Luxury tourist train heads for the tip of Africa

Popularly known as Pride of Africa, the Rovos Rail tourist luxury train left Tanzania’s commercial city of Dar es Salaam to Cape Town at mid-day on Tuesday, snaking through amazing Tanzania and Zambia Railway line to Cape Town at the tip of the African continent.

The train, Pride of Africa, left the Tanzanian capital at 12 pm, rolling to Cape Town, cutting across Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana before touching South Africa.

After departing Dar es Salaam, the train had passed through the Selous Game Reserve, the largest conserved and wildest wildlife park in Africa covering a land area of 55,000 kilometers.

For a few hours, tourists aboard the train can view wild animals through an observation glass-constructed coach designed for scenery viewing while the train is on the move.

Udzungwa Ranges and the African Great Rift Valley are the other tourist attractions pulling the train passengers to take in the views. The train passes over Chisimba Falls in Zambia where passengers get a chance to view the picturesque falls.

Arriving at Livingstone, the train then cross the bridge and arrives at the Zimbabwean border for a grand visit at the incomparable Victoria Falls with a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River and a walking safari from the river bank to the hotel.

Leisure time at Victoria Falls includes such activities as a tour of the great falls, a helicopter over the falls, an elephant-back safari, a walk with lions, white water rafting, bungee jumping, and golf.

Tourists aboard the train, after departing Victoria Falls, also get a chance to visit Hwange National Park before heading to Bulawayo, the second biggest city in Zimbabwe.

In Botswana, the train heads southwards through Francistown and Serule, crosses the Tropic of Capricorn and continues via Mahalapye to Gaborone where tourists disembark for a tour to the Madikwe Reserve with a 2-night stay at a lodge. An early-morning game drive, afternoon game drive, and other guest activities mark the day for Rovos Rail tourists.

From the Madikwe Reserve and Magaliesberg Mountains, tourists take an early morning game drive before the train snakes its way again, traversing the Magaliesberg Mountains, a range of low hills stretching 120 kilometers east-west from Pretoria to Rustenberg in South Africa.

Kimberley Big Hole and the Diamond Mine Museum are the man-made tourist attractive site that tourists aboard the Rovos Rail train stop at for a visit. From Kimberly, the train proceeds to Beaufort West then Matjiesfontein, a historic village worth a tourist tour.

The train departs for Cape Town via Touws River and Worcester for its final stop after cutting across half of the African continent in 15-day epic, vintage tour of half of the African continent to fulfil the “Dream of Cecil Rhodes” – a railway from the Cape to Cairo.

The Rovos Rail luxury train follows Cecil Rhodes’ trails from the Cape, passing through Southern Africa to Dar es Salaam and links its passengers to other parts of Africa through other railway networks in Eastern Africa.

The old, Edwardian Rovos Rail train rolls with 21 wooden coaches with a capacity to accommodate 72 passengers. The old wooden coaches are aged between 70 to 100 years, and have been furnished into passenger-worthy carriages.

Owned by Rovos Rail Company, the vintage train made its first maiden trip to Dar es Salaam in July 1993 to complete Cecil Rhodes’ dream of laying a railway line from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt, snaking across the African continent from the southernmost tip to northern tip of this continent.

Looking ahead to the forthcoming Africa Travel Association (ATA) Annual World Tourism Conference in Rwanda later next month, Rovos Rail is a new and upcoming tourist facility connecting the African continent through the rails. Rovos Rail stands as one of the leading key partners to African tourism growth.

In collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board, the 41st ATA Congress is designed to set the tone for how tourism can be utilized as an engine for economic growth and job creation through innovative business models, new technologies, and strategic partnerships.

Other than airlines to be featured during the ATA Congress, Rovos Rail is the other new tourist partner worth discussion during the Congress, aimed to raise the African tourism portfolio across the world.