FULLY CHOO WOW

Each year, the editors of the prestigious, New-York-based Travel and Leisure magazine compile an “It List” — their pick of the world’s most spectacular new hotels — and the 2021 list came out this month.

Even in a year when it seemed that nothing much was happening on the travel front, T+L says the past 12 months have been big for hotel openings, with many new and revamped properties “flinging open their doors” to welcome guests “with a (masked) hello and a taste of travel’s future”.

The entire list covers 71 properties, chosen out of hundreds of contenders, with shoutouts spanning the globe from Thailand to Lebanon to the British Virgin Islands.

All of Africa scored just six spots, including Singita Sabora Tented Camp in Tanzania and Xigera Safari Lodge in Botswana.

SA made it with a single property, and we can’t say we’re even remotely surprised by the choice. This proudly local spot, pictured here, has been the subject of much buzz, thanks to its phenomenal location inside an old train now stationary on a bridge over the Sabie River in the Kruger National Park.

Opened in December, this “Train on the Bridge” hotel is permanently located on the Selati Bridge, a nod to the history of the park, which has been welcoming visitors since the early 1920s. Back then, the luxury train would park overnight in the exact spot where it now stands.

Now refurbished, it offers 24 glasswalled train rooms on board, plus a lounge carriage with an opulent bar and deck.

Gavin Ferreira, executive manager for operations at the hotel, calls it an “elevated sanctuary” as guests get a vertiginous vantage point from above the river — something no other known safari experience offers — with views of the glorious landscape and no doubt a passing parade of animals below.

At a later stage, the plan is to add seven land-based rooms, to be called Bridge House”, next to the bridge and also overlooking the river.

We think the swimming pool — which the hotel claims is “the most unique pool in Africa” — suspended as it is over the river is both an architectural feat and a dreamy addition to an already superlative destination. Just imagine leaning your elbows on that edge and seeing if you can spy any crocs below.

To stand a chance of winning R500, tell us the name of the only SA lodge that made T+L’s 2021 “IT List“.

E-mail travelquiz@sundaytimes.co.za before noon on May 4. Last week’s winner is Apostolos Tatayas. The answer was Mostert’s Mill.