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Rovos Rail Northbound - Detailed Information

DAY 1

Cape Town. 11h00 Depart from Cape Town Station. The "Pride of Africa" departs northwards from Cape Town on its 1600 kilometre (960 mile) journey to Pretoria, covering a 160 year old pioneering trail forged out of the African bushveld. Guests may freshen up in their suites before joining other guests in the observation carriage at the rear of the train. The trip north takes our train through the carefully tended vineyards of the Western Cape into the stark but somehow strangely haunting barrenness of the Great Karoo. Close to Cape Town, the vegetation is either tinged green by the winter rain of the Western Cape, a region which enjoys a Mediterranean climate, or burnt brown during the long hot summer. From Paarl in the heart of the Winelands, the train starts to gain altitude almost imperceptibly, and over lunch reaches the first mountain terrace and the town of Worcester. 13h00 Lunch will be served in the Dining Car. A gong is sounded before each meal. 15h00 We pass through Worcester on the way to the village of Matjiesfontein. The railway line winds its way through the vineyards of the Hex River Valley, a valley mothered by a series of weathered mountains wreathed in snow during the winter. Fine old Cape Dutch houses are dotted among the stitched patchwork of the vineyards, quaint reminders of the Amsterdam townhouses from which many of the early settlers came. Then up to the second terrace (Touws River) to an altitude of about 1220m (4000 feet) and the dry Karoo (a Hottentot word). The change in landscape is immediately apparent. The dramatic scenery of the Western Cape fold mountains fall away to the south as the train moves towards the flat, dry vistas of the interior. The Karoo, being both high and exceptionally dry, offered solace to Victorian sufferers of Tuberculosis (Consumption). This region was once an enormous inland sea. Over millions of years, igneous material was ground down and deposited as silt upon the seabed, to form what the geologists call the Karoo system. 18h00 Disembark at Matjiesfontein, an authentic Victorian railway village which stands perfectly preserved. Legend has it that the this little hamlet is occasionally visited by the ghost of a wounded British "Tommy" of the Anglo-Boer war. Passengers have 1 hour to stroll through this quaint little village. (For refreshments we recommend the pub in the Lord Milner Hotel). 20h00 Dinner will be served in the dining car. More formal attire is worn in the evening on the "Pride of Africa" although, of course, Black Tie/Tuxedo is not obligatory. 21h00 We depart Matjiesfontein, heading for Beaufort-West only a few hours away. The town was founded by 1818 by the then Governor of the Cape, Lord Charles Somerset, and named after his father, the Duke of Beaufort. Soon after passing Beaufort-West, the train passes Three Sisters, a trio of buttes or rounded, eroded hillocks well known to all seasoned travellers in South Africa heading north by road or rail. The sleepy village of Victoria West is a short pull further north. And thereafter we head for De Aar, a major railway junction to Namibia and the northern Cape line.

DAY 2

Kimberley. 07h00 Breakfast will be served in the Dining Car until 10:00. 13h00 Arrive in Kimberley. Here we disembark and if time permits, proceed by coach/combie for lunch at the Kimberley Club, then for a tour of the city, the 'Big Hole,' the Mine Museum, and a ride through the city in an historic tram. In Kimberley, the "Pride of Africa" enters one of the finest Victoria railway stations in Africa at Kimberley. A product of the railway heyday of the 1870's, the cast iron girders encased in glass soar over the platforms to recall the intricate patterns of a bygone era. The Kimberley Club was the haunt of the great diamond tycoons of Kimberley's Belle Epoque, the period 1867 to 1889. Numbered among those greats are Rhodes, Barnato and Beit, men who accumulated incredible wealth from diamonds. 16h00 Train departs Kimberley. 20h00 Dinner will be served in the Dining Car as we pass through Bloemhof and Leeudoringstad en route to Klerksdorp. Finally we leave the Northern Cape and thereafter the Orange Free State.

DAY 3

Pretoria. 07h00 - 10h00 Breakfast will be served in the Dining Car. As the train crosses the Vaal River into Gauteng province, it climbs steadily towards the skyscrapers of Johannesburg, the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa. It is on the heights of the Witwatersrand, some 1800m (6000 feet) above sea level, that the greatest goldfields in history were discovered before the turn of the century. The mine dumps of Gauteng, many of which are disappearing as they are reprocessed using advanced technology to capture small quantities of gold which escaped in the less refined methods of past years, are testimony to the scale of mining operations carried out over the years. The deepest mines in the world 3.7km (3 miles) below the surface of the earth are found in South Africa. The harsh realities involved in squeezing gold from grudging ore is reflected in the lack of aesthetic presence in Johannesburg. And yet the vibrancy of the city is immediately apparent. It is robust and unpretentious, a mixture of tribal swirl and technological innovation in a region who's very name reflects the nature of its wealth - Gauteng, the place of gold. Leaving Johannesburg, the "Pride of Africa" gradually drops in altitude as it moves eastwards towards Kempton Park, a city adjacent to Johannesburg International Airport. 12h00 Arrive Capital Park. Journey's end is at Rovos Rail's private station at Capital Park, Pretoria. Kindly note that departure and arrival times are approximate and cannot be guaranteed.