Rovos Rail

After our four memorable days in the Kruger National Park, we were driven back to Nelspruit international airport to fly to Johannesburg, where we were picked up and drove to Pretoria, South Africa’s capital for the night.
I would like to add that the Nelspruit area is a wonderful haven of agriculture, there are orchards of citrus, macadamia nut trees, bananas, sugar cane and maize crops, we were pleasantly surprised by how well manicured and cared for farms.
The orchards are all surrounded with razor wire and this is to protect the workers from the wildlife.
Our overnight stay in Pretoria was lovely, we arrived on May 8th and there was an election, so a public holiday was declared. Pretoria has one of the largest university in South Africa, and the streets were full of students.
The next morning we were picked up and driven to the capital station, where we will board the Rovos Rail.

 The Capital Station

The lounge area

Me in the engine room.

Our steam train

A mosaic idea.

Kms mosaic 

DH outside the Capital Station 

The train emits quite a bit of steam..

Chocolate mousse.

Our table setting for lunch and dinner, a variety of wines were served with all four course.

Entree, tomatoes and boccochini.

Our cabin with en-suite

The lounge area.

Confit duck.

Another view of lounge area.

After our meal a selection

of cheese was offered..

Stuffed chicken breast.

Blue veinCheese.

Some great trees, which reminds me of our bottle trees in Australia, only these trunks can be 2-3mtrs wide.

On the train we stopped at Gwanda, a cultural village, DH was proud as I did not spend any money, the local people love US $

We were on a straight train track for 114kms.

These dedicated local women wait on the tracks for most of the day and into the night for trains to pass so that they can sell their wares, I could not resist and had to buy some African fabric.

Every night our bed was made, jug was boiled, tea and biscuits ready for your enjoyment..

Springbok meat, just melted in your mouth

Gwanda cultural village

Naughty baboons all over the trains 

Our bed in our cabin

Pineapple cake.

Ravioli 

Cudo capriccio 

Gwanda cultural village

Ladies on the train tracks.

Our afternoon tea

I was pleased to see that no food went to waste as it was given to the local people along the tracks.

The Rovos rail was the dream of one man, Rohan Vos, who was at Capital station to introduce himself and give a guided tour of the station and to talk about his dreams and vision for this historical rail journey, we will travel 1,600kms from Pretoria to Victoria

 Falls. The Rovos rail, pride of Africa, is only 30 years old and is one of its kind.

Rohan purchased and restored train carriages from all over the world, he even bought 12 locomotives from Brisbane.

The Capital train station was derelict, and restored to its former glory and 

now is a formal greeting station that houses guests that board this train.

Rovos rail operates four trains of these superbly restored and converted coaches, which accomodate up to 72 passengers in style and comfort. Each train has a lounge car, a unique open ended balcony observation car, a smoking club lounge and two dining cars..

The dining car’s are decorated in the period of 1920’s with romantic teak pillars.
The sleeper carriages, all with en-suite are the last word in luxury.
Each suites accommodates two people with the option of twin or double beds and a lounge area.
The Royal suite measures 16sqmtr, and comes with a Victorian bathtub, the deluxe suite is 10sqmtr and the Pullman suites are 7sqmtr.
DH and I enjoyed this train journey and would highly recommend to anyone that is thinking of doing a rail journey in Africa, do the Rovos rail.
More adventures to follow.