The Overland to Monarto: a luxurious African experience close to home

The journey

When Ralph Waldo Emerson coined the phrase "It's not the destination, but the journey", he must have had The Overland in mind.

Aboard this almost 140-year-old rail legend, the day-long voyage between Melbourne and Adelaide marries modern comfort with bygone-era elegance.

Choose from Red Standard or Red Premium for all-inclusive dining and dedicated hospitality attendants, room to move, reclining seats, generous legroom and up to 60kg of luggage allowance.

The Overland stops at various regional towns and cities along the way, from North Shore Geelong and Ararat, Victoria, to Bordertown, South Australia (the birthplace of Bob Hawke), and beyond.

This comfortable and relaxing 16-hour round trip allows abundant time for rest, reading, working (if one must) or scenery gazing (from evocative mallee scrub to vast fields of green and gold).

The bright and breezy carriage crew are tireless and unflappable. Serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and endless hot and cold beverages in the Red Premium tier, their professional raison d'être is ensuring everyone's maximum comfort. Mission accomplished.

In addition to exclusive member discounts, RACV members who book their journey with RACV Travel & Experiences can transform a pleasant experience into an exceptional one.

For example, research by RACV Travel & Experiences shows that disembarking at Murray Bridge Rail Station, rather than at the end of the line in Keswick, not only shaves hours off the return journey but also places visitors just a 10- to 15-minute drive from Monarto Safari Lodge.

This offers precious additional time to immerse yourself in the Safari Resort, Lodge and Safari Park experience - or simply enjoy a lie-in on your last day.

Prebooking a transfer from the Murray Bridge Rail Station to the Safari Lodge is highly recommended. The Lodge staff will be happy to oblige on your behalf, so please advise your travel agent at booking time.

The Overland departs Melbourne on Friday and Sunday and Adelaide on Monday and Thursday.

More: The best train journeys and holidays in Australia

The Monarto Safari Resort, Lodge and Safari Park

As the largest open-range safari experience outside of Africa, Monarto Safari Park spans 1,500 hectares of sweeping savannah. It’s home to 500-plus animals across 50 species.

Featuring free-roaming herds of wild African animal species, such as southern white rhino, giraffe, cheetahs, chimpanzees, African lions, spotted hyenas, eland, ostriches, hippopotamus, birdlife, reptiles and more, the wildlife park adjoins the sprawling Monarto Safari Resort (with 78 resort rooms and suites, swimming pools, world-class dining, bars and stunning day spa).

The Resort’s Hotel is already a South Australian Tourism multiple award-winner, despite having only opened in May last year.

The highly anticipated, adult’s-only Safari Lodge opened in April 2026 and — with its 20 luxury-tented accommodation, minimum two-night stay and premium, all-inclusive food, drinks and exclusive safari tour — offers guests an African-inspired sunset safari experience and two-day admission to the Safari Park that only a trip to Africa could equal.

The small-group experience of a two-hour Wild Africa Sunset Safari aboard a customised LandCruiser, and including light refreshments served al fresco, midway, provides the opportunity to get as up close and personal with the adopted wildlife as it is prudent to do so.

We saw a lone southern white rhino, loping giraffe, a dazzle of zebra, cheetahs chilling in the bushes, eland, ostriches, blackbuck, mum-and-bub hippopotamus, and more.

Please note: The sunset safari tour departs at different intervals throughout the year. This is timed to perfection to coincide with the coral glow of sunset bathing the plains and its majestic inhabitants in a scene redolent of Out of Africa.

Monarto Safari Lodge staff will keep you apprised about departure times for all safari tours and information pertaining to the Monarto Safari Park (before and during your stay). Their attention to detail and willingness to please exceed expectation.

The accommodation

Like the neighbouring Monarto Safari Resort and Safari Park, the luxury tented accommodation on offer at the Safari Lodge is in a league of its own.

Channelling the romance and opulence of your own Out of Africa experience, you'll feel completely transported in the luxurious King Safari Tent, which features an outdoor deck overlooking a waterhole where the animals of Wild Africa are free to congregate. These fully self-contained and impermeable tents include a spacious king bed with quality linen, comfortable lounge area, separate dressing room and elegant ensuite bathroom (featuring matte-gold fittings and Leif toiletries).

