Kruger millions legend boosts custom at Lowveld restaurant

The old platform has been turned into the Selati Station Restaurant and adding to the ambience is the Grand Old Lady steam train that used to run the South African railway lines in 1949 and was donated to the Kruger National Park.

Last year marked the 127th anniversary of the birth of Paul Kruger, a former president of the Transvaal Republic and one of the South Africa’s most colourful political figures.

The very mention of his name conjures up stories about the famed “Kruger

Millions”, which to this day remain a mystery and, likely, a legend buried somewhere in the Lowveld; more specifically in the Selati region of the Kruger National Park.

For more than a century, gold diggers have been scouring the area in vain for the legendary treasure. Those who continue to do so may find comfort in the Compass

Group’s Selati Restaurant, named after the Selati track (retired in 1973 after 54 years of service) that ran through the park from Komatipoort to Tzaneen.

The Selati Station Restaurant, created in 1984 on the site of the original Skukuza railway platform (close to the original Skukuza railway platform) comprises refurbished railway saloon cars attached to an old British-built, 24-class steam locomotive, proudly named the Grand Old Lady. Patrons are welcome to climb aboard and listen to a brief history about her journey to the park. Selati Station Restaurant features a hand-painted name board, “Skukuza – 875 feet above sea level”, adjacent to which the Selati Railway Museum is situated. To add to the ambience, the restaurant blows a whistle when food is ready to go out and steam is emitted from a machine to look as though it is coming from the train accompanied by a locomotive soundtrack.

Compass Group’s Riana van den Heever points to the extraordinary longevity (26

years) of a restaurant situated do remotely, which is truly a jewel of the Kruger National Park.