2024 African Safari Plus: Rovos Rail B (6/13-14/2024)

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Sunrise at 6:00; the rocking of the train on
the 1,067 mm/3.5' Cape gauge did not induce sleeping

There has been a major decline in mining in South Africa
since the 1980s, resulting in abandoned mining facilities

Breakfast: Egg order of any style with any sides

Breakfast: Continental

We did not cross the South Africa-Zimbabwe border today as originally scheduled.

Smoking lounge

Tamiko in lounge car (KSS)

Observation lounge car

The locomotives are at what should have been the
tail end of the train, but because we had to travel
north instead of west, we are "backwards"

A view of the rest of the 21-car train

The corridor outside the suites,
with "barn doors" to the rooms

Gravel quarry

Cattle

Lunch Starter: Pulled king oyster mushroom bruschetta
with cucumber and pomegranate

Lunch Main: Chorizo and butternut linguine
with feta cheese (KSS)

Lunch Cheese:Artichoke, feta and cashew strudel (KSS)

Lunch Dessert: Almond Chocolate Trifle

Agriculture corporation-type barns and silos

The second dining car

Dinner Main: Springbok loin on wilted spinach,
baby corn, and a polenta cake with a plum jus

Friday, June 14, 2024

Breakfast special: Salmon Eggs Benedict

We are still in South Africa; an Adansonia digitata/
African Baobab tree, known as the Tree of Life due
to many indigenous remedies from its bark and fruit

A small garden plot (KSS)

Local legend says the baobabs were too proud, so the gods
became angry, uprooted them and threw them
back into the ground upside-down

Lunch Starter: Leek and ricotta tartlet with Black Forest ham
and a honey mustard vinaigrette

Women carry bundles on their heads

Equus asinus/Domestic Donkeys

At last, we cross the Limpopo River into Zimbabwe

Lunch Main: Grilled salmon fillet with asparagus, peas, and
lemon and dill cream on fried brown rice and lentils (KSS)

We were allowed to disembark while border
formalities were completed; now the locomotives
are in the front of the train

Another baobab tree

View of the narrow gauge track from the observation car

Local entertainment at the Beitbridge Station

Water storage on the hilltop

We missed our scheduled stop today at the Matopo National Park in Zimbabwe.

Dinner Starter: Smoked kudu carpaccio with
pine nuts and Parmesan (KSS)

Next: Rovos Rail C.