Tag Archives: Luxury train

Women’s Month: Mariëlle Wynbergen

For nearly three decades, Mariëlle Wynbergen has been an integral part of the Rovos Rail family serving as the Reservations Manager for short trips. She has seen the company grow and adapt to many challenges and has learned invaluable lessons about the importance of caring for her team and embracing change.

She is inspired by the owner and founder Rohan Vos who she describes as being full of new ideas and constantly wanting to improve the guest experience. Mariëlle believes that a company’s success is deeply intertwined with the well-being and dedication of its staff, and the fact that so many employees can boast decades of service indicates that they must be getting this right. 

Her journey with Rovos began soon after she fell in love with a ballroom dancing teacher who had family members working at the company. “My father-in-law, Oom Wyny, was the CFO for the Victoria Hotel, and my brother-in-law and his partner were the first IT employees who installed our first computers and also wrote the first reservations programme for Rovos.” After a tip-off that there was a job available, she followed their footsteps and was appointed PA to the Reservations Manager who became her mentor. She quickly learned the ropes and found her calling in promoting and selling the train.

Mariëlle’s daily routine involves a variety of tasks from answering booking enquiries and product-interest phone calls to confirming bookings, invoicing and following up on payments. She fields many interesting and sometimes humorous questions from future guests. As she aptly puts it, her job is about “putting bums in beds” – a phrase coined by one of her previous colleagues. 

Beyond the administrative tasks, Mariëlle Wynbergen takes pride in guiding and training her reservations team in the Pretoria and Cape Town offices and instilling in them the passion and dedication that is synonymous with Rovos Rail. She enjoys her job, the camaraderie among her colleagues, the interaction with guests from around the world, and the privilege of being part of an extraordinary story.

Many staff have said they could write a book about all their experiences and the interesting people they have met, and Mariëlle concurs. Two guests stand out in her memory…a couple who travel the world without luggage! Their PA packed their brand-new clothes into the cupboard on the train and, when they arrived in Cape Town, the clothes were donated. “Despite their privilege, they were one of the nicest, most unassuming and down-to-earth couples I have ever met!”

Outside of work, Mariëlle’s priorities lie with her home and her family, especially her two teenagers, her husband, and caring for her mother. She feels the words patience, consideration and compliance define her personally and professionally and shape her relationships and her approach to life. 

As Mariëlle Wynbergen looks to the future, she hopes to continue contributing her skills and knowledge while learning from the remarkable individuals she has had the privilege to work alongside. “When it’s my time to leave Rovos I hope to have been as generous as Sandy Ingram, as charming as Peter Winterbottom, as vivacious as Beatrice Colon, as kind as Christine Roberts, as knowledgeable as Joy Strydom, as confident as Estee Badenhorst, as funny as Daniela Greyling, as determined as Rohan Vos and of course will always attempt to be a workhorse like Heike Gerntholtz,” she laughs. 

Mariëlle’s dedication and commitment embody the spirit of Rovos Rail – a special company that enriches the experiences of guests and colleagues alike. 

Written by Linda Sparks • Edited by Bianca Vos-Lynch

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Women’s Month: Dianah Vukeya

For nearly three decades Dianah Vukeya has been a committed member of the Rovos Rail family. As the Senior Laundry Assistant, she has become an expert in maintaining the impeccable standards of the train.

The three suite categories on board each have their own bed size and linen requirements including everything from robes and slippers to pillowcases and towels. The public cars include tablecloths, napkins, antimacassars and even curtains, which are made by the onsite upholstery team. Dianah is part of an 18-member team responsible for washing, steaming, ironing, pressing, folding and preparing all laundry for each journey. Her daily routine involves checking the schedule and rooming lists for upcoming journeys and guests’ requirements to ensure all stock items are available. A 15-night Dar es Salaam journey can have about 2000 items, for example. Dianah and the team methodically count and pack every item into large laundry bags for each suite and public car to maximise the limited space on board. And when the train returns, they count it all back into stock to repeat the process.

