It’s no surprise that Kruger Shalati has already made its way onto international “hotspot” lists. Perched on a bridge over the Sabie River, in the heart of the Kruger National Park, there are few others like it in the world.
The hotel was opened two years ago, in the Skukuza section of the park, and is named after an African warrior queen. It was built on a defunct railway track that goes back to a time when visitors could only enter the park by rail.
It’s the same spot where, decades ago, the train would park overnight so guests could retire for the night to their carriage. A nine-day tour was introduced through the Sabie Game Reserve in 1923 — the first motoring tourists were admitted to Kruger only in 1927 — and the track was last used in the early 1970s.
As a concept, it seems a no-brainer: aside from the mega-expensive luxury lodges such as Mala Mala, there are few alternatives in the park to the conventional thatched huts.
No surprise then that it’s racked up global kudos. Travel + Leisure magazine described it as “perhaps the most innovative accommodation of 2020” and says it “might be the coolest hotel in the world”.
Time magazine named it as one of the 100 extraordinary destinations to explore for 2021, while luxury lifestyle magazine The Robb Report said the “novel hotel just might be the ultimate real estate flipping project”.
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A trip to Kruger Shalati suggests this praise isn’t overdone. The accommodation consists of 31 rooms — 24 on the train and seven Bridge House rooms on land. It is meant to “pay homage to the guests who explored the park nearly 100 years ago, while welcoming new explorers from near and far”.
Putting it together wasn’t easy. Old train carriages were found and converted from 1950s relics found in the Free State, then gutted, refurbished and transformed into luxury cabins with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Sabie River.
The rooms are designed to evoke that sense of a bygone era, with interiors carrying a hint of Art Deco style. The space is carefully used without cramping the experience.
The intention was to create a sense of African excellence, but you won’t find designs of animals or animal prints, and there are only slim traces of beads at the bottom of the mirrors.
Rooms are layered with fabrics, wallpaper, wood and marble, with locally made artisanal pillows and throws. Interiors are a collaboration between interior designers Hesse Kleinloog Studio and various designers, artists and crafters. There are tasteful add-ons including woven screens and stylish blankets with geometric designs coexisting with soft furnishings. Small round tiles in the bathroom, black on white, create a dramatic effect.
The rooms are designed to evoke that sense of a bygone era, with interiors carrying a hint of Art Deco style. The space is carefully used without cramping the experience
Guests are offered that usual 4.15am wake-up call in summer for game drives. But if you opt to ignore it — as I did — you’ll still hear the stomping of monkeys on the carriage roofs, or the snorting and splashing of hippos in the river below.
An early-morning swim instead, in a reformulated water tank, offers you sublime views of buffaloes roaming below and crocodiles in the river.
And the outdoor deck is sensational, even better with a cappuccino or a cocktail, or as the venue for the afternoon high tea.
One Canadian couple, who joined us on a game drive, said they chose Kruger Shalati over other lodges as they figured they’d never again get the experience of a train-hotel in one of the world’s best game parks.
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The food isn’t overly complicated, but it’s beautifully plated and many of the staff come from communities that were ejected decades ago when the Kruger Park was developed. For many of them, it’s their first job in hospitality.
As it’s pretty much in the Skukuza rest camp, guests also have easy access to that precinct, with a gift shop and a cinema which still runs short films with a conservation bent.
Kruger Shalati is owned by Motsamayi Tourism Group, a black empowerment group under the Thebe Investment Corp brand. Judiet Barnes, chief marketing officer at Motsamayi, says the mandate for hotels in the company is that they have to be iconic, in out-of-the-box locations.
Its other products would tend to bear this out, including the leisure facilities at the Cape Point reserve. And last year, it opened the Sanctuary Mandela in Houghton, Joburg .
Barnes says the mandate at Kruger Shalati was to “give us the unexpected”.
The carriage rooms don’t allow children under 12, but the seven Bridge House rooms closer to reception do permit children six years and up.
As you’d expect, Motsamayi has been instagramming the hell out of the hotel. In a world where the visual counts an inordinate amount, it feels as if everything was done with the visible in mind. It makes for great photos — especially with one of the largest safari parks in the world outside the door.
* The writer was a guest of Kruger Shalati
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