DAY 1: ARDMORE CERAMICS
10:00: Depart Durban Station. A number of museums and cultural sights, the beautiful botanical gardens, and the superb shark-protected beaches are but a few of the city’s many charms. The train traverses the spectacular Valley of a Thousand Hills. Guests may freshen up in their suites before joining fellow travelers in the lounge car and observation car.
13:00: Lunch is served in the dining cars. Visit the famous Ardmore Ceramics Gallery. Here, artists are encouraged to express their imagination based on nature and Zulu folklore and tradition.
19:30: Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Ladysmith. Dress: Formal Shortly after Frere, on the left of the track, stands a memorial to Winston Churchill who was captured here in November 1899 while trying to free an armored train trapped by a Boer ambush.
DAY 2: SPIONKOP & NAMBITI
06:30: Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. Transfer (±30 min) to Spionkop Lodge for the morning. A choice of two excursions is available: 1. Hear the historic tale of the Battle of Spionkop OR 2. Enjoy a game drive in the 11 000-acre reserves.
13:00: Lunch is served in the dining cars. The Drakensberg Mountains were 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. Enjoy a game drive in the Nambiti Reserve, a private Big Five bush retreat set on 20 000 acres of malaria-free bushveld with incredible biodiversity including savannah, grasslands, thornveld, and tall acacia trees.
19:30: Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Vooruitsig. Dress: Formal Pass Glencoe – site of the first battle of the Anglo Boer War and now the centre of the province’s coalfields – then Newcastle, which has what is reputed to be the largest cella-dome Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere. From here the train descends from Majuba Hill, site of the decisive battle that ended the First Anglo Boer War.
- 2 Night's Accommodation
- Meals
- All beverages
- Room service
- Limited laundry
- Excursions accompanied by a qualified guide (where applicable), entrance fees as per itinerary, and government tax
- Unspecified transfers or tours
- Gratuities
- Flights & Visas
- Travel insurance and personal expenses
- T&Cs apply
- Personal expenses
- Pre-tour transfers and accommodation
DAY 3: PRETORIA
07:00: Breakfast is served until 10:00. Travel northwest across and the goldfields of the Witwatersrand and the Highveld towards Balfour, a small mining town in Mpumalanga, and Heidelberg, site of the first Rand gold strike.
13:00: Lunch is served in the dining cars.
16:00: Arrive at Rovos Rail Station, Pretoria. Transfer to Sheraton Hotel for a 1-night stay on a B&B basis
- 1 night's Accommodation
- Breakfast, tea, and coffee facilities
- WiFi
- Fitness facilities, swimming pool, concierge services
- Plus two transfers between Rovos Rail Station and Sheraton
- Lunch, and dinner at Sheraton
- Optional activities
DAY 4: PRETORIA BORDER: MUSINA, SOUTH AFRICA / BEITBRIDGE, ZIMBABWE
08:00: Transfer to Rovos Rail Station, Pretoria.
10:00: Depart Rovos Rail Station, Pretoria. Guests may freshen up in their suites before joining fellow travelers in the lounge car or observation car at the rear of the train. Please ensure the Train Manager or Administration Deputy is in possession of your passport.
13:00: Lunch is served in the dining cars. Travel through Warmbaths (Bela-Bela) – so named for its mineral waters – and Nylstroom, christened by the Voortrekkers as the source of the Nile River as the town’s river happened to be north-flowing. Pass the edge of the escarpment where the Highveld drops precipitously.
16:30: Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. The train crosses the Tropic of Capricorn.
19:30: Dinner is served in the dining cars. The train crosses the Limpopo River to Beitbridge. Dress: Formal. In Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, the ‘Elephant’s Child’ departs his family for the “great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, to find out what the Crocodile has for dinner.”
DAY 5: AT LEISURE ON BOARD
07:00: Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00. The train travels baobab country.
13:00: Lunch is served in the dining cars. Travel towards Bulawayo: the second city of Zimbabwe, capital of Matabeleland, and industrial capital of the country.
16:30: Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30: Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Mpopoma for overnight. Dress: Formal
DAY6: HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
07:00: Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
13:00: Lunch is served in the dining cars. The train travels between Gwaai and Dete along one of the world’s longest stretches of the straight railway line – 114 kilometers – and along the eastern edge of Hwange Park
15:00: Enjoy a game drive at The Hide in Hwange National Park.
19:30: Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Thompsons Junction for overnight. Dress: Formal
- 3 Night's Accommodation
- Meals
- All beverages
- Room service
- Limited laundry
- Excursions accompanied by a qualified guide (where applicable), entrance fees as per itinerary, and government tax
DAY 7: VICTORIA FALLS
07:00: Please ensure that your luggage is ready for collection at 09:45 and that you have your passport. Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 09:30.
10:00: Arrive at journey’s end at the incomparable Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
- Breakfast
- Post-tour transfers and accommodation
