African Train – Traveling in Style!!

/ Ed Armstrong
One of the most amazing experiences is traveling in Africa on an elegant train system!! Rovos Rail is wonderful and amazing!! We had a pause before lunch and we were told that we were running 2 hours behind. The host stated that it was great and wonderful for “African time.” They provide unlimited alcohol and focus on superb service!

This is the station were we started our journey in Pretoria.

This wonderful woman greeted us with a glass of South African champagne when we arrived in the station!

Sandwiches were readily available in the railway station. There was no extra charge to enjoy the food!

These treats were wonderful! I especially enjoyed the fruit!!

I have always loved bird of paradise and this healthy plant was growing right next to the train tracks!

The train conductor invited me inside the engine compartment. His name is Jonas and he loved showing me around.

This is an absolutely wonderful family I met in the train station. They are “locals” in Pretoria and have ridden the train several times. It was fantastic to talk with them.

These are the porters and they did a great job delivering all of our luggage to our rooms. It was fun talking with them!

This is a mosaic on the patio of the train station. I am not in Kansas any more.

These folks were playing beautiful background music as we waited for the train to be ready.

It is easy to understand why Rovos Rail considers themselves to be the Pride of Africa! It is a top flight organization!!

This gentleman is truly an amazing success story. Before we boarded the train, he described how he built the train from nothing. Financially, it was a challenge to build it from scratch!

He buys old railway cars, since they are less expensive. He then guts them and rebuilds them into amazing train cars.

All the wood in the train cars are handcrafted! Here his workers are building new toilet seats for their next train car project!

The owner described the precision involved in buying new axels and train wheels needed for the refurbished train cars.

These wheels with the gears are made for the engine cars.

Some of the engines are diesel, some are steam, and some are electric. This is a steam engine that is being refurbished.

This is my room. The width of the room is the length of the bed. It is quite cozy and comfortable. It is a warm day and the air conditioning in the room works great!

This is the head section of my bed. It is nice and comfortable!

This is my bathroom with the shower behind the glass doors!

The sink is similar to that seen in a motorhome, except the water is always hot and their is continuous water pressure.

This is the inside of my shower. It has more room than most RVs.

The last train car has an observation deck and this is the view from where we just traveled. The train uses “small gauge” tracks.

There are several bars on the train. For high tea, I asked for a gin and tonic to stay in the British tradition!

This is one of the lounge cars The owner described that they are designed for talking and drinking. It is prohibited to bring your cell phone, laptop, or tablet to these areas. They are supposed to be technology free to encourage discussion among everyone.

This is the outside of my room.

This is one of the dining cars. They are incredibly elegant. You simple sit down wherever you want.

Lunch was a four course meal, matched with two South African wines and a liqueur.

This is the second diner car. I picked to eat here because I thought the woodwork was especially beautiful. I was joined at my table by a family medicine physician from Wisconsin. We thoroughly enjoyed the food and wine!

This was our original course, a fancy beet salad!

The main course was a fantastic chicken dish!!

The cheese course was wonderful!

This wonderful gentleman served and told us about each wine. He was very fun to talk with!

The dessert course was matched to this South African limoncello. I think it would rival the very best limoncello from Italy. I loved it!!

The final course was this unbelievably dessert!! I do not think I have ever had such an elaborate lunch!! We still have high tea and dinner to go today. For dinner, it is a requirement to dress up. I must wear a button-down shirt and tie. I am looking forward to this entire trip. It is amazing that I will spend 11 nights on this train as we travel to a total of 4 countries!