Kruger Shalati - Train on the Bridge & Garden Suites

What a spectacular place!!! Visited with my friend for a few days. It was her first time in South Africa. Experience left such a beautiful impression of our beautiful country and its people❤️❤️❤️ The place and staff were AMAZING!!! So friendly, helpful, cheerful - always a pleasure to be around. The food and drinks provided were delicious and spectacular. Our room was always clean, made up and fully stocked with drinks and snacks. The game drives were informative and spectacular - phenomenal drivers. Transportation from and to the airport was timely and fantastic! Definitely recommend staying here!!! Special thanks to Victor, Benedict, Reyneke*, Sam, Jane, Hamilton, Imagine, Marita, S’fiso, and the list goes on😁😁😁 My friends and I are already planning our next visit back!!!

Omg what an absolutely amazing experience at Kruger Shalati. My daughter and I stayed for 4 nights. From start to finish, I'd rate my trip over 5 stars. From the accommodation to the staff, to the food and the Game drive were all magnificent. We were treated like royalty. Special thank you to Sam, Venola, Gift, Becki and Siswe you guys are super stars and you all get 10 stars from us!! Thank you for this unforgettable trip!! Always in our hearts 💕

Our stay at Shalati was fabulous! It offers everything a traveller could expect and more. What a magnificent setting - with the train on the bridge over the Sabie River where you could watch the sun rise, and gaze at the birds flying overhead and the game wandering along the banks or through the water. Then there are the morning and afternoon game drives. Our guide, Tebogu, has eagle eyes, making sure we never missed a thing and happily shared his depth of knowledge about the bush with us. We also loved that every member of staff had a smile on their face, were friendly and always ready to be of assistance. We felt like they were there just for us, even though there were many other guests staying there too. The accommodation on the train is delightful with each carriage room beautifully appointed and meticulously maintained. The food on offer was also impressive, not only catering to almost every dietary need with a large selection of options but everything was delicious. Perhaps though what we loved most is the genuine sense of tranquillity and peace at Shalati, a quality not easy to find in the world and certainly not one that can be contrived or engineered.

We were in SF for 3 weeks and this was our favorite 2 days. Top notch everything. The food, service, game drives, room. Our guide Siphrone was wonderful. The view from the bridge is mind boggling to watch families of elephants just walk below you eating and playing. Highly recommended!

Exceptional hotel, with even better staff! We spent 3 nights at the Lodge in mid September. The hotel itself is like something from a dream whilst the staff could not be more attentive and welcoming if they tried!

This was our ninth visit to Kruger National Park and each visit we stay at both SAN Park Rest Camps and all inclusive resorts. This was our visit to Kruger Shalati all inclusive resort. We loved everything about the Train on the Bridge. The room was spacious with a comfortable bed, great shower/bathtub area, fully stocked mini bar, and the most amazing view over the river. The restaurant was very comfortable with heaters as needed in the evening, little firepits providing warmth and ambiance, fantastic food and impeccable service. We loved all the little seating areas that provide great views over the river. We watched elephants, hippos, giraffes, and many different antelope. And the birding was fantastic. Morning and afternoon game drives were led by our knowledgeable guide Sonia, who shared interesting information about the animals and the Kruger and had an amazing eye for spotting animals. We saw everything we hoped for, including two separate rhino sightings. All staff we encountered were amazing. And on the last day, they brought us our car, freshly washed, inside and out! That is Service with a capital S. If we are lucky enough to return to Kruger, we most certainly will stay again at Kruger Shalati.

We just spent a sadly very disappointing 3 nights to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary at Shalati. Firstly the positives - the location and views are stunning was it’s an interesting experience sleeping on a train in the KNP. We had a very professional safari guide in Victor who made the drives enjoyable and interesting. You certainly won’t feel hungry as there is an abundance of food on offer throughout the day. Now to the negatives: it took a long time after check in to be able to access the room. Finally upon entering our room we realised it was in a shabby/grubby state (see images). Stain and splat marks we weren’t sure if they were dirty or a maintenance issue (after attempting to wipe down think it’s the latter) with sellotape holding things up too. Towels were taken daily but never replaced, the mini bar was never fully restocked. Before arriving you are asked to complete a form with allergies which I did, this information never seemed to be put to any use and I had to ask each time it was only remembered once. Service in the restaurant while polite and friendly is often slow and you have to keep asking for water to be topped up etc. and wait a long time for food to be served as the restaurant is always full. We requested a porter to help with luggage when leaving but they didn’t appear and we had to wait a long time in reception while they sorted it out causing us to have to rush to catch our next travel destination connections. On that final morning housekeeping were already changing the bedding and setting up the room for the next guests before we had even checked out - check out time is 11 so at 9:15 you should still be able to use your room and surely this is a hygiene issue for the next guests as we could sit on (or whatever) their bedding before them? Overall with large parties of tour guests crammed in each night it felt crowded and massified. At almost £1000 a night it should feel special in terms of service and it didn't live up to expectations in this regard. There are plenty of smaller-scale, equally unique experiences to be had in the kruger park where you feel well treated and not just another number for much lower prices. I am so disappointed that what was expected to be the highlight of our trip was such a let down.