Rocking on Rovos Rail and wonderful wildlife

[love_the_life]

There are so many fabulous TRs on Africa that I thought in the spirit of not boring people to death with our more mundane trip that I would instead only report on the things that others may not have included. Of course, no southern Africa TR would be complete without at least a smattering of the wonderful wildlife we saw on our trip, so I will post some of those pics as well.
To put the trip in perspective, this is not a live TR; we returned home yesterday, so it is all in the past as they say.
Mr LtL and I rather enjoy train travel and after our E&OE Thailand to Singapore jaunt last December, Rovos Rail in South Africa caught our eye.
The overall itinerary was:
26 August – CBR – SYD (on Murrays coaches - cheap and easy) – overnight Rydges Airport Hotel
27 August – SYD – JNB – QF63 - J – overnight Intercontinental OR Tambo International Airport
28 August – JMB – VFA – BA6285 (operated by Comair) – J – 2 nights at Zambezi Sun Hotel, Livingstone
30 August – Rovos Rail – Victoria Falls to Pretoria, 3 nights, 1 night Intercontinental OR Tambo International Airport again. Daughter, Dr LtL joined us here
3 September – Federal Air shuttle to Ngala Safari Lodge in Timbavati
6 September – shuttle again to Exeter River Lodge in Sabi Sand reserve
10 September – Federal Air back to JNB. 2 nights Intercontinental Sandton, though Dr LtL flew straight back
12 September – JNB – SYD – QF 64 – J, SYD – CBR – QF1525 – Y

All bookings except for the hotel in Livingstone were made directly with the supplier. Sun Hotels seemed to have a very complicated booking engine so I used Booking.com for the Zambezi Sun.

So, as I sort through the photos and get my head around what a fantastic holiday it was, I’ll add to this post-TR.

 

[Pushka]

Back already? Crikeys that went fast.

 

[love_the_life]

Yep, blink and it was over! Arrived home at about 8pm last night. Today was a day of washing, ironing and other mundane things. Work tomorrow

 

[love_the_life]

I’ll only mention the flight to JNB briefly as this is the flight used by most others and lots has been written in their excellent TRs. When I booked QF63 was showing as a refurbed 747 but this was changed about a month or so out. We managed to score 1A and 2A, the old F seats which were very comfortable for the long flight. Service was great and food was good though when Dr LtL flew a week later, the menu had changed and she thought there was something of a catering fail with tough and inedible meat. The chap next to her actually complained about the standard of the food to the FAs. I slept for several hours and overall quite a pleasant flight, though we did not see Antarctica this time as we tracked too far north.
It was an easy walk to the Intercontinental, a quick shower and basically fall into bed.
Next day after breakfast we moseyed over to the terminal to get some extra Rand and then checked in for the BA flight to VFA. I’d booked this flight before the accommodation so that is why went into VFA but stayed on the Zambian side.
Our confidence was not boosted by the apology given by the flight deck for the delay – an avionics problem. It was not enhanced by a staff member with a hi-viz vest with something along the lines of “Technical support” in row 2 who disappeared into the coughpit before landing and stayed there. I did wonder if we were going to actually get off the ground as the plane rattled and shook its way down the runway. Landing was equally exciting with an apparent difficulty in keeping the plane level, but we did make it in the end. Luggage collection was somewhat chaotic with bags manually shifted and some people grabbing for theirs before they were placed in the collection area. Luckily we were almost first in the immigration queue for our UniVisa and thence to our transfer and on to what we later dubbed as Checkpoint Charlie. Anyone who has crossed the Zimbabwe/Zambia border will know how it works. The transfer shuttle took us to the Zimbabwe border post but as they are not allowed to cross we were walked through the gate to meet a vehicle/driver from the same company on the other side. Luckily this vehicle is able to pass through the Zambian border post and on to the hotel.
I had some misgivings about the hotel (Zambezi Sun) and wondered whether I should change to the Royal Livingstone. In the end it was fine. Both are in the same complex; Zambezi Sun is 3 star and Royal Livingstone is 5 star and as long as you remember that, no problems.
A few snaps of the hotel - snapped with phone so the colour is not great.
Resident zebras