Dianah first encountered Rovos Rail when she was a clothing vendor at Pretoria Train Station. She joined the company as a passage lady and hostess on board, no mean feat when a train can be ±350m long. She held for 12 years before joining the laundry team on site. Her favourite Rovos destination was Dar es Salaam as it marked her first trip outside South Africa. Another highlight was Victoria Falls made even more memorable by her bravely taking the plunge with a bungee jump off the iconic bridge! 

When asked what she loves most about her job, Dianah responded with: “Everything!” She is proud of the invaluable skills she has learned during her time with Rovos and describes it as a journey of personal and professional growth. These include learning to work with a diverse range of people, respecting others, transparency and teamwork. She has also learned skills in hospitality and healthcare and has completed courses in First Aid, Firefighting and Empathy Training.

Home for Dianah is Midrand where she enjoys spending time with her large family, which includes her husband, five children and four grandchildren. She enjoys cooking for her family, taking them to church and spring cleaning! She describes herself as strong, brave, kind, respectful, hard-working and proactive – qualities that shine through in her work and interactions with coworkers and guests. Dianah’s dedication to her work is inspiring and she is a much-valued member of the team.

Written by Linda Sparks • Edited by Bianca Vos-Lynch

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Happy birthday, Rovos Rail!

happy birthday rovos rail
Image by freelance writer, Andrew Thompson

Another clickety-clack around the sun! We can hardly believe it. Happy birthday, Rovos Rail! 35 years. What an achievement.

Some of you are familiar with our story but, for those who aren’t, we’re a small family-owned and operated business that launched our first overnight journey on 29 April 1989. When we celebrated our 30th birthday in 2019, we produced a short film where you will meet the family and team members who narrate the Rovos Rail tale and now, five years later, we have so much to add to our story.

Since resuming our services post-pandemic, we introduced the new 15-night African Trilogy journey. We have now operated this trip four times and on the last sojourn we sent a film crew to capture its magic (click here). We’re proud of this adventure because we feel the African Trilogy shows our guests a true cross-section of Southern Africa from its east coast to Namibia in the west.

We also sent trains all the way to Angola and back on our Trail of Two Oceans and Copper Trail trips. And wow, what a challenge these journeys are to operate given that water, electricity and any kind of formal tourism are in short supply. But we succeeded and our brave band of intrepid travellers had a good time, which is all that matters.

Unfortunately some of you reading this would have experienced delays and other obstacles due to infrastructure failures within South Africa. Transnet (national railway authority) and Eskom (national electricity provider) are in a bind, which has presented problems for all trains on the railway network. To combat these issues, our formidable CEO, Rohan, and his problem-solving COO daughter, Tiffany, treated the company to its biggest birthday presents ever by purchasing combination electric and diesel locomotives. Should there be power outages or other challenges, we can seamlessly switch from electric to diesel for the journey to continue. This has not been an inexpensive endeavour and the business of hauling our trains with our own locomotives is not something we ever wanted but, with South Africa currently navigating significant crises, we figure the less reliant we are on parastatals the better it will be for our passengers and our team.

Rohan and Anthea Vos with Rohan’s late mother, Marjorie, and Brenda, Bianca, Shaun and Tiffany.

Since we last celebrated a significant milestone, we have said farewell to long-serving staff who either moved on or retired. We have also welcomed many new members to our team who took up key positions in human resources, sales, marketing, reservations, finance and in our workshops. We had to rebuild our staff complement after the pandemic and it finally feels like we once again have a robust team in place.

Over the past five years, our incredible workshop team has built two new train sets in between renovating and repairing existing stock, so we now have six full train sets! There have been some moments over the past few years where our yard at Rovos Rail Station has been empty of carriages because they have all been out on various journeys; these moments have felt rewarding and certainly made us feel proud.

We remember back in 1988 when we first put the word out that we were launching a vintage luxury train in South Africa, many people thought Rohan was crazy and didn’t believe he would succeed. We don’t blame them; sometimes we feel the same but, here we are, 35 years on, and we have Rohan and his wife, Anthea, to thank. Working at Rovos Rail is a wild ride with no day ever the same. To not be bored or feel stuck on a hamster wheel is a gift and, although the stress can feel overwhelming at times, there is never a dull moment and for that we are grateful. We are a quirky and eclectic bunch who care deeply about Rovos Rail and who genuinely love our beautiful trains!

A heartfelt thank you to our industry colleagues and the media who have supported us over the years. And to our guests, especially our Rovos Club members, we would not be here without you and it is our privilege to have welcomed you on board. Thank you for travelling with us.

Congratulations to Rohan, Anthea, Tiffany and the rest of the family and a very big happy birthday to Rovos Rail!

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Happy birthday, Rohan!

From all of us we say, happy birthday Rohan! To his grandchildren he is “Papa Choo Choo”, to his children he is Dad or Pops and to his team, he is Rohan. And today marks another gallop around the sun for this determined young man.

For as long as any of us can remember, Rohan has never been in South Africa to celebrate because for the past three decades he has always travelled to Berlin to attend the ITB travel trade show which falls over his birthday. And this year is no different as he flew to Germany a few nights ago and is deeply entrenched in his Rovos Rail sales hustle!

There have been a few guests in the past who have been curious about the man who dared launch a vintage luxury train in a time where political restlessness was reaching its inevitable boiling point. With South Africa’s post-apartheid era on the horizon, there were many who packed their bags for Perth and those who loudly predicted outright civil war. So who would start a luxury train company during a time of so much uncertainty and especially a business whose success would, for the most part, be heavily reliant on international travellers?

We’re not sure that Rohan’s late mother, Marjorie, knew what she was in for when she birthed a lanky, big-eared babe on 7 March. We remember anecdotal tales of him entering the world with ferocity on his face which, 78 years later, is still very much there. Even at a young age, Marjorie knew that being a solo act would be the only option for her extremely intelligent, can-do young man. Given that he never appreciated being told that he couldn’t do something, there was certainly anxiety over how he would fare at school.

Born in Cape Town in 1946, Rohan attended Western Province Preparatory School before completing senior school at Bishops Diocesan College where one or two of Rohan’s teachers identified his genius but also recognised that if his restless energy wasn’t correctly channeled he might fail high school or pursue naughtier adventures (which he already had plenty of). So in his senior year he was made captain of the first rugby team and head of his boarding house leaving him no option but to focus, lead and thrive.

Rohan began his professional career selling encyclopedia’s and also opened the doors to a discotheque in Witbank (situated in the former Transvaal) called Zorba’s Beat. Being interested in classic cars, boats, trains and planes, he started Witbank Auto Spares and also dabbled in commercial property ownership. His triumphs in Witbank lead him to a railway auction where he was the successful bidder on an old South African Railways coach. His intention was to renovate the carriage that could hook onto a regular commuter train so that he and his family had a “railway caravan” to explore South Africa. His application to the Railways was denied and it was suggested that he sell tickets and create a commercial venture.

Over a double Red Heart rum and Coke one evening in May in 1988, Rohan pondered his options and decided to take the risk of launching a vintage luxury train experience in South Africa. He and his wife, Anthea, travelled the country acquiring a train set and locomotive and the first overnight journey was launched in April, 1989. Fast forward 35 years and Rovos Rail not only has its own private railway station and headquarters in Pretoria but also houses its own six train sets, steam locomotives as well as its own fleet of diesel, electric and combination locomotive units. The company now offers 11 journeys ranging from three to 15 days with trains that traverse South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Namibia.

At the tender age of 78, Rohan is not slowing down. Operating trains across Southern Africa certainly keeps you on your toes as does his family which is made up of mostly women – it seems to be Rohan’s fortunate lot in life to be surrounded by independent ladies who are not afraid to put him in his place or throw the occasional eye roll his way.

Rohan also likes to keep active and fit so on Saturday mornings one might spot him and his pack of dogs hiking the mountain ranges of Cape Town. Or you might see him in his plaid shirt and oversized sun hat on the golf course on a Sunday. And if you’re really “lucky”, you might see him atop his bicycle, clad in all his glorious spandex, tackling the steep hills and undulating curves of the Cape.

