African trilogy

16:00 DEPARTURE IN OCTOBER • 18:00 DEPARTURE IN FEBRUARY
Depart from Rovos Rail Station, Pretoria. Guests may freshen up in their suites before joining fellow travellers
in the lounge car or observation car. Please ensure the Train Manager or Administration Deputy is in possession of your passport. It will be returned to you before the end of the trip.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. The train travels the eastern line towards eMalahleni. Dress: Formal.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The rolling hills of eMakhazeni, eNtokozweni and Dullstroom are a welcome sight and are renowned for the genteel yet skilful sport of trout fishing.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars. The train descends the spectacular Drakensberg Mountain escarpment.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Malelane. Dress: Formal.

05:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure.
06:30 Game drive in the Kruger National Park with tea and lunch. Rejoin the train at Malelane.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to eSwatini. Dress: Formal.

The famous Kruger Park (2-million hectares) is a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and home to an impressive number of species, e.g. 336 species of trees, 49 species of fish, 34 species of amphibians, 114 species of reptiles, 507 species of birds and 147 species of mammals including the Big Five.

06:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. Border formalities with eSwatini.
08:30 Disembark at Mpaka. Visit Swazi Candles and Mantenga Cultural Village with lunch at Mantenga Lodge.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Border formalities with South Africa. Dress: Formal.

The tiny Kingdom of eSwatini (Swaziland) covers only 17 000km2, most of which is mountainous. For such a small country, it is surprising that it sustains two capital cities: Mbabane is the administrative capital and Lobamba is the royal and legislative capital. In April 2018, Swaziland changed its name to the Kingdom of eSwatini (meaning “place of the Swazi”) and is an absolute monarchy. It is landlocked and borders South Africa and Mozambique. At Swazi Candles, guests are invited to interact with the artisans as they make a variety of candles. Woodcarvings, colourful textiles and superb basketwork are also on display. Mantenga is nestled in the mountains overlooking ‘Execution Rock’. The village is a living museum of old traditions that represents a classic Swazi lifestyle during the 1850s.

05:00 Continental breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure.
06:00 Transfer (±30 min) to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park for a game drive.
10:30 Return to the train.
12:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. Travel towards Empangeni.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Durban. Dress: “Africa” Theme or Smart Casual.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure.
09:00 Enjoy a tour of Durban and the botanical gardens. Transfer (±30 min) to Umhlanga for lunch. Return to train. Traverse the Valley of a Thousand Hills towards Ladysmith.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Formal.

Durban is the third largest city in South Africa and enjoys great importance due to its industry and very large port. Drive along the ‘Golden Mile’ promenade where numerous hotels and restaurants are situated.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars. Traverse the Drakensberg Mountains, first named by the Voortrekkers who thought the unbroken chain of heavily weathered peaks reminded them of the spines on a dragon’s back, hence the name ‘Dragon Mountain’ or Drakensberg in Afrikaans. Pass some of the highest peaks at 3450m.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Formal.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure.
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.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The observation car will be leading the train until after tea. Travel through 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.
16:30 Tea in the lounge car and observation car at the front of the train.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Formal.

07:00 Breakfast is served until 10:00. The train travels into Upington on the Orange River (activity TBC on the day).
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. Border formalities with Namibia.
16:30 Tea in the lounge car and observation car at the rear of the train.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Holoog. Dress: Formal.

The Orange River is the longest river in South Africa (2432km/1511mi). It rises in the Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho and flows westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. It forms part of the borders between South Africa and Lesotho and South Africa and Namibia. Except for Upington, it does not pass through any major cities. Attorney General of the Cape, Sir Thomas Upington was principally responsible for liquidating the business activities of all the Orange River pirates and capturing their leader, Klaas Lucas. When the desperadoes were finally chased away in 1884, the town was founded on the banks of the Orange River and named in his honour.

06:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure.
08:00 Transfer (±60 min) to the Fish River Canyon.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The train travels along the southern reaches of the Kalahari Basin.
15:15 Visit Garas Park (Quiver Trees), home to roughly 300 specimens of the Aloe dichotomy. The prehistoric trees have forked branches that reach up to 5m making for great photographic opportunities.
17:00 Late tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. The train travels north through the Kalahari to Windhoek. Dress: Formal.

The Fish River rises in the centre of the country before flowing south into the Orange River on Namibia’s border with South Africa. It has formed the great Fish River Canyon – the largest canyon in the southern hemisphere and probably only second to Arizona’s Grand Canyon in terms of size. The vast rocky landscape breaks up into a series of spectacular cliffs. Its size is impressive: 161km long, up to 27km wide and almost 550m at its deepest.

Please pack a small overnight bag for the stay in Sossusvlei. A tog bag has been placed in your suite for your convenience. See below for inclusions/exclusions.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
10:30 Transfer to the airstrip. Depart in a light aircraft for a one-hour flight to Sossusvlei.
12:00 After check-in, enjoy lunch at the lodge.
16:30 Afternoon desert drive and a bush dinner after sunset. Overnight at the lodge. Dress: Casual.

The dunes of the Namib Desert were created by sand carried by the wind from the coast of Namibia. The sand
here is over five million years old and is red in colour due to its iron-oxide content. As the light changes during
the day so does the appearance of the dunes’ characteristic colour allowing for interesting photographs at any time. The wind in the Sossusvlei area blows from all directions causing the sand to form a star shape with multiple arms, hence the name “star dunes”.

Please ensure your overnight bag is ready to be collected from your suite before the drive. Time of drive
to be confirmed. Bags will be stored in the lodge’s baggage area before being loaded into the aircraft.

An early wake-up call with tea and coffee. Enjoy a desert drive with breakfast in the vlei.
11:00 Return to the lodge to use the facilities, check-out and transfer to the airstrip.
12:00 Depart in a light aircraft for a one-hour flight to Windhoek. Enjoy lunch and visit the Transport Museum.
18:00 Depart Windhoek. Travel to Otjiwarongo.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Formal.

Situated in Namibia’s central highlands, Windhoek is an attractive city surrounded by clusters of hills and the
impressive Auas and Eros Mountains. The Trans-Namib Transport Museum outlines Namibian transport history, particularly that of the railway. The Independence Memorial Museum focuses on the anti-colonial resistance and the national liberation struggle of Namibia.

06:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 09:00.
12:00 Early lunch is served in the dining cars.
13:30 Visit a cheetah conservation project in Otjiwarongo. Founded in Namibia in 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Otavi. Dress: Formal.

Please pack a small overnight bag for the stay in Etosha.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
Transfer (±60 min) to a lodge in Etosha for overnight. Check-in and enjoy lunch.
15:00 Game drive in Etosha National Park (±3 hours).
19:30 Dinner and overnight at the lodge. Dress: Casual.

Etosha National Park (22270km2) offers great game viewing. It gets its name from the Etosha Pan (4760km2),
a large salt pan forming part of the Kalahari Basin. Etosha means ‘Great White Place’.

Please ensure your overnight bag is ready to be collected from your suite and proceed to checkout by
10:30. Your bag will be loaded into the vehicles.
Early morning game drive in the Etosha National Park.
Return to the lodge for breakfast and check-out.
11:00 Transfer (±60 min) to the train 13:00.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The train travels southwest towards the Atlantic Ocean.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served. The train travels southwest towards the Atlantic Ocean. Dress: “1920s” Theme or Smart Casual.

Please ensure luggage is ready for collection 15 minutes before departure and that you have your passport.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00. Traverse the Namib Desert towards Walvis Bay. The observation car will be at the front of the train for last stretch – a different aspect that our rail enthusiasts enjoy.
12:00 Arrive at journey’s end at Walvis Bay Station, Namibia.

The Namib Desert stretches for more than 2000km along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia and South Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means “vast place”. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55-80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world. The geology consists of sand seas near the coast while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland.