"Not sure… but talk to Gianni"

For about four years, that was the most repeated sentence at the reception desk where I worked.

There were four, sometimes five of us behind that counter. But whenever a traveller leaned in with the question — "where do I get a proper local meal around here?", "where's actually happening tonight?", "how do I get to the gorillas without selling an organ?" — my colleagues had a reflex. "Hmm, I'm not so certain… but talk to Gianni."

So they'd talk to Gianni. Hi. I'm Wabosha Samuel Gianni, founder and developer of HIVE, and this is the story of how a hotel front desk turned into the website you're on right now.

What I learned watching travellers for four years

Working in a hotel sounds like checking people in and handing over keys. What it actually is, if you pay attention, is a front-row seat to how people travel — what they ask for, what lights them up, and what makes them quietly disappointed.

And here's the thing I noticed first: it was never really about the animals.

I know, I know — blasphemy in a country that markets itself on mountain gorillas. But think about it from the traveller's side. By the time most of them reach Uganda, they've already done Kenya. They've done Tanzania. They've seen the lion. They've got 400 photos of the same elephant from the Mara. Another lion in Uganda is… another lion.

What I watched actually change people — the ones who left saying "Uganda is in my heart, I'm coming back" — was never the game drive. It was the experiences. The random dinner that turned into a three-hour conversation. The night out that no one planned. The walk through a market where someone laughed with a stranger. The bonds.

And the proof was in who came back. The travellers who returned — some who literally moved here, a few who came to backpack for two weeks and left with a whole family, relationships, friendships that don't break — were almost always the ones who'd shared those experiences. The ones who'd just ticked off the animals and left? Lovely trip. Never heard from them again.

The problem nobody was solving

So at the desk, the same struggles came up on a loop:

  • "Where do I stay?" Everyone wanted somewhere good, safe, and not a scam from a 2019 photo.
  • "Where's the party tonight?" Because Kampala genuinely never sleeps, but you have to know.
  • "Can I join a group for the safari?" Riding 8 to 10 hours in a safari truck alone, with no one to share the "did you SEE that" moment, honestly sucks. Plus, going solo costs a fortune.
  • And the quiet one: "I don't really want to do this alone."

I'd watch travellers turn to each other in the lobby — "hey, I'm going out Friday, want to come?" — building their own little crews on the fly because there was no system for it. They were doing my job for me, badly, by accident.

That's when it clicked. All of this — the stays, the nights out, the trips, the company — could live in one place. One stop to fix everything Gianni was getting asked at the counter.

That place is HIVE.

So here's what HIVE actually does

Accommodation? Sorted. Real, vetted stays — not a gamble.

Want to go out but don't know anyone? Kampala never sleeps, and neither do we. Join a swarm, roll out with fellow travellers on whatever night, and make the kind of memories that make people seriously consider changing nationality. (It's happened. I've seen the paperwork. 😄)

Want to do the big stuff — parks, trekking, the proper adventures? We're your guys. Join a trip, split the costs, share the truck with people who'll gasp at the same things you do.

Don't want to sit alone in some random place wondering what to do? Then you already know the move. Join the swarm and let us walk you through it.

The part I'm quietly proud of

Two more things I saw from that desk that HIVE was built to fix.

First — the hustlers, and I mean that with love. Around every hostel there are sharp, charming, genuinely cool local guys and girls who'd come through hoping to show a muzungu a good night out, a city tour, maybe a safari if they were lucky — for a tip, a cut, a payday. Real talent, real local knowledge, no platform. HIVE gives them one: a place to list their services and actually find clients, instead of waiting around a lobby hoping to get picked.

Second — safaris are wildly overpriced in Uganda, and they don't have to be. A lot of operators bank on you not knowing what things actually cost. So I broke it all down. On HIVE you see the real numbers: the actual UWA park and activity fees, real accommodation prices, real transport costs. Then I add a 20% service fee — and even that's negotiable depending on how many of you are travelling. No mystery markup. No "kidney for a gorilla permit."

Why I'm doing this from Kampala

Because I'm here, I'm in it, and I currently work in sales and marketing in the hospitality space — which is a fancy way of saying I still spend my days obsessed with how to make travel here better. I built HIVE as a Ugandan, for the traveller I spent four years watching from behind a desk.

I genuinely think it's a game-changer. But I'm biased. Come find out for yourself.

Talk to Gianni. 🐝

Ready to stop planning and start experiencing? Browse stays · Join a swarm · See the safaris