Ever wondered how a family with zero tourism experience created the most luxurious train journey in Africa? In this first of 2 episodes, we chat with Tiffany Vos-Thane, daughter of Rovos Rail founder Rohan Vos, about how her parents turned their love for trains into a world-famous experience.

Tiffany shares behind-the-scenes stories, from the early struggles to setting new standards in train travel — such as private en-suite bathrooms before anyone else had them. Plus, hear how Rovos empower their staff to ensure that their guests have the most wonderful journeys. And how they create world-class meals from a surprisingly tiny kitchen.

This is history, luxury, and a whole lot of passion—on wheels!

Deutsch: Du kannst diesen Podcast auch auf Deutsch hören: “Africa with André auf Deutsch”

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Episode 15: From Family Dream to Luxury Steam – The Rovos Rail Story

[00:00:08] André: Welcome, everyone. It's lovely to have you tuning in again to hear our stories about Africa. Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Tiffany Vos-Thane, who is not only the Chief Operations Officer at Rovos Rail in South Africa, but is also the daughter of Rohan Vos, who founded Rovos Rail.

It's great to see this wonderful company remain in the family.

Hello, Tiffany, and welcome to my Africa podcast.

[00:00:36] André: Rovos Rail is an institution in luxury travel, not only in Southern and East Africa, but it has an excellent reputation all around the world. Rovos is a private company that offers luxury train travel on par with the Orient Express or the Indian Pacific in Australia. You currently have journeys through 10 countries in Africa.

Give us a brief history of the company that your dad Rohan started 35 years ago.

He was a huge fan of anything, basically, that had an engine, and he started getting more and more interested in the steam preservation society in Witbank in South Africa.

He started to get a lot more interested in trains. Uh, initially his idea was to actually take us as a family around South Africa, almost like hitching an old coach at the back of the local train system.

And of course, when very cool idea and when he started inquiring, and asking questions about costs and logistics and things, he realized there was a lot more to it, and he realized and was told, that the cost associated would be a lot more than he ever thought, you know, that combined with his, new passion for trains, he started to get this idea in his head that, "why don't we start to offer passenger train services around South Africa to showcase our beautiful country".

That, along with a few other people planting a few seeds, you know, that's where the start of Rovos began.

I think for my mom, it was quite a shock. She had four children, had no knowledge of tourism. My dad didn't have any knowledge of tourism, or a travel company at all. And, you know, if you got to meet both of them today, my dad is quite an eccentric character, and my mom is an introvert.

And of course, those early years was just a lot around, "How do we do this? Where do we go? How do we work with the railways more effectively?" And I think they really, zoned in and, focused on what would make the trip comfortable, and what luxury meant for somebody.

So, a lot of their initial design ideas was all around what they thought was comfortable, and how they perceived luxury. And I think that initially set us apart, because back then nobody else was offering a private bathroom en suite. A lot of the other train businesses only had your sort of Pullman style suite, which is your couch by day, that becomes your bed at night, and we were the first to have a fixed bed, as well as a private en-suite bathroom.

[00:03:43] André: Absolute, absolute trendsetters.

Not what everybody else was doing. For my parents, privacy is very important to them, and comfort. And I think being able to create an experience on board where, both are achieved, whether you're in your suite or relaxing in the lounge cars or dining cars, you get that. If you want privacy, you can have it. If you'd rather just be with your loved ones, you can do that. But if you're there to socialize and get to know other passengers, there's ample space and opportunity to do that as well.

I remember sitting on the bed with my head out the window, just seeing the Karoo fly by.

But for us, just like you say, it's to be able to sit on your bed, open your window as the sun's coming up over the Karoo, have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee. I mean, there's, there's nothing really better.

We've also introduced different parts, of the train, like our observation car with that open air balcony, which is appreciated by everybody.

[00:05:29] André: You really have a very personalized experience when you're on the train.

