Jatinga Country Lodge, White River, Nelspruit

A blessing for one who is exhausted

 Nelspruit offers an exciting range of characterful accommodation, especially with the taste of the Kruger National Park in the air. Jatinga Country Lodge is in the neighbouring village of White River, up a high hill overlooking Nelspruit, and even closer to the gateway to the Park. Famed for its gardens, historic buildings and fine cuisine, Jatinga offers the best of country hospitality. One feels welcomed and known by each member of the staff who genuinely care that one’s stay is comfortable and enjoyable.

Colonial, English- and French-country themed suites offer features like outdoor showers, wide baths, and indoor fireplaces. The rooms are spacious, with double doors leading out onto private patios. Paved walkways between the rooms wend amongst gentle fountains, wide lawns and spreading trees.

Accommodation experience

I was doing another week of intense psychological work in Nelspruit, weary and in need of a soothing haven to keep the circling existential despair at bay. This is what I found at Jatinga Country Lodge – with the kindest of staff, ivy-clad buildings, green trees, and calm decor. I wanted to hug my softly lit room at the end of each day, so glad I was for its friendly welcome. Taking a drink out onto my private patio, I let the sounds of bushveld birds and the sight of the fever trees call me back to the present. I would stay outside until darkness set in, then enjoy a hot outdoor shower under cool starlit skies. At night the duvet felt snug and heavy and when I woke I was fully refreshed to start the next day.

In his poem “A Blessing for One Who is Exhausted,” John O’Donohue writes:

You have travelled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of colour
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Jatinga offered a taste of this healing process which natural light, stone, water and the small miracles of nature can offer.