Train Trip That Has Legs
Sun Herald
Sunday January 11, 2004
Try an old-fashioned way to see this great continent, Terry Smyth writes.
SO there I was in my sleeper with my feet up on the bunk, eating fresh fruit and watching Africa roll by.
OK, I lied about the fruit. Actually, I was knocking back a Windhoek lager.
This was Africa the old-fashioned, laid-back way. Africa by train. I'm not talking about your typical Third World rattler here, with people and poultry hanging out of the windows. I'm talking about the Shongololo Express the name is Zulu for caterpillar.
It's a rolling hotel with all the Agatha Christie fittings: sleeping compartments, bar car, lounge car and dining car. The carriages are mostly 1950s British stock, ex-Rhodesian Railways, with enough long, narrow corridors, mahogany panels and frosted glass to make you feel you're in an old black-and-white movie.
Shongololo's newest train, the Southern Cross, runs across six countries in 16 days, from South Africa to Zimbabwe via Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana.
There are three classes of accommodation: Emerald (read first class) has air-conditioned cabins with en suite bathrooms, double and twin beds and a small lounge. Gold (second class) cabins have twin beds, shower and toilet. And Ivory class (my cabin) had doubles and singles with a shared toilet and bathroom at each end of the corridor.
Ivory class is comfortable if a little, shall we say, tight. My tip is: don't bring a lot of luggage or don't breathe out.
The train carries 80 passengers but is more comfortable with about half that.
The Cape Dutch, Malay and Afri cuisine prepared on wood-fired stoves in an infernal carriage behind the engine makes for pleasant dining, especially when washed down with a Windhoek or a Western Cape wine, notably the pinotage.
After meals, the lounge is the place to be and the company is multinational and mostly congenial. You'll spend the trip seeking out some people and trying to avoid others. In my experience, the latter is difficult but not impossible.
The Shongololo concept is that you travel mostly by night and go adventuring by day in vans carried on a flatbed carriage. At each stop there is a range of inclusive options such as scenic tours and game drives, as well as add-ons (at an extra change).
The Kingdom of Swaziland has been called the Switzerland of Africa a bit of a stretch, perhaps, but Swaziland's green hills are a stark comparison with the flat, dry veldt of neighbouring countries.
His Majesty King Mswati III is an absolute monarch. He has nine wives but if that seems impressive (or scary, depending on your point of view), he has a lot of catching up to do. His father had more than 30 wives.
You can see Mswati's palace and parliament as you drive through the capital, Mbabane (blink and you'll miss it), and into the hills to check out rural Swazi life, arts and crafts. It's a pleasant drive with good roads and excellent views, and the people are friendly.
Back at the train it's all aboard for Mozambique. Another night and you wake in Maputo, the former Portugese colonial port.
I recalled that Bob Dylan wrote a song about it, so I went looking for what he called ``magic in a magical land".
Dylan wrote that song in 1975, when the country was a popular point on the hippie trail. Two decades of civil war later, Mozambique is still licking its wounds yet much of the architectural charm of the colonial past has survived. Signs of recovery are beginning to blur the scars of war, and, without having to look too hard, you can still find magic in this magical land.
Along the beaches, fishermen stand knee-deep in the surf, hauling in impossibly long nets. Their catch is bound for the city markets, where you'll find the distilled essence of the sights, sounds and smells of Maputo. There are no in-your-face hawkers here, just locals going about the business of buying and selling everything from raw produce to art.
To sample the catch of the day, try the filete de peixe at the marina restaurant. It'll cost you 110,000 metical. That's just $6.85. If you don't fancy fish, the same amount will get you a bacon and banana burger at Mundo's on Avenue Julius Nyerere .
And while you're at it, check out the grand old Polana Hotel , with a prime view of the harbour, the Catholic cathedral and the Casa del Ferro outside the botanic gardens. Like Maputo's restored railway station palatial, although trains are few and far between these days the building was designed by Louis Eiffel.
Unlike the famed tower he built in Paris, however, Eiffel's iron house was a dud. Intended as a governor's residence, it was assembled from prefabicated sections of iron and was thus so hot inside that it has never been occupied. It survives, still empty, as a monument to what was hardly Gallic engineering's finest hour.
Departing Mozambique, the train tracks back into South Africa for two days of game drives in Kruger National Park. Kruger offers plenty of photo opportunities with the ``big five" lion, rhino, buffalo, leopard and elephant and there is an option of an overnight stay at a bush camp.
Chugging north to Hazyview, there's a day of hopefully not so hazy views of the forests and waterfalls of the Eastern Escarpment. Then it's on to Zimbabwe and a side trip to the ancient ruins of Great Zimbabwe. Built in the 12th century, its granite towers and massive walls are an impressive sight and the likely source of the legend of King Solomon's mines.
Next stop Bulawayo for a city tour and trip into the Matobo Hills , then an overnight chug to Dete , near the Zimbabwe-Zambian border, and a cruise up the lazy end of the Zambezi River.
Again, there are add-on options of overnight stays at safari lodges.
After a game drive in Hwange National Park renowned for its lions it's on to Victoria Falls. From the town of Victoria Falls you can cross the Zambezi Bridge to Livingstone on the Zambian side. Because the bridge is the border, you'll have to buy a visa at the border post. It's usually $US10 (about $13) but can vary according to the official.
From the falls there's a side trip into Botswana, where Chobe River national park is known as elephant central, but the main attraction is the falls, a natural wonder of the world. You can spend a day soaking up its beauty and getting soaked by its spray, or try the more adventurous add-ons whitewater rafting, microlight or helicopter flights over the falls, bungy jumping off the bridge, elephant riding or game viewing upriver by canoe.
Victoria Falls is the end of the line. From there it's all out, all change. You can book into a resort and stay on or fly out from Victoria Falls Airport.
The Shongololo Express has a few edges in service and organisation that need polishing but don't let that put you off. That's Africa.
While very comfortable, this is not the height of luxury. But at $3595 for 16 days, compared with $8792 for six days on the Orient Express, it's excellent value with adventure thrown in.
Stand clear, doors closing.
IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
South African Airways has four flights a week from Sydney to Johannesburg with direct connections to regional centres such as Victoria Falls.
Fares from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide vary seasonally from about $2000 and include a side trip to Victoria Falls.
TOURS
Shongololo 's 16-day safari through six countries costs from around $4,500 and includes travel, accommodation, breakfast and dinner, daily sightseeing tours and entrance fees.
MORE DETAILS
Phone Bench International on 9290 2877 or 1800 221 451 or see www.benchinternational.com.au .
© 2004 Sun Herald