The rustic look:


Large pool and bar area

 

[love_the_life]

We spent 2 nights at Victoria Falls/Livingstone; enough time to walk both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides of the falls and take a sunset cruise. There was much more water on the Zimbabwean side though still quite low water. It was the dry season but we were told that the rains had been very poor as well which contributed to the overall lack of flow.
Sunday 30th was the day we boarded the train in Victoria Falls for three nights, ending in Pretoria. Roos Rail is a private railway company operating out of Pretoria described as a hotel train running trips throughout southern Africa. A good potted history of the company can be found here. The name Rovos Rail comes from the original owner's name Rohan Vos. Anyone who watched the last episode of Griff Rhys Jones' Slow Train Through Africa would have seen Rovos Rail featured. We, however, did not partake of a Royal Suite complete with bath. Given the state of the tracks and the constant rocking and rolling, this was perhaps a wise choice as most of the water would have ended up on the floor!

The trip left from the Victoria Falls Hotel. We had considered staying here but I think the historical benefit would have been overwhelmed by that dusty and musty smell of an old building. It certainly had an atmosphere all its own. We all assembled in one of the sitting rooms, and then were accompanied in groups out the door, along the red carpet and onto the train. Luggage was taken care of, all we had to do was settle in.





We chose an L-shaped layout as this seemed to give a little more room in the compartment for the table and chairs. This was a deluxe cabin, one step up from the Pullman and one down from the Royal. Plenty of room to store luggage under the beds or in the racks above, unlike the E & OE where you could only take a small bag each to the cabin and the rest was to be stored in the luggage carriage.


Perfectly adequate bathroom - shower, handbasin, WC


Classic railway corridor

The amenities kit was excellent - good quality shampoo/soap etc and even a small first aid kit and insect repellent wipes. Each compartment had a reverse cycle air conditioner, fridge (which was filled with what you wished) and tea/coffee making equipment. One interesting provision was the safety goggles in case you wanted to hang your head out of the window!

We ordered gin, tonic, scotch and soda for the bar, but were somewhat confounded when the scotch arrived in a carafe as they did not have any small bottles of the single malt. Also biscuits and nibbles. Of course there were also 2 bar areas on the train to have a drink and socialise so the in-cabin mini-bar was really a little superfluous (right....as if )

My apologies - I attached the last image instead of inserting it (DOH) and not only that, it is not the pic I thought it was. This is the waiting room at the Pretoria Rovos Rail Private Station - the end of the line.

 

[love_the_life]

Anyway, back to the train!
As there were only 39 passengers on this trip meals were taken as a single free sitting. Phones were discouraged in the dining area and I was too busy eating to take photos so sorry!



Meals were pretty good, though there was no choice of dishes at lunch and dinner, whereas on the E & OE there was a choice of 2 for each course. For breakfast there was cereal, fruit, juice, pastries etc plus a choice of eggs and sides. Lunch and dinner were three courses - entree, main, dessert plus wine. No wonder I napped for three hours one afternoon,zzzzzzz. I put it down to lingering jet lag. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :mrgreen:
The train handled border formalities for Botswana but we did have to take our passports in person to the border post for South Africa (apparently officials do this randomly).

The main lounge car

 

[Pushka]

Noice Dame O.

 

[love_the_life]

The real challenge on the train is trying to sleep. With a very narrow rail gauge, the big overhang by the carriages and the poor track maintenance in places, you might expect that there would be a far bit of rocking and rolling and you would not be wrong. At one stage Mr LtL thought he would be thrown out of bed! It was all part of the experience but don't think that this is a smooth ride by any stretch. I have a theory that the included alcohol on the train is all part of a plan to get you plastered so that you pass out (or maybe not, though I did see some passengers imbibing quite a bit).

On the first morning, we all disembarked the train and climbed aboard safari jeeps for a short game drive at Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe), home of the recently deceased Cecil. We did not see any cats but did come across several herds of zebra, wildebeest, elephant, giraffe etc.

Wathog watching the intruders


Mother and baby


Zebra pair


Another vehicle


After a couple of hours it was back onto the train and ready to tuck into Brunch.

 

[Pushka]

Did you see the Big Five? Love that warthog.

