Ravishing Railway Journeys In Southern Africa
South Africa is a very big country with wide open spaces and many different ravishing landscapes. To get a true sense of the scale and the diversity of the country you really have to travel overland across it.
If you want to do this without the stress of driving a car on busy roads full of heavy vehicles, there is no better way than to make the journey by rail in the supreme comfort of a luxury train.
This option is now available not only within South Africa, but to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, the DRC and even Angola, creating the possibility of undertaking one of the world's epic train journeys.
As members of the Hays Travel Group we can access these journeys for you, and having lived in the region for 50 years, we can help you decide which journey would suit you best and how to build an excellent South African or Southern African holiday round it.
To start the planning with a no-obligation discussion contact us now and we will call you back!
Ravishing Railway Journey Options In Southern Africa
There are two main options to choose from. Both offer superb journeys....
The Blue Train
The Blue Train runs between Cape Town and Pretoria. It has been running since 1946.
It is the equivalent of a five star hotel. All rooms are, of course, fully air conditioned. They all have ensuite bathrooms, wifi and entertainment centres.
There is a butler service and the outstanding cuisine is served off fine china, accompanied by the best Cape wines served out of crystal glasses; these meals are in elegant dining cars. The club cars and observation cars offer the perfect position from which to watch the ravishing scenery as you travel.
Rovos Rail
Rovos Rail is a much more recent entrant to the luxury train market, having started in 1985, but it also offers a much wider range of options.
It includes Port Elizabeth and Durban, as well as the Kruger Park on its South African routes and offers some special interest trips, for golfers, for instance.
Rovos Rail also criss-crosses the length and breadth of Southern Africa, with trains going as far as Windhoek in Namibia and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and also serving Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia. It has recently added a service crossing the DRC to Lobito in Angola.
Rovos Rail trains offer lavish standards of luxury, but they also have slightly less lavish options. They provide elegant and comfortable dining cars, club cars and observation cars and their food and service are superb. They aim to create a traditional ambience, expecting semi-formal attire at dinner, and de-emphasising electronic gadgetry.
We would love to help you decide whether a luxury railway journey is the best option for you, which one would suit you best, and what to combine it with, to tailor make your dream holiday.
Contact us today to start the planning!
