Trains are used for travel right? Well guess what? In South Africa’s iconic Kruger National Park, there’s a train that is actually a hotel stationed on a bridge!
Located in the centre of Kruger National Park, on the Selati Bridge over the Sabie River, this train has been transformed into a hotel, making it a one-of-a-kind lodging option called Kruger Shalati: The Train on the Bridge. In a reimagined way, the train pays tribute to the visitors who first experienced the park almost a century ago in the early 1920s who would stop on the exact spot where now the hotel has been stationed.
From rusty train wagons to lavish rooms
This unique hotel provides distinctive luxury lodging with two different types of lodging: 7 Bridge House Suites next to the bridge in a gorgeous garden setting with the train’s soft glow as the backdrop and 24 Carriage Suites on the Train on the Bridge. The entire width of the train was utilised by the designers to provide spacious living quarters. A double bed with a window view and a fully furnished bathroom with a rainforest shower and a free-standing bathtub were able to fit. All of the rooms offer immersive comfort from this most unique site in the Kruger National Park.
There are three swimming pools, two of which look out onto the magnificent Sabie River (where animals and birds arrive to quench their thirst), as well as an arrival lounge, reception, and the dining spaces. All of the rooms honour the natural world with organic furnishings, patterns, and textures while celebrating African design through partnerships with local artisans.
An African adventure
Visitors can experience the lion prides, elephant herds, crocodiles, and giraffes of the national park firsthand by joining professional rangers on game drives.
Different types of Spas are a part of the services that this stay offers such as deep tissue massages, aromatherapy massages, and the characteristic African hot stone massage, which combines firm, flowing strokes with the piercing heat of warm stones or copper pebbles. Various facial remedies along with manicures and pedicures are also included.
Shalati, an African warrior queen whose reign began in the 19th century, served as the inspiration for the train’s name. Tradition has it that she was one of the first female warrior chiefs of the little Tebula clan, a Tsonga tribe that inhabited the area around the Murchison Range in what is now the province of Limpopo.
Regarding the national park itself, Kruger is one of Africa’s biggest game reserves. It covers an area of 19,623 km2 (7,576 sq mi) and is home to hundreds of animal species, as well as cultural landmarks and Stone Age archeological sites.
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