 

[love_the_life]

The big five are coming....many times. And many cute baby animals.

 

[love_the_life]

We had a brief stop in Gaborone (Botswana) but really only enough time to get off the train and have a quick look at a shopping mall as the market was not really busy at that hour. Not having any local currency (pula) did not help much. Another couple on the train who lived in Durban commented that the shops in the mall were basically the same as those in South Africa. After a quick look round we retreated to the train to transfer some of the morning's photos from the camera to my phone. The camera's built in wifi makes it so simple!

For a train with only 39 passengers this was a mighty long one!


The market - all the cars are taxis



Back on the train and we trundled south again. The top speed of the train was 60km but at times it felt much faster!

The train stopped for a short time at Mafikeng, South Africa, site of the famous siege where Robert Baden-Powell made his name.

 

[Pushka]

The big five are coming....many times. And many cute baby animals.

Pandas? I am into pandas and meerkats at the moment.

 

[love_the_life]

Pandas? I am into pandas and meerkats at the moment.

Here you go, a red panda though and not from this trip

 

[love_the_life]

The last night on the train, our steward decorated the bed with rose petals and the unopened champagne (from when we boarded). All too soon the trip was over with the use of the original steam engine for the last few kms into their private station in Pretoria. As we had a private transfer (through Kwathlano Tours) we were not able to take part in the tour of the workshops etc at the station unfortunately. The train manager offered the tour on the train and I'm sure it would have been very interesting, so a pity not to do it.





Another night at Intercontinental at the airport then collected by &Beyond for the Federal Air transfers to Ngala Lodge where we were staying 3 nights.

 

[love_the_life]

I should point out that Mr LtL is not a natural flier so he was a little apprehensive at the idea of small plane transfers. He described the first flight as 'character-building'. As it was very cloudy all the way the 9 seater (full) bounced around quite a bit. This was a shuttle service so we dropped off 6 pax at one airstrip (gravel) after an hour and a half, then on the Ngala's own airstrip (sealed) which was a 10 minute hop from the first. We were met by our guide and tracker (Bernard and Jimmy) and had a five minute transfer to the lodge itself. The Fedair lounge at Johannesburg was well stocked with food, drinks and had plenty of seats. We were advised that we only had 15 kg per person in a soft bag; we made this easily but did see a couple arrive with hard cases. They were ushered through to the outside area and provided with 2 soft bags to repack.

 

[Pushka]

Th last night on the train, out steward decorated the bed with rose petals and the unopened champagne (from when we boarded).....

I feel like I missed something here.

 

[love_the_life]

Doh! I don't think you did! The champagne remained unopened and a good night's sleep was had! (And I corrected the typos)

 

[love_the_life]

We were warmly welcomed at Ngala Safari Lodge, Timbavati, one of the &Beyond lodges. We had three nights here and then were transferring to Exeter River Lodge in Sabi Sand.
Ngala was more relaxed than Exeter, and was larger with 20 'suites'. It was also a family friendly lodge and there were a group of 6 - 7 kids who were there for a birthday (not just your average birthday party!). The lodge had set up a separate activities schedule for them and they were no problem. We had a family of three with an 11 yr old in our safari group. They were a delightful family and the son was a real pleasure. It was also great to see the way Bernard engaged him, pointing out tracks and including him in discussions.
So what was included at the lodge?
Accommodation
All meals
Alcohol and soft drinks
2 game drives each day
Ranger led walks each day (though it rained and we didn't do these)
Laundry

Wake up call at 5am, coffee then morning drive till about 10am, breakfast, shower, walk, lunch, afternoon tea at 3.30 then afternoon/evening drive, dinner and....bed. Repeat.

 

[Milboo]

9 seats! That's big! We flew out of Thornybush in a 4 seater (including the pilot!). It was one of the highlights of our trip though!

looking forward to your review of the &Beyond offering as I've been looking at them for next year.

 

[love_the_life]

Don't think Mr LtL would do a 4 seater! The first flight was the worst but the other 2 were a bit less bumpy. Will try to include info for you on &Beyond but if you have any specific questions Milboo please ask and I will try and answer them from my experience.