Sabine.se - Africa
Rovos Rail from Cape Town to Victoria Falls January 2017
Camps Bay Cape Town Rovos Zambia Safari Livingstone Chobe River To the bottom
Monday 23 Jan. Platform 23 Cape Town Railway station - waiting for departure with Rovos Rail
On board the train - Hans found the minibar
and I found the bed!
the train started moving and we were on our way to Livingstone!
Our first stop was in a tiny village named Matjiesfontaine
The name derived from a type of sedge used by Khoekhoen to make matjies (mats)
At The Lord Milner Hotel, historic ambience, old world service and classic comfort combine.
We found the Laird's Arms Bar where we had a quick local "grappa"
We paid and got aquainted with Johnny who showed us the secrets of Maitjesfontein
You see my grandmother's spirit on this "photo"? Johnny asked me. Respond - I had to much of local "grappa"
A last view in this little spooky village before we entered the wagons of Rovos Rail
In the rear wagon you could get out and have some fresh air
which I did and discovered the biggest flower pot I ever seen
and then we were following the railwaytracks again
until we reached the destination once called "Vooruitzigt" or "New Rush" but today named Kimberley since
the Secretary of States for the Colonies, at that time Lord Kimberley, was incapable of understanding Dutch.
A popular local myth claims that "The Big Hole" is the largest hand-dug hole on the world, but that's just a myth.
On the train again, passing the privately owned Kamfers Dam with about 50,000 happy lesser flamingos
After a bumpy night in our wagon we arrived in Pretoria and encountered the sight of UNISA,
the largest university in South Africa and one of the largest distance education institutions in the world (2017)
Here we waited for our locomotive Shaun to come, which Rohan had had his eye on since he first saw
it standing on the scrap line at Witbank (nowadays called eMalahleni) way back in 1986.
Mr Rohan Vos himself, who turned his hobby into a business, inspecting the tracks at Rovos Railwaystation
In Pretoria we left the train and stayed one night in this exquisite hotel in beds not moving
Next day we went back to Rovos Railway station and
had a look in their museum which was interesting
and then it was time again to enter the train
The wagon was equipped with a lot of nicely decorated windows
from where you had a good view of what was passing outside
we passed a lot of
demolished trainstations like this
nice with some fresh air!
In Beitbridge we stopped so we could have a walk
and got acquainted with the Shongololo
watching them making more Shongololos, we think...
Next day we had a longer stop and went on a game drive in Hwange National Park
where we mostly saw birds like this Yellow Billed Hornbill
and these lilac breasted rollers
we arrived back to the train after sunset and bought some local handicrafts from eager saleswomen
A last tasty supper in the dining car before the final night in the shaky beds off to Chinzombo, Zambia
Camps Bay Cape Town Rovos Zambia Safari Livingstone Chobe River - Namibia To the top