Way back in 1989 I came across an article about a new luxury train service in Southern Africa. I read the article over and over, I was so excited. A luxury train pulled by a steam engine that would take me to Victoria Falls. It was a dream come true.

It took until 2008 for us to make that journey, and it didn’t disappoint. Well it did a bit. Due to problems with obtaining water and coal in Zimbabwe, Rovos only had a steam train for the very beginning of the trip – then the steam engine puffed away, and was ignominiously replaced by the most unattractive diesel engine. Hardly fitting for a classic Edwardian train.

Everything else, however, was perfection.

When planning this trip to South Africa I thought it would be great to try the famous South African Blue Train. We were out of luck. COVID seems to have put an end to it for the moment.

I then thought of Rovos again, but alas there wasn’t a train running from Cape Town to Pretoria that would fit in with our safari dates.

Then in the middle of the night it came to me. Rovos also has a Durban to Pretoria route. I hurriedly turned on my computer, and low and behold there was a train from Durban to Pretoria that fitted into our plans perfectly. Within seconds I had sent the booking request, and contacted a good friend in Durban to give her the heads up to expect us.

So there we were this morning. Waking up to a sunny day on the Durban sea front, waiting for our taxi to take us to Durban station. Finally it arrived. I was bursting with excitement.

In Pretoria the train leaves from their own station in a beautiful Edwardian building where you sip mimosas and watch the uniformed porters scurrying around to load suitcases on to the train. You got to see their steam engine and take photos of it, and Mr Rovos himself, Rohan Vos gave us a talk about the train and his vision for it, as Mozart music played discretely in the background. It was all a rather lovely, elegant start to the journey.

Not so much with Durban station. Our taxi driver deposited us at the station where there seemed to be a multitude of homeless and intoxicated folks, but no Rovos sign in sight. No indication of where platform 14 was. I stayed with the suitcases while Brian set off in search of our train. Meanwhile, I suppose because I looked a bit out of place, a very nice young security guard came to my rescue. He didn’t know where the Rovos train was either, but he offered to join us on our search.

As the escalators weren’t working, nor was the lift, we carried our suitcases up the 2 flights of escalators, and things were starting to look more station like. No Rovos sign, or people carrying luggage or looking like they were about to catch a train, but there was a shop and lighting was better. Finally we found platform 14, and we thanked the security guard.

There was a perky young lady ready to check us in, and we could hand off our suitcases to the porters. She pointed us in the direction of the train, which was down a poorly lit non functioning escalator. We emerged into the light again, and there was our train, and some ladies handing out glasses of champagne. We had arrived. No it wasn’t Pretoria station, but the train was there, and we could go onboard and be taken to our suite.

We were told that although we were scheduled to depart at 10:00, this was unlikely to happen for a variety of reasons, but it didn’t matter, we were on the train and I was so happy!

The sleeping accommodation is in beautiful suites, each with an en suite bathroom. The room isn’t that big, but there was plenty of storage space for 2 nights, and a table and 2 chairs. There is also a stocked mini bar, so it is all very pleasant.

However, there is NO WIFI. Horrors. The whole idea is that you relax and adjust to a time when things were simpler. You are not supposed to use you phone or computer in the public areas, so all you can do is relax, read, and sip champagne watching the countryside go by. Well, you could do this once the train got going. At the moment all we could see were the bowels of a very unattractive, deserted railway station.

Finally we were off! We sat in the lounge meeting the other passengers, having pre lunch drinks, and generally really appreciating that we were finally on the train.

Of the 40 passengers on board, the majority were from the UK (24). There were 4 Americans, 4 South Africans, and 4 Swiss, and 2 each from the Czech Republic and Sweden.

At 1:00 the gong for lunch was sounded, and we headed to the beautiful dining car for a delicious lunch. We sat enjoying the food as we passed through the beautiful scenery of the Valley of a Thousand hills.

There was no time to have an afternoon nap as were soon arrived in Pietermaritzburg and we disembarked from the train for our afternoon excursion.

Our first