Luxury railway travel, the landscapes of southern Africa and one of the world’s greatest natural wonders. Natalie R explores the romance of an African railway safari, where getting there is very much part of the adventure.
There are faster ways to travel from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls. You could take a flight and arrive in a matter of hours, collect your luggage and be standing in front of one of Africa’s greatest natural wonders before you’ve had time to properly appreciate the journey.
But where’s the fun in that?
A railway safari offers something rather different. Instead of flying over the landscape, you travel through it, watching the countryside change from the comfort of a train that recalls a more leisurely age of exploration.
And aboard the Train Deluxe, the journey from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls becomes an experience in its own right.
This is a part of the world where distances are considerable, the landscapes are vast and the wildlife has absolutely no interest in keeping to a timetable.
Which, when you think about it, is rather refreshing.
Leaving Johannesburg Behind
Johannesburg is a city with a remarkable history. Built on the discovery of gold in the late nineteenth century, it grew into South Africa’s largest city and one of the continent’s great commercial centres.
It’s also a fascinating place from which to begin a railway journey.
As the train leaves the city behind, the urban landscape gradually gives way to the open countryside of southern Africa.
The change is striking. Buildings become fewer, the horizons grow wider, and the landscape begins to reveal the extraordinary scale of this part of the continent.
From the railway carriage, there’s time to appreciate the details that are easily missed when travelling by air.
Small settlements, distant hills, stretches of open country and the occasional glimpse of everyday life beyond the railway all become part of the experience.
There is something wonderfully satisfying about watching the world pass by without having to make any decisions about directions, traffic or where to stop for lunch.
Someone else has taken care of all that.
And on a luxury train, they’ve usually taken care of lunch rather well, too.
The Return of the Grand Railway Journey
Luxury rail travel has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years, although its appeal is hardly new.
During the great age of railway travel, trains were more than a means of getting from one city to another. They were places to dine, socialise, relax and occasionally dress for dinner.
The journey was part of the occasion.
The Train Deluxe belongs to that tradition, offering the atmosphere of a classic railway adventure rather than the hurried efficiency of modern transport.
There’s a particular pleasure in settling into a comfortable carriage, watching the scenery through the window and allowing the rhythm of the railway to set the pace of the day.
A long-distance train journey also creates its own little world.
Passengers who were strangers at departure begin exchanging stories. Meals become occasions rather than interruptions. The view outside changes constantly, yet there’s no particular urgency to be anywhere else.
It’s a style of travel that encourages you to slow down.
Something most of us could probably benefit from doing a little more often.
An African Safari by Rail
The word safari usually brings to mind open vehicles, dusty tracks and early morning searches for wildlife.
A railway safari offers a different perspective.
Southern Africa is a region of remarkable geographical variety, with broad plains, wooded landscapes and areas of wilderness stretching across national borders.
Travelling by rail provides a sense of the distances between these places, something that’s difficult to appreciate when moving between destinations by aircraft.
The scenery changes gradually rather than suddenly.
There are stretches where the landscape seems to continue forever, interrupted by trees, distant settlements or the occasional animal.
And while wildlife sightings can never be guaranteed from a moving train, the possibility of seeing animals in their natural surroundings adds another dimension to the journey.
It’s important to remember that this is not a conventional game drive. The train follows the railway, not the animals.
Which is probably just as well. Elephants have never been especially cooperative when it comes to railway timetables.
But the great attraction is the opportunity to experience Africa’s landscapes from a comfortable and unusually intimate vantage point.
Across Southern Africa
The journey north towards Victoria Falls takes travellers into a region where railways have played an important role in the development of trade, tourism and transport.
The railway network of southern Africa was constructed across enormous distances, often through difficult terrain, connecting mining centres, towns and ports.
Some of those lines would eventually become part of the great international routes linking South Africa with countries farther north.
Today, luxury railway journeys make it possible to rediscover these routes in a very different way.
Instead of transporting goods or serving the demands of industry, the train offers passengers the opportunity to enjoy the landscape and the history of the railway itself.
There’s something appealing about travelling along tracks that have witnessed generations of journeys before your own.
The locomotives may have changed, the carriages may be more comfortable, and the dining arrangements have certainly improved, but the essential experience remains familiar.
