Day 1 – Blue Train Itinerary
Blue Train Leaving Pretoria
After boarding and getting settled in the train manager announced that we will now be leaving Pretoria and welcomes us onboard, she reminds us to enjoy the hospitality onboard and to ask for anything we need. We feel very warmly welcomed and quite soon afterwards high tea is served in the Lounge Car, this gives us our first opportunity to try some of the onboard catering and it is good! Real good!
Johannesburg Train Travel
The journey is quite slow on the first day as all the railway signalling in Johannesburg is non-existent, so they have to manually crank any track points for us to move over them. Not being in a rush to be anywhere it is a massive eye opener looking out of the window and seeing the levels of poverty that are sadly a massive problem in South Africa. Travelling past the townships you see how tough life is for most people in the cities and you frequently pass an abandoned train station showing you how great the railways used to be before they fell into disrepair.
Dinner on the Blue Train
Come the evening we have made it around 30 miles outside of Johannesburg and our train is stopped opposite a township as the sun starts to set. The announcement system comes into life and we are invited to the Dining Car to enjoy a very glamorous dinner. A reminder is given that the dinner is a formal event with dinner jackets and ties being a must and phones aren’t part of the party. Our first dinner is a 4-course affair of a starter, soup, main and dessert. The main is usually a meat or vegetarian option, we always went for the meat and a selection of wines are also available which we did get quite jolly on for the first night.
Bedtime on the Blue Train
After dinner we go for an evening stroll to the Observation Car and as the train moves through the night we see the red light reflecting on the tracks as we disappear into the darkness. Returning to our cabin the suite has been changed into night mode with the bed laid out perfectly and chocolate on the pillows. The bedding is some of the most comfortable we have ever experienced and to top off a perfect night we call the butler for a hot chocolate, this is brought to us with a smile shortly after and Jenny falls off to sleep while I stay up a little while watching the TV.
Day 2 – Blue Train Excursions
Breakfast on the Blue Train
Waking up around 08.00 we threw on some clothes and headed back to the Dining Car for breakfast, this isn’t such a formal affair which is quite nice with a continental buffet to start followed by a cooked breakfast of your choice. After breakfast the cabin has magically transformed back into day mode and looking out of the window, we’ve made some good progress overnight and are now swiftly making our way through the country.
Blue Train excursions in Kimberley
Just after 10.00 we pull into Kimberley station after passing a nature reserve known for its flamingos. Kimberley is famous as one of the earliest mining towns in South Africa, the home to De Beers and its biggest tourist attraction ‘The Big Hole’. Leaving the station for our morning excursion we are greeted by our guides and swiftly transported to the The Big Hole on minibuses.
The Big Hole Kimberley
As tourist attractions go it isn’t the most enthralling place to visit but it definitely is big and a hole. We had a talk about the history of the area, how the mine was found and how the country evolved over the years with the booming mining industry. Within the museum is a vault holding a selection of valuable diamonds with displays about the evolution of mining and a mock up underground mine that you walk through. The original buildings from when Kimberley was starting off are within the attraction grounds and help expand on what would be quite a boring excursion.
Kimberley Railway Station
Returning to the train we are greeted with drinks and dancing on the platform and as always the staff are full of laughter, smiles and a warm welcome. We don’t depart straight away so I take this opportunity to walk to the front of the train and chat to the driver. Kimberley station is also home to a railway museum but sadly it wasn’t open, so I had to keep my train spotting to photo taking only.
High Tea on the Blue Train
After we depart high tea is once again served and a relaxing afternoon follows, this time is great for just sitting back and looking out the window taking in the landscapes and wondering what is going on over there. By the evening we arrive in the town of De Arr, once a bustling railway junction. We spend a couple of hours here as we wait for the line ahead to clear whilst another splendid dinner is enjoyed.
Day 3 – Blue Train to Cape Town
Blue Train through South Afrrica
On our final morning we wake up and check our GPS to see we’ve covered some great distance again and as we go further south the landscape has been getting greener. On the journey we haven’t seen much farming but one thing we did see was what looked like rows and rows of cactuses. Turns out these are cactus farms and are grown for cactus pears also known as prickly pears.
Blue Train stops at Matjiesfontein
The final stop for our train isn’t Cape Town due to flooding that has washed away the tracks and we come to a stop some 195 miles away in Matjiesfontein. We’re quite pleasantly surprised by this as when the Blue Train travels from Cape Town to Pretoria it stops here for an excursion around the town. The town is a beautiful example of what South African towns looked like in the early 1900s with original post office, hotel church and courthouse buildings.
Blue Train Lounge in Cape Town
Our luggage is transferred onto a coach and we finish the final 3 hours wiggling through the mountain roads and down to the coast. On arrival into Cape Town we go into the Blue Train lounge at the station where we wait for our next transfer and our adventure on the Blue Train over the last 3 days comes to an end.
