Rovos Rail: Cape Town to Dar Es Salaam

Check in at Rovos Rail Lounge this morning and settle in before joining fellow travellers in the lounge cars as you depart from Cape Town Station. Lunch is served as the train travels towards the Hex River Valley. Disembark at Matjiesfontein before dinner for an opportunity to stroll through the historic village (time dependent). Depending on time of year, this stop could be after sunset.

Breakfast is served as the train traverses the Karoo, a vast semi-desert region that was once an enormous inland sea. Over millions of years, volcanic matter was ground down and deposited as silt upon the seabed to form what geologists call the Karoo system.

After breakfast enjoy a tour of Kimberley’s Diamond Mine Museum and the Big Hole. Capital of the Northern Cape, Kimberley is well known for the discovery of diamonds that led to its establishment in 1871. Dinner is served en route to Klerksdorp.

After breakfast transfer to Pretoria for a city tour followed by lunch on the Rovos Rail Station platform. Enjoy a walking tour of the station and locomotive workshops (weather permitting). Dinner is served en route to Zeerust.

After breakfast pack a small overnight bag and transfer to a lodge in Madikwe for a two night stay. Lunch is served on arrival followed by a game drive. Madikwe is a prime malaria-free Big 5 wildlife reserve bordering Botswana. It lies within a transition zone between the North West Province bushveld and Kalahari thornveld with enormous volcanic intrusions, wide open plains and the riverine environment along the Marico River. As a result, the region is host to an incredible diversity of species from both ecosystems with a rich assortment of vegetation and more than 300 resident and migrant bird species.

Enjoy an early morning game drive to spot wildlife while they are still active, in their natural habitat. Return to the lodge for breakfast and some time at leisure. Enjoy lunch at the lodge, followed by an afternoon game drive. Dinner is back at the lodge.

Early morning game drive before breakfast before departing the lodge and transferring to the train at Gaborone in Botswana. Border formalities will take place en route and guests are required to present themselves to the border officials. Lunch is served in the dining cars as the train crosses the Tropic of Capricorn and the eastern edge of the Kalahari Basin. Known as ‘Kgalagadi’ in Botswana, the Kalahari (which extends to over 900,000 km2 and covers much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa) is not a true desert as it does experience small amounts of rain, with some areas enjoying up 250mm. The surrounding basin covers over 250,000 km2, extending further into Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and encroaching into parts of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is part desert, part plateau. The only constant river, the Okavango, flows into a delta in the northwest forming marshes that are rich in wildlife.

Day at leisure onboard the train where lectures will take place throughout the journey during the morning and afternoon in the lounge car. Pass Gwaai and Dete along one of Africa’s longest stretches of straight railway line 114 kilometres and along the eastern edge of the Hwange National Park.

Breakfast is served in the dining car as you arrive at Victoria Falls. Pack a small overnight bag and disembark the train and walk across to the Victoria Falls Hotel. Enjoy a welcome address on the lawn followed by lunch at Jungle Junction. Later this afternoon meet in the hotel foyer and depart on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi. Dinner is served at the Livingstone Room, Victoria Falls Hotel.

The train travels across the Kafue Railway Bridge – a 477-metre long steel girder truss bridge of 13 spans each at 33 metres supported on concrete piers. The train then passes through Zambia’s capital, Lusaka before travelling the TAZARA railway line, an engineering tour de force and one of Africa’s best-kept secrets as it passes through remote territory. The train passes Zambia’s capital, Lusaka this evening.

Today the train travels train travels the TAZARA railway line, an engineering tour de force and one of Africa’s best-kept secrets as it passes through remote territory. Dinner is served en route to Kasama.

Today the train traverses the Rift Valley and boabab forests towards Mbeya. The Southern Highlands of Tanzania are covered with grasslands, savannas, woodlands and forests. Miombo woodland and savanna predominates at lower elevations while the higher mountains are home to Afromontane evergreen forests, grasslands and shrublands, and part of the Southern Rift montane forest-grassland mosaic ecoregion, which extends into the nearby mountains of Malawi and Zambia.

Arrive this morning at Makambako and enjoy an optional stroll through the town (time permitting).The train travels towards the jungled Udzungwa Mountains and negotiates the dramatic switchbacks, viaducts and tunnels of the escarpment.

Enjoy a game visit and lunch (weather permitting) in the Nyerere National Park, the largest in Africa at 30 000km2. This evening the train traverses the fertile lands of Tanzania towards Gwata.

After breakfast, arrive at journey’s end in Dar es Salaam at Tazara Station.