Kruger Shalati and Executive Chef Vusi Mbatha and his culinary team won “Best in Gastronomy Tourism for Fine & Casual Dining” at the South African-initiated Gastronomy Tourism Awards in Durban last evening. The recognition adds to a wonderful month of celebration for Kruger Shalati, following the Train on the Bridge securing two MICHELIN Keys for a second consecutive year.
Now in their third year, the Gastronomy Tourism Awards celebrate culinary excellence across a wide range of categories. By recognising entrants who turn gastronomy into compelling tourism experiences, the initiative continues to strengthen South Africa’s position as a world-class culinary destination.
What better timing to mark International Chefs Day. Following this prestigious recognition, Chef Vusi reflects on an unexpected career, the Lowveld ingredients shaping his menus, and why his role today is as much about developing people as cooking.
Vusi Mbatha did not grow up planning to become a chef. From a distance, though, the profession fascinated him: chefs on television and in magazines, tall hats, crisp white jackets and a sense of discipline that he found intriguing.
The turning point came during a gap year, when a professional cookery learnership gave him his first real kitchen experience.
I connected with it almost immediately,” he says. “Starting with raw ingredients and turning them into something beautiful and tasty really got me.”
Curiosity did the rest. New recipes led to new cuisines, and cooking gradually became less about individual dishes and more about what they could say about a place.
Today Mbatha oversees culinary operations across Kruger Shalati, Kruger Station and Kruger Untamed. His role has changed accordingly.
It’s no longer about what I create myself,” he says. “It’s about developing people, mentoring chefs, building teams and creating a culinary identity that is meaningful.”
For Mbatha, that identity begins with where he is. He describes a chef as “a custodian of a story;” at Kruger Shalati, that story belongs to the Lowveld, its landscape, people, ingredients and traditions.
Born in KwaZulu-Natal and Zulu by heritage, Mbatha arrived in the Lowveld as an outsider to the predominantly Tsonga culture. He has since learnt to speak Tsonga, allowing him to engage more closely with members of his team and learn from the communities around him.
Some ingredients, however, take him back to his own childhood. Amasi now appears in vinaigrettes, mousses and aerated creams. Morogo or umfino can become pesto or velouté. Sorghum, once familiar as porridge or a base for traditional beer, now appears in risotto, ice cream, and delicate tuiles.
The point is not to make humble ingredients fashionable.
These ingredients need to be able to stand on their own,” Mbatha says. “They can become heroes and stars of the dish.”
That same thinking shapes how the kitchen buys its produce. Two gardens on the property provide part of what the chefs need, supplemented by local farmers and more established Lowveld growers within roughly 30 kilometres. Mbatha encourages smaller suppliers to grow what suits their land, with the kitchen buying what they can produce successfully.
Kruger Shalati’s retention of two MICHELIN Keys this year has not prompted a change in culinary direction. Mbatha says the team has always aimed to make the food worthy of its unusual setting, rather than allow wildlife, accommodation and landscape to do all the talking. Regular culinary trips with Concession General Manager Gavin Ferreira and, more recently, his sous chef, expose them to leading restaurants and new ideas, for inspiration rather than imitation.
That exchange will continue on 27 and 28 November, when Mbatha again cooks with classically French-trained chef Wandile Mabaso as part of the Motsamayi Chef Collaboration Series.
Mbatha is looking forward to Mabaso’s technique and international perspective, but sees the exchange as reciprocal. He wants Mabaso to experience the Lowveld landscape and ingredients through the resident team’s eyes.
Most of all, he wants his chefs to come away more confident.
We shouldn’t be looking down on ourselves,” he says. “We need to believe in ourselves more, because what we are doing is world-class.”
Event Summary and Bookings
- Event: The Motsamayi Chef Collaboration Series at Kruger Shalati
- Dates: 27 and 28 November 2026
- Location: Kruger Shalati – Train on the Bridge, Kruger National Park
- Information & Reservations: www.krugershalati.com
- Instagram: @Kruger_Shalati
- Facebook: @KrugerShalati
Words and images provided.
Also See: What goes into an award-winning Merlot? Steenberg takes gold at Veritas 2026
What goes into an award-winning Merlot? Steenberg takes gold at Veritas 2026