[00:05:33] André: Every person that you deal with, every time we left our room, whether it was to go for lunch, or to go on an excursion, when we came back, the towel was in a new shape on the bed and everything was refreshed, all the drinks were refreshed. It was, like invisible people that just, make the magic happen. And this attention to detail is really incredible.

We still talk about the wine paired lunches and the dinners that we had en route. When I spotted the kitchen on board, I was absolutely gobsmacked. It is so tiny, yet you make a point of having all 72 guests come to dinner at the same time and serve them out of that little kitchen.

[00:06:16] Tiffany: Honestly, I am often amazed myself. I mean, whenever I travel on the train, and I have the pleasure of enjoying the food that's served to us, I am always just, really, really proud of the team. Because from the start we said we weren't going to pre make anything.

Yes, we will pre make some of the baked goods, um, some of the desserts that are frozen, but pretty much 95 to almost 98 percent of the food that is eaten on the train is made in that kitchen.

[00:06:50] Tiffany: We aren't a Michelin star, dining experience. That's not what we're offering. We can't deliver fine dining to that level, because of the temperatures that we experience on board, the size of the kitchen, but also the movement of the train.

It makes it very difficult to prepare food of that level. But the feedback we receive about our food is always excellent. Very rarely do I ever see any negativity coming through. And I think what we've learned over the years is that: less is more; rather focus on quality over quantity.

Focus on local ingredients, yes, try as far as possible to reflect the areas that we're traveling through, absolutely. However, you've got to appeal to a overall palette. You can't be giving people, food that is completely out from their field because it's not going to please the customer.

And we have guests from all over the world, and everybody has a different idea of what they enjoy.

I think we've struck a really healthy balance. Our executive chef now, Maryke, she's been with us gosh, nearly six years. She has actually physically worked on the train with the chefs.

Everybody's dressed up in their finest clothing for dinner. A lot of people will wear tuxedos and ladies are on beautiful dresses. And you're getting to have lovely conversation, get to meeting other people. And then of course the food is just coming out, and beautifully presented.

So now I'm always very proud of the team.

That takes me to another great memory that I have from the train, this was before COVID,

And there was a young man. I have no idea whether he still works for you. I hope he did get the job. I think his name was John. He was on a training ride to see whether he likes the train and whether the train team likes him, I imagine? And I,

and I said to him while we're sitting there, because, you know, I've done a lot of traveling, so sometimes I have ideas and I like to make suggestions, and whether they're used or not is another question.

And I said to him, “you know, next time you're stuck in this heat, um, and you can use it as your suggestion, you don't have to tell them it came from me, you know, bring out bowls of ice cream. You know, this would be a great way to do this.”

Eight minutes later, John stood there with bowls of ice cream for myself and all the other guests. “And if it was up to me, you would get this job.”

[00:09:57] André: That just highlighted for me the Rovos ethos, I think.

[00:10:15] André: That he is, and I'm very glad that he's still working with you. Very, very happy.

And my parents right from the start, they always led from the front. They were the manager. They were the hostess. They worked the train themselves, their blood, sweat and tears went into making this business what it is today. My dad's attention to detail is, you know, second to none, as is my mom. And I'm very grateful, because I think I have picked up that from them.

Our brand is all about being warm, welcoming, yes, luxury, of course, that's what we were selling and what we're trying to achieve. But we don't want to be a cookie cutter luxury product. We want there to be that genuine conversation between, a team member and guest.

[00:11:25] Tiffany: And we want a staff member to also feel empowered to go and get that ice cream, and not have to be, "Oh, should I double check? Or am I going to get into trouble if I do this?" And I hear stories like you've just shared, all the time, about ways in which our team have gone out of their way to help or to make a guest more comfortable or to, attend to them, in whatever situation it might be.

[00:11:51] Tiffany: I'm just so grateful, because for us, it's the staff on the train, they make this whole experience come together. If it weren't for them, our beautiful coaches and our wonderful carriages and our lovely wine and our lovely food wouldn't mean anything.

