Rail News

one year ago

On a bridge in the South African bush, an old train is reborn as a luxury hotel

FINANCIAL TIMES 
APRIL 21 2021 (South Africa)

A hotel in a train. On a bridge. Over a river (full of crocodiles), in one of the world’s most famous wildlife parks. When word began to spread about Kruger Shalati (with its no-nonsense tag line: The Train on the Bridge), there was a mixture of excitement and consternation in safari tourism circles.

Excitement at the sheer chutzpah of the thing: 12 sleeper carriages, remodelled into 24 luxurious rooms. They stand shacked up on the century-old Selati rail bridge just north of Skukuza, headquarters of the Kruger National Park. And consternation that this high-concept boutique hotel might be out of place, even a little kitsch, in a place known more for spartan rest camps and thatched rondavels. Kruger Shalati’s mid-bridge centrepiece is a photogenic lounge car and deck where you can sip cocktails in an electric blue plunge pool that dangles over the Sabie River.

 

Source:

https://www.ft.com/content/dd46af6c-1312-49a5-af05-002e15ebeea3

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