In fact, this Sunday, Rohan will once again participate in the Cape Town Cycle Tour where he will aim for another personal best by cycling it in under four hours. And after he has cycled 109kms, he will be attending his granddaughter’s fourth birthday party where he will undoubtedly be tackled by his grandchildren but where he will also finally get some birthday cake.

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Shopping for Lobito

Lobito Laundry List

It’s difficult to believe that the third departure of our Trail of Two Oceans, from Dar es Salaam to Lobito is already done and dusted. We spoke of the inaugural journey’s success here so this time we thought we’d share a few behind-the-scenes details with you such as the trip’s extensive laundry list. This one train actually travels six separate journeys with a total of 23 400kms’s being traversed so the Lobito laundry list is mammoth!

https://youtu.be/NE-rJ0csFK4

First, a reminder of the six different journeys that this one train operated in two and a half months:

  1. Pretoria to Cape Town (three nights)
  2. Cape Town to Dar es Salaam (14 nights)
  3. Dar es Salaam to Lobito (14 nights)
  4. Lobito to Dar es Salaam (14 nights)
  5. Dar es Salaam to Cape Town (14 nights)
  6. Cape Town to Pretoria (three nights)

Each journey listed above had its own set of guests so the passengers who travelled with us from Pretoria to Cape Town disembarked in the Mother City as we welcomed new guests on board the trip from Cape Town to Dar es Salaam. The train and our crew would have hosted approximately 311 guests across these six separate trips.

We thought it might be interesting to share a few details with you about how some of our departments go about planning and packing for a train which was out for 75 days. We asked Ilana, the manager of our onsite laundry department, just how much linen is packed and she came back to us with the linen count for her Lobito laundry list:

  • 200 towelling robes
  • 200 towelling slippers
  • 108 antimacassars
  • 76 curtains
  • 256 fitted double sheets
  • 256 flat double sheets
  • 512 fitted single sheets
  • 512 flat single sheets
  • 1152 pillowcases
  • 384 large bath towels
  • 400 tablecloths
  • 450 linen napkins

We spent some time with Ilana and her team onsite so we could film them in action. Ilana started coordinating her Lobito laundry list in January so that should there be any additional linen required, the order could be placed and delivered in time for the train’s departure. The counting and packing of the towelling robes, curtains, sheets, duvet covers, pillowcases, antimacassars, towels, facecloths, tablecloths and serviettes began in early June and took place in amongst all the other journeys which were operating at the same time which mostly consisted of the Cape Town and Victoria Falls trips.

Aside from food and beverages, linen is probably one of the most complicated issues as our large laundry bags require space which is limited on board. We have three different suite categories on board the train, each with their own size beds and linen requirements so the counting out of sheets, blankets, duvets and covers, pillows and pillowcases is methodical.

Our hardworking team washes and irons bed and table linen every day as well as providing a laundry and pressing service to our guests. The curtains we have in the public coaches are made onsite by our upholstery team and these also need to be removed and cleaned by the laundry team on the train. Suffice to say that the crew is kept very busy. They are honestly magicians because not only is their role incredibly demanding, but their job also requires steady nerves and hands as the train traverses various countries on tracks that are not always that smooth. And they somehow pull this magic off working within confined spaces on board.

Another challenge with all the laundry is water supply. Once the train departs Dar es Salaam, areas which can supply us with water and have the necessary pressure in order for us for to fill up within a reasonable amount of time, are few and far between. A trickling hosepipe will not do so in 2022 we installed three 10 000L water tanks, on six-metre stands, in Kolwezi (Democratic Republic of Congo) and a large volume pump for a guaranteed water supply. A 21-coach train can hold approximately 54000L of water so to have this equipment available to us in Kolwezi is a welcome relief.

The onsite laundry team counted, recounted and packed over 100 laundry bags for the suites and public cars on board this train. Their Lobito laundry lists were endless with each being checked and cross-checked by Ilana and on-board staff so that nothing was short. When the train returned to the Rovos Rail Station in September, the staff had to count each item back into the onsite laundry so that the stock is ready and waiting for the next journey.