It's not exactly the easiest working environment, yet they have a big smile every day and do everything they can.

You mentioned a delay as well. Yeah. We're very challenged by that in South Africa. In the other nine African countries we travel through, we don't have these challenges.

[00:12:24] Tiffany: Um, yeah, it's only in South Africa because we're still paying the price for our previous president who, there was just tremendous corruption, especially in our state-owned enterprises, like Transnet that run our network. So, the way that the network has been run, has just not been up to par. And there's been a lot of, theft of infrastructure.

The team have got to face those challenges every day, and yet they do it with a smile and, you know, we've got a plan A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

I often say to my dad, if we didn't have all these challenges, we'd be bored, because we've just become so well versed at dealing with multiple different logistical challenges every single day, whether it's mother nature, or it being related to something governmental, you just never know what's going to be around the next corner.

So, what are one or two of the other strategies or secrets that you have, to make sure that everything runs smoothly, so that the guests can focus on their bowl of ice cream, or their glass of bubbles.

So, it's a big sacrifice for me, but when I walk through these doors, and I'm on this property, surrounded by the team that we have, you know, it, it very quickly reminds me every single time that this isn't a sacrifice. This is home. This is family.

We aren't like any other business. Nobody's just rocking up here and clock watching and can't wait to get out. It's a deep-seated commitment.

And you know, I've only been COO for about six years now, been with the business about seven years. I can't take credit for that. I'm just part of it. You know, my parents, by leading from the front and creating this environment of hard work, dedication, commitment.

It is our magic weapon. My dad often says to me, Rovos will never be as successful as it is today if it isn't family run.

He truly believes that. And I agree.

[00:15:06] Tiffany: Exactly the agility that comes with being family run is insane. I mean, I've worked for many big American corporate businesses in my lifetime. And if you had an idea, you were lucky if you heard back in a year's time. And I literally sit at my desk and I'm making probably a hundred different decisions a day.

[00:15:26] Tiffany: Whether it's we should change our magazines on board, let's actually increase the photography here. Let's rather change our wine list. The decisions that we can make are immediate. And my dad and mom have given me that autonomy, because I can then come in with a fresh idea or listen to my team and go, right, this isn't working. This is a quick fix. Let's change it.

So that commitment, that love, that passion is one, but of course, having the ability and the agility to be like, right, let's make quick decisions and quick changes.

And I think because of the challenges we faced with everything that came with the pandemic, there's this, understanding amongst everybody in management at Rovos, that you are allowed to make a decision if it helps the guest and it makes a difference. You don't need to phone me. You don't need to get authority. Just make the decision in that moment, that is going to enhance the guest experience.

Everybody that works here knows how committed we are as a family. They know how much we love this business and how we would do anything for it.

That for me has been such a huge learning curve being here at Rovos, because when I arrived, I had kind of been drilled into being a corporate machine, and that corporate side of me is nearly gone. You know, she's helped to introduce a lot of important systems and processes. But I'm a lot less corporate and I'm so grateful to my parents for really hammering it out of me, because now I sing from the same hymn book because I don't want that DNA of our business to change.

Tiffany, I like to end my episodes with questions about favourites. What is your favourite animal and why?

And I was reminded that, without a doubt, it's my favourite animal.

I think the reason why I love them so much is that they don't forget anything. They have these insane memories. They are so family orientated that they, you know, unless of course you're an old bull that gets kicked out of the herd, you're pretty much in family units your whole life.

And that instinct that the mom shows baby for me is just one of the most wonderful things. I just love the way they walk. I love the way they look. I love the way they sound. They just sound like pure joy. I was sitting by so many watering holes in Botswana and just for hours, just watching them

Thinking like if any animal is joyful, it's the elephant. And if any animal is wise, it's the elephant.

[00:17:09] Tiffany: Thank you so much.

Join us in for the second part where we will touch on various projects that Rovos Rail works with, and about running a train service in Africa.

Have a good week, till the next time.