A train moving through a vast landscape, carrying its passengers towards somewhere extraordinary.
The Pleasure of Doing Very Little
One of the great attractions of a luxury railway journey is the opportunity to do something that modern travel rarely encourages.
Very little.
There’s no airport security queue to negotiate, no constant packing and unpacking, and no need to spend half the day working out how to reach the next destination.
Instead, the scenery comes to you.
You can read, talk, enjoy a meal or simply watch the countryside unfold beyond the window.
And on a journey through southern Africa, that view is rarely dull.
The light changes throughout the day, transforming the colours of the landscape. Distant hills emerge from the haze, trees cast long shadows, and the countryside takes on a completely different appearance as evening approaches.
It’s a reminder that travel doesn’t always need to involve a packed itinerary.
Sometimes the best experiences happen when you have enough time to notice what’s around you.
And if that involves enjoying a good dinner while the train continues towards its destination, I’m certainly not going to complain.
Victoria Falls: The Smoke That Thunders
For all the pleasures of the journey, the destination is difficult to rival.
Victoria Falls is one of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders.
Known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya, often translated as The Smoke That Thunders, the falls are formed where the Zambezi River plunges into a deep gorge along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The result is an extraordinary curtain of falling water, stretching for more than a mile across the landscape.
During periods of high water, enormous clouds of spray rise above the gorge and can be seen from miles away.
The sound is equally impressive.
It’s one thing to have seen photographs of Victoria Falls. It’s quite another to stand nearby and experience the sheer volume of water disappearing into the gorge.
The scale is difficult to comprehend until you’re actually there.
The falls were brought to wider European attention by the explorer David Livingstone in 1855, although the local communities had, of course, known about them for generations.
Livingstone named them after Queen Victoria.
Today, they remain one of Africa’s most celebrated destinations, attracting visitors from around the world.
And arriving after a long railway journey gives the experience an additional sense of occasion.
You’ve watched the landscape change, travelled across a considerable stretch of southern Africa and finally reached a place that genuinely deserves the description spectacular.
A word that is rather overused in travel writing, but entirely justified here.
A Railway Bridge with a Remarkable View
Victoria Falls also has an important place in African railway history.
The Victoria Falls Bridge, completed in 1905, spans the dramatic gorge of the Zambezi River just downstream from the falls.
The bridge was part of the ambitious railway expansion associated with Cecil Rhodes and the proposed Cape-to-Cairo railway.
Although that grand scheme was never completed as originally imagined, the bridge remains an extraordinary achievement of early twentieth-century engineering.
Its location is particularly remarkable.
Suspended high above the river, with the falls nearby, it offers one of the most dramatic railway settings anywhere in the world.
It’s difficult to imagine a more impressive place to build a bridge.
Although the engineers responsible might reasonably have preferred somewhere a little less challenging.
For railway enthusiasts, Victoria Falls offers something special: the meeting of natural wonder and railway history on a truly grand scale.
When the Journey Becomes the Holiday
What makes the journey from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls so appealing isn’t simply the luxury of the train or the beauty of the destination.
It’s the combination.
You begin in one of Africa’s great cities, travel through the changing landscapes of the continent and finish beside one of the most extraordinary waterfalls on Earth.
Along the way, there’s time to appreciate the countryside, enjoy the comfort of railway travel and experience a sense of distance that modern flying has largely removed from our lives.
And perhaps that’s the real attraction of a railway safari.
It reminds us that travelling can be about more than arriving.
The world looks different when you take the time to see it from ground level.
Especially when you’re doing so from a comfortable railway carriage, with a good meal waiting and Victoria Falls somewhere up ahead.
I can think of considerably worse ways to spend a holiday.
Watch A Railway Safari on RODtv
A Railway Safari: The Train Deluxe — Johannesburg to Victoria Falls takes viewers aboard a luxury railway journey through southern Africa, travelling from Johannesburg towards the magnificent Victoria Falls.
Discover the romance of classic railway travel, the landscapes of southern Africa and the remarkable destination that awaits at the end of the line.
Watch the documentary on RODtv, and explore more great railway journeys, extraordinary destinations and travel experiences in The Bucket List collection.