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Water-saving toilets

We’ve spoken a bit about our efforts to be as earth friendly as possible, which included revising our toilet systems; a process we began in 2018.

During the pandemic, the eco warriors at Rovos Rail undertook the task of overhauling our toilet facilities on board with the goal of saving water.

We can at times have as many as 100 guests and staff on board, with each person flushing 10 litres approximately five times a day. This equates to five kilolitres of water per day so 25 tons for a five-day journey, which has to be pumped when required.

Starting out, we knew what we didn’t want which was a replica of the toilets they have on airlines. We did not want the same bowl and we needed something which did not use a strong-smelling disinfectant to flush the toilet clean.

We had already succeeded in finding forest-friendly toilet paper, which spoke about on our blog here. We have been working with Güdco for a few years, with their two-ply sugarcane rolls being used on board the trains and at our two guesthouses in Cape Town.

But now we needed a toilet system to work with our new loo rolls!

It took us a fair amount of time to research various companies who provide comprehensive solutions for sustainable sanitary requirements. We did our due diligence and the blush-inducing conversations we first had when starting out quickly faded as we dived deep into the world of efficient ablution facilities!

We finally found a local company who brings in equipment from an organisation in Sweden called JETS and these have now been installed. All South African trains have fail-safe vacuum brake systems and when the flush button is pushed, the vacuum in the system empties the bowl into a tank under the carriage (similar to the systems on airplanes).

Vacuum toilets use air instead of water to transport sewage. This advantage significantly reduces water usage, while the airflow vents away odours and dramatically reduces the risk of spreading airborne and waterborne pathogens.

The new system has reduced our water consumption by 90%. This feels like a great accomplishment especially given that on our three-night Cape Town journey or the 15-day sojourn between Tanzania and Angola, there are either water restrictions or very few facilities on route where we are able to fill the train.

Not a company to rest on its laurels, we will keep our fingers on the pulse of any new water-saving innovations so this much needed resource is not wasted.

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Women’s Month: Daphne Mabala

Written by Linda Sparks

In celebration of Women’s Month in August, Rovos Rail is honouring three of our amazing female staff members.

First up is Daphne Mabala, described by colleagues as “Superwoman” who is one of six of Rovos Rail’s hard working and passionate train managers.

It’s a fitting month to pay tribute to Daphne as August also marks her 30-year anniversary of employment with Rovos Rail – a testament to her job satisfaction and loyalty to the Rovos family. 

After qualifying with a Diploma in Hotel Management, Daphne began her career with Rovos Rail in 1993 working as a waitress at the Victoria Hotel in Pretoria which was then on lease to Rovos Rail as their dedicated overnight offering for passengers.

In 2000 Daphne’s application for a train position as a hostess was successful and she has remained on the trains ever since. She worked through the ranks of admin and deputy manager before progressing to the challenging role of train manager in 2008.

When asked what she likes about her job Daphne responded that she doesn’t like her job she loves it!

She liked her role of welcoming guests into her home and ensuring that all aspects of hosting them is done correctly and in a professional way.

The role of train manager on Rovos Rail is a demanding one, being on call 24/7, and it requires a diverse range of skills and experience. This includes overseeing the staff on board, interacting with guests, and ensuring that all their needs are met, being proactive to prevent problems occurring, and dealing with the multiple technical and logistical challenges that come with travelling across countries and dealing with different railways around southern Africa.

As a train manager Daphne ensures that she is always one step ahead, she makes it her mission to get to know all of her staff in order to lead and support them well. She places a high value on education in all aspects of hospitality to ensure that she and her staff are able to deliver service excellence. This requires keeping abreast with international and local travel developments, being up to date with bar and culinary trends, and having a good knowledge of guests’ cultures and countries. 

This ethos sees Daphne doing research before guests arrive in order to understand their nationalities, customs, likes and dislikes. Meeting and interacting with people from around the world is one of the highlights of her job, she enjoys learning about other countries and how people live. 

