What Does Wellness Mean at Sashwa?

Joosje Heringa, our Marketing & Business Development Manager, shares how a crowded wellness magazine made her rethink what wellness means, and why at Sashwa it’s about less, in the latest post from our series, Reflections from the River.

I’m scanning through the pages of a wellness magazine, one we picked up at the Synergy wellness trade show last week.

It’s filled with the ‘top wellness destinations’: large, white, block-shaped properties on the shore or in the middle of green fields, many with hundreds of sun beds lined up beside an infinity pool or facing a clear blue ocean. Waiting for people to be used. On one page, a woman in a face mask is about to step into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber.

What is this all about, I wonder?

What is wellness about? The word partly gives it away: “well”. The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.”

And as the magazine on my lap shows, those activities and choices can range from expensive therapies to eating deep-sea algae, and just about everything in between.
I would love to share what wellness means at Sashwa.

Less is More

My thoughts go back to the resort where the trade show was held. Images of the breakfast buffet flip through my mind. There were at least four stations: three kinds of scrambled eggs, with eggs made to order on top of that; bread and butter with ten types of cheese; and a corner just for pancakes. And on the side, a whole table of desserts.

Every morning I panicked and walked away with either oatmeal and fruit, or an egg and some bread. How do you choose from so much? Also, every morning I felt guilty for not making the most of it and about what would happen with the food that was uneaten.

At Sashwa, wellness isn’t about excess; it’s about quality. Our restaurant Nourish serves delicious, fresh, and colourful multi-course dinners. In our spa, we have a Himalayan salt sauna, a saltwater swimming pool, and ten equally beautiful massage treatments to choose from.

There is something liberating about having fewer choices. It opens you up to experience: taste your food, feel the warmth of the sauna, notice the person sitting next to you. In the less, there is so much more.

Slowing Down

It’s crazy to say but in 2026, having the chance to slow down is wellness. Our lives are so full: the commute, work, social lives, and somewhere in between, trying to squeeze in wellness activities. Real slowness, a day with nothing on the agenda, has become unfamiliar to many of us.

So unfamiliar, that when having a few hours off, it can feel unsettling.

For example, a day at Sashwa begins with meditation, followed by time out in the bush. You wake up gently, with the morning air moving through your hair. When you return, a nourishing breakfast is waiting to carry you through the morning. Between 10 AM and 1 PM there is usually free time, with an optional yoga class somewhere in between.

It’s in this timeslot that I’ve experienced guests feel restless. Only to let me know by day three that they finally understand what it’s all about.

“Sigh”

It takes time to tune in to the wilderness and to soften into your surroundings.

By day six, we’re all sitting quietly together at the table, looking out over the river and listening to the hippos calling to one another.

Nature

We’re not a Big Five safari lodge. Are the Big Five in the area? Yes, but out in the bush, everything receives attention: from termite mounds to birds to lions. We are not there to tick off as much animals as possible.

There is something healing in that kind of looking. Sitting in the bumpy game vehicle, letting your eyes wander across thousands of hectares, your breathing slowing naturally. That’s wellness.

Sashwa River of Stars is lucky to sit right on the banks of the Olifants River. So it’s not uncommon to see a herd of elephants crossing the river or wandering along its banks while you enjoy your breakfast.

Those moments feel significantly different from encountering elephants on a drive. On a drive, we enter their space. At the lodge, they are the ones who choose to wander past, stopping right in front of us to feast on a fallen fever tree.

Community

“We’re more connected than ever, and yet so disconnected.” By every spiritual leader.

Community is at the heart of life in Africa, and Sashwa was built in that spirit. We are one big family.

During their stay, guests become part of that. Dinners are served family style at one long table, and every member of our team looks after our guests with real love. They proudly share their culture and invite you in. By the end, you leave hugging and knowing the names of many of the team.

Originally, we come from tightly knit communities, where we looked after each other’s children and shared food with those who needed it. Deep down, we still long for that: to be seen, to be heard, to belong.

That’s wellness.

And what comes after wellness? Carrying it home with you and letting it ripple out into the world.

Perhaps that is the real gift of a stay at Sashwa: a quieter mind, slower mornings, and a reminder that less can be more. The river, the elephants and the whole team will be here, waiting to welcome you.

Written by Joosje Heringa

Cover photographed by Liam Baldock