There are also King/Twin Safari Tents (with the option for twin or king bedding) and Accessible Safari Tent featuring entry ramps, an adjustable bed in twin or king bedding configuration, accessible bathroom with handrails and a wider door that opens to a large outdoor deck overlooking the neighbouring waterhole.

A fully stocked mini bar, state-of-the-art speaker system, portable lighting, board games, tablet device featuring guest services, multi-charging station and use of binoculars to home in on the inhabitants complete this picture of paradise.

The facilities

The complex features the main swimming pool (heated for year-round use) with spectacular views over the waterhole and Wild Africa plains, private plunge pools at the Safari Lodge, restaurant, bar, a gym, pickleball court and, at the resort, the luxurious Marula Day Spa.

Indulging in the Marula Bespoke Ritual Collection (featuring three 30-minute treatments curated to your needs) and the 60-minute Rejuvenation Ritual (including a relaxing foot soak, 30-minute massage, glow-and-energise facial and 30-minute soak house session) is personally recommended.

This blissful treatment, in tandem with the cedarwood sauna, cold plunge pool (set to a brisk six degrees) and vitality hydrotherapy pool in the soak house, as guests are served seasonal fruits, macarons, sparkling, beer, cider, juices, iced water and African tea, is holistically transformative.

You could also choose from an enticing menu of promotional treatments, cold plunge and sauna therapies, signature escapes, massages, facials and soak house experience for singles and couples. The spa uses and promotes botanically active Waterlily skin products. Open seven days from 9am-5pm, bookings at Marula Day Spa are by appointment only.

The food and drinks

Your all-inclusive, two-night-minimum Safari Lodge stay features an à la carte breakfast, lunch, multi-course dinner, mini bar and drinks and canapés upon arrival.

On days one and two, enjoy breakfast at your leisure (between 7am and 10am) in the Lodge Restaurant. Selections include the Safari Breakfast, featuring eggs, bacon, sausages, house-made sourdough and all the trimmings, blue swimmer crab omelette or Dutch pancakes with berry compote and lemon verbena curd.

A delectable grazing-style lunch, featuring cheeses, cured meats and sauces, preserved vegetables, fruit in season and roasted nuts, served with house-made lavosh and your choice of beverage, can be enjoyed in the comfort of your tent or at the Lodge Restaurant.

Guests gather at the bar from 6:30pm for drinks and canapés. Dinner is served from 7pm in the Lodge Restaurant and features a thoughtfully curated menu, created by the Lodge’s South African Executive Chef, De Buys Nortier.

Savour a showstopping 11-course degustation dinner on one night and, on the other, a five-course feast, served long-table style.

Drawing on premium local produce enhanced by African flavour accents, the artful dishes at the degustation dinner might include an amuse-bouche of oxtail bitterballen with black garlic aioli, entrée of dry-aged kingfish, main of pressed beef cheek, confit leek and potato, chakalaka and beef jus. Apologies, but dessert is always a surprise.

On the menu at the convivial chef's table dinner, indicative dishes include a bread course, first course of barramundi with saffron beurre blanc, second course of lamb shoulder tagine, third course of porchetta and braised beef cheeks, all served with vegetables and salads, and a deliciously tart Basque cheesecake with Bailey's ice cream for dessert.

All dietary requirements are catered to with finesse, including a vegan menu with desserts that you wouldn't believe are dairy free!

Enjoy a nightcap in the lounge before retreating to your luxury tent for a blissful night's sleep - lulled by the soothing sounds of up to nine wild African animals, including giraffe, zebra, Barbary sheep, ostrich, oryx, nyala, eland and blackbuck, gathering quietly in the distance.

The overall experience

Immersing yourself in the majestic experience of a two-night stay at the Monarto Safari Resort, Lodge & Safari Park, preceded by a trip aboard The Overland, is a rare privilege.

Where else but out of Africa can guests indulge in the luxury of a wellness escape, enhanced by a premium culinary offering and exclusive accommodation and facilities — all with a front-row position to exotic wildlife, roaming within view?

In addition, the (Serengeti-esque) Monarto Safari Park is not only a major tourist attraction on a breathtaking scale, but an important conservation initiative into the biospheric ecosystems and wildlife populations of Africa.

You can book The Overland rail journey and this luxurious and unforgettable African-style safari experience at Monarto Safari Lodge, Resort and Safari Park with RACV Travel & Experiences.