As a manager of Rovos Rail trains it’s necessary to think out of the box and to be able to make an alternative plan when things don’t turn out as expected. Just one example of the many quick solutions that Daphne has had to find was when a trip had to be improvised due to a train derailment that obstructed the journey. Passengers were offered a variety of alternative options, one of them being to remain on the train waiting for the track to re-open, and this turned out to be a bonus for guests who ended up getting additional nights on the train that they hadn’t expected.

In response to my asking her to list three words that she feels describe her, Daphne came up with “ambitious,” “professional” and “organised”.

Her ambition is clearly evident in how far she has come from humble beginnings in a 4-roomed house in a township near Polokwane. Daphne always wanted to succeed in her career, and it is because she enjoys working with people that she chose to pursue a career in hospitality, she realised that succeeding in life is not based on a person’s background but rather hard work and determination

One of the hallmarks of Rovos Rail is the attention to detail that is applied to every aspect of the company. This is something that Daphne is proud to have learnt from Rohan Vos himself when he was hands on in running the trains.

Daphne loves travelling across Africa and visiting different destinations which all have their own beauty and appeal. One of her favourites is the Namibia Safari due its remoteness and the unique landscape of the sand dunes.

Daphne’s achievements in successfully managing Rovos Rail trains for the past 15 years have taught her the importance of hard work, making sacrifices in order to get results and that it is possible to start at the bottom and grow from there.

When she’s not working Daphne likes to spend her holidays visiting family and pursuing her hobbies of hiking, swimming, reading, and researching. One of her future goals is to eventually own a safe place to accommodate the elderly and disabled.

Daphne’s passion for her work and her pride for Rovos Rail is palpable. Guests travelling on a train with Daphne at the helm are privileged to be taken care of by someone who clearly gives her job her all whilst most importantly loving doing it.

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Rovos Rail completes Copper Trail

To Angola and beyond!

Two trains travelling to Angola, via the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the same time, is beyond anything we could have ever imagined completing. In our 33 years, we at Rovos Rail have managed to pull off some pretty crazy things but this could possibly top the list!

The first journey to depart Pretoria was Trail of Two Oceans, which left Rovos Rail Station on the 28th of June. It travelled six separate journeys with six different groups of guests:

  • Pretoria to Cape Town
  • Cape Town to Dar es Salaam
  • Dar es Salaam to Lobito
  • Lobito to Dar es Salaam
  • Dar es Salaam to Cape Town
  • Cape Town to Pretoria

With manager, Hennie, at its helm, the train travelled about 23 400kms (14 540 miles). It was gone so long that at times we forgot it was out but Hennie and his team returned safely back to Pretoria on Friday, 9 September after 73 days travelling through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, the DRC and Angola.

The Copper Trail train departed Pretoria on the 29th of June for Victoria Falls after which train manager, Lawrence, and his team had a few days to make their train sparkle before welcoming guests on July 7th for the maiden voyage of the Copper Trail.

The train travelled four separate trips with four different groups of guests:

  1. Pretoria to Victoria Falls
  2. Victoria Falls to Lobito (Angola)
  3. Lobito to Victoria Falls
  4. Victoria Falls to Pretoria

About 9 000kms was travelled with the team being out for 39 days. They returned safely on August, 15th to a warm welcome and many guys from all of us.

Neither journey came without challenges which included the Chambeshi bridge closure, unexpected mining debris left on the railway line causing minor derailments, unforeseen and costly Covid-19 testing enforced by over-zealous border control authorities, visa acquisition as well as water supply.

One of the ways we tried to alleviate the stress of the water issue was to sponsor three 10,000L tanks on six-metre stands right next to the existing water supply infrastructure in Kolwezi, DRC. Things did not go as planned as only one 5,000L tank was installed so we had to purchase a bigger volume pump in Kolwezi to fill the train faster.

