bar because he was young.

Upon completion, he moved back to Kenya where he opened a law firm, Vohra and Gitau, specialising in criminal, divorce, family and common law.

Source of funding

In 1974, Mr Vohra acquired the Ambassadeur Hotel on Moi Avenue in partnership with his family and John Ngata Kariuki, the executive director of Sarova and former Kirinyaga Central MP.

The partners borrowed money from different sources including a bank to make the acquisition which led to the birth of Sarova Group.

Two years later, the partners acquired the 22-acre Whitesands Beach Resort Hotel. Today, the hotel is one of the leading destinations in north coast, especially for the domestic market and conferences.

When another opportunity came up to buy The Stanley in 1978, the business men negotiated a bank loan and purchased the hotel at the corner of Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street.

The hotel, which is over 100 years, boasts a rich history and was last week crowned as the leading hotel in the Kenya at the World Travel Awards, the Oscars of the travel industry.

Venturing into the wild

The group invested millions of shillings to upgrade new investments and later ventured into the wild with Mr Vohra going to explore the Maasai Mara in search of where to put up Sarova Mara Game Lodge.

Once Mara was complete, Sarova opened Lion Hill in Lake Nakuru National Park in 1986 and Sarova Shaba in Shaba National Park three years later.

In 1992, the African Tours & Hotels put Panafric Hotel up for sale. Sarova bought it after selling its first property Ambassadeur Hotel.

It is in the Mara where Mr Vohra learnt more about wildlife, trees and protecting the environment.

Over the years, he initiated several conservation projects including the planting of trees in the Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Park, in addition to reclaiming and conserving the Nairobi National Park through the Greenline Initiative.

He was also on the forefront raising awareness on elephants to help in taming rising cases of poaching amongst numerous other initiatives.

Mr Vohra was also the patron of the Kenya Paraplegic Organisation which was behind the ‘Bring Zack Back Home’ campaign, an initiative towards the construction of a spinal injury recovery centre.

He also set up the Vohra Foundation that mainly gives scholarships to deserving students.

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