After breakfast and checkout, the morning is yours to enjoy at leisure. Take a final wander through Fairlawns’ manicured grounds or enjoy a quiet hour in your suite before the afternoon transfer to Rovos Rail Station in Pretoria.
As the train pulls away from the platform, the world appears to slow its pace. Settle into your Pullman Suite, a private retreat with warm timber panelling, crisp white linen and wide picture windows designed for watching the African landscape drift past. The attentive onboard team ensures your comfort, and will gladly point you in the direction of the lounge car or the observation car at the rear. The journey north passes through the mineral-rich spa town of Bela-Bela and Modimolle, before the train crests the escarpment where the Highveld falls sharply away and the bush country opens up ahead.
As evening settles, make your way to the elegantly appointed dining car for a formal dinner en route to Polokwane. Please ensure the Train Manager or Administration Deputy holds your passport ahead of the border formalities to come.
Travel time: Driving – approx. one hour
Wake to the gentle rhythm of the train as Rovos Rail crosses the Tropic of Capricorn, the landscape growing wilder as the journey continues north towards Louis Trichardt. Enjoy a quiet breakfast in the dining car before the day settles into its own unhurried pace. Find a corner of the lounge car with a good book, or let the open-air balcony of the observation car draw you outside as the miles roll by.
Lunch is served as South African border formalities begin, the train moving on towards the Limpopo River – the very waterway that captured Rudyard Kipling’s imagination in his ‘Just So Stories’, where the curious ‘Elephant’s Child’ made his famous journey to its muddy banks. Gather for tea in the lounge and observation cars as the river slides past, the train crossing into Zimbabwe at Beitbridge for border formalities.
Dinner is served in the dining car as the journey continues towards Gwanda, the bush deepening beyond the windows as Rovos Rail presses on through the Zimbabwean night.
The train ascends through baobab country this morning, the ancient trees rising from the red earth as Rovos Rail approaches Bulawayo – Zimbabwe’s second city and the proud capital of Matabeleland.
After lunch, step off the train for an included excursion to Matobo National Park, a UNESCO-listed landscape of extraordinary granite kopjes and ancient San rock art. Your visit covers bushmen caves and some of the finest rock art sites in Africa, where paintings thousands of years old speak to a deep and enduring human presence in this remarkable landscape.
Dinner is served in the dining car as Rovos Rail departs for Sawmills, the journey pressing on through the Zimbabwean night.
Today, the train follows one of the world’s longest straight stretches of railway, a remarkable 114-kilometre line between Gwaai and Dete that runs along the eastern boundary of Hwange National Park. At nearly one and a half million hectares, Zimbabwe’s largest wildlife reserve stretches away beyond the tracks – a vast, game-rich wilderness that hints at the afternoon’s promise.
After lunch, step off the train for an included game drive through Hwange, where elephant herds move through mopane woodland, lions rest in the shade of acacia trees and the park’s extraordinary diversity of wildlife reveals itself at the pace only a game drive allows. Return to the train as the sun begins to lower over the bush.
Dinner is served in the dining car as Rovos Rail continues towards Thompsons Junction, the day’s encounters still fresh as the Zimbabwean night closes in.
As Rovos Rail makes its final approach, ensure your luggage is ready and your passport close at hand. Breakfast is served until mid-morning, with the observation car leading the train, offering a fitting final perspective on a journey that has crossed two countries and revealed a rich tapestry of landscapes since Pretoria.
Arrive at Victoria Falls, where porters from The Victoria Falls Hotel just steps away will meet you and handle your luggage as you enter this iconic heritage property. Built in 1904 and overlooking the spray-misted gorge of the Zambezi, the hotel carries more than a century of stories within its colonnaded verandas and manicured gardens. Check into your Classic Room, freshen up and let the afternoon take shape – a stroll through the grounds, afternoon tea on the terrace or simply the pleasure of arriving somewhere extraordinary.
Travel time: Train – approx. 6 hours
Set out with your guide for a tour of Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwean side. One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the falls carry the Zambezi River over a 1,700-metre-wide basalt cliff in a curtain of spray and sound that can be heard from kilometres away. Your guide brings expert context to the geology, wildlife and history of this remarkable place.
The middle of the day is yours to spend at leisure. The town of Victoria Falls offers curio markets, restaurants and optional activities ranging from scenic flights to white-water rafting for those seeking more adventure.
In the late afternoon, board a luxury sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River as the light softens over the water. Hippos surface in the shallows, elephants gather at the bank and the last of the day’s light catches the spray of the falls in the distance – a fitting close to your time at one of Africa’s most arresting natural landmarks.
Travel time: Driving – approx. 40 minutes
After checkout, transfer from Victoria Falls across the border into Botswana, where the landscape opens out into the broad floodplains and riverine woodlands that define the Chobe region. Arrive at Chobe Game Lodge in time for lunch – a polished base on the banks of the Chobe River, and the only permanent lodge within Chobe National Park.
The afternoon brings your first game activity, guided by the lodge team through country that holds the highest concentration of elephants in Africa, where the riverfront draws an extraordinary number of wildlife to its banks. Buffalo move in great dusty columns, giraffes pick their way through the woodland and the air above the water thrums with birdlife. Return to the lodge as the sun drops behind the treeline for dinner overlooking the river.
Travel time: Driving – approx. two hours
Rise early for a morning game drive along the Chobe River, where your guide reads the bush with practised ease by following tracks, interpreting behaviour and positioning the vehicle for encounters that unfold at the animal’s own pace. Elephant herds wade into the shallows, buffalo gather in their hundreds on the floodplains, and the ever-present impala and majestic giraffe move through the treeline. Predators are well represented in the northern reaches of the park – lions are sighted regularly, while leopards and wild dogs reward the patient and the lucky.
During your included river safari, the game-viewing shifts register entirely. Hippos congregate in lagoons, crocodiles hold their prehistoric stillness at the water’s edge, and antelope pick their way carefully to drink. For those attuned to birds, the Chobe region rewards – Schalow’s turaco, barred owlet, white-browed coucal and hooded vulture are among the 450+ species recorded here.
Rise for one final game activity as the sun appears over the Chobe River before returning to the lodge for a last breakfast on the riverfront. Bid farewell to the wilderness as your transfer to Kasane Airport (BBK) departs, marking the end of an extraordinary journey through Southern Africa.