One has to make a decision when travelling through countries such as the DRC and to some extent, Angola, because a culture exists of greasing palms in order to get anything done. We chose not to participate in this because we do not want to be part of what perpetuates this cycle but it made our planning and operational objectives a great deal more difficult and things moved extremely slowly. This was by far the most stressful aspect of coordinating these two journeys and we would like to say a big thank you to our operations manager, Joe Mathala, for flying back-and-forth between Angola, the DRC and South Africa to keep things moving along. We feel the process might have aged Joe by hundreds of years but as always, he got the job done and on time so we are deeply grateful for his hustle!

Our intrepid band of travellers hailed from countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa.

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Rovos Rail welcomes an award-winning rum

South African Rum Awards Facebook

Die Warm Rasta Rum

Rovos Rail welcomes an award-winning rum. Die Warm Rasta Rum is now part of our already extensive range of spirits. Die Warm Rasta Rum is produced at De Vry Distillery situated in the Free State. This distillery is an authentic South African distillery producing premium local spirits made from natural, home-grown ingredients.

Rasta1
De Vry Distillery

Who makes it?

The rum was founded by the Du Plooy brothers, who believe their authentic distillery should be all about producing 100% farm-grown spirits. They were inspired to establish a fine local spirits company by a love for country, a passion for farming, South African tourism, and the creative freedom offered by a new generation.

Rasta2
De Vry Distillery

How is it made?

The process of creating the rum starts with the finest imported molasses. The fermentation process is then enabled by specific yeast cultures in combination with a blend of Borehole and RO water, ensuring that there is no harmful effects on the environment. 

What does it taste like?

Die Warm Rasta Rum has a distinctive flavour as a result of the charred barrels used for culturing. Barrels are selected at the optimum ageing time; the rum is then blended, filtered and bottled. The tasting notes of this rum is full-bodied with upfront notes of cigar smoke and oak. You will also find subtle sweet American oak tannins and a sweet finish. 

Rovos Rail proudly welcomes this award-winning rum. You can enjoy Die Warm Rusta Rum all Rovos Rail journeys.

Check out our Rovos Rail specials.

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Rovos Rail introduces distinctly African vodka

Awaken your spirit with our new addition, Vusa Vodka

Rovos Rail added a distinctly African vodka to our already extensive range of spirits. Vusa Vodka is a multi-award winning premium vodka from Africa. They are changing the narrative on what a vodka can be. Vusa puts the best of African quality, style and flavour into each bottle. In addition, their belief is to make the best tasting vodka. To achieve this, you need the best ingredients together with an optimal environment to grow them in. Vusa makes use of homegrown sugar-cane from the heart of the sub-tropical climate of KwaZulu-Natal. This makes Vusa Vodka a little bit sweet and authentically Africa.

Rovos Rail Vusa Vodka
Vusa Vodka Instagram

How it is produced

Part of the distinctly African process is to distill the vodka in small batches using copper pot stills named “kaisgo”. This gives the spirit a silky smooth finish. To ensure exceptional quality, Vusa uses the purest water of the Lions River in the hills of the KwaZulu-Natal national park to blend the vodka. The next step is to filter the vodka through the shells of local baobab fruit. This step guarantees a super crisp and clean finish. The patterns and unique typeface on the bottle is inspired by Zulu art. Furthermore, it is specifically chosen to express a renewed natural energy and distinctiveness when on a South African tour.

Rovos Rail Vusa Vodka
Vusa Vodka Instagram

The Vusa Foundation

Vusa is on a mission to change lives and the world of spirits. They achieve this through the liquid, the ingredients, and their commitment to the local community from which the spirit hails. They have established the Vusa Foundation, through which they commit to donate a proportion of their profits to support the Khulisani Foundation. The Khulisani Foudation is a South African organisation that supports urban farming and drives positive change in South African communities.

Rovos Rail Vusa Vodka
Vusa Vodka Instagram

Lastly, this is only the start of the Vusa Vodka journey. In addition, they are also planning on travelling through Africa with a mobile distillery while producing amazing spirits from the countries they visit.

You can find Vusa Vodka all Rovos Rail journeys where guests can enjoy a flavourful vodka while sharing different stories.

Please note that items on our wine list and bar menus are subject to availability and not always in stock and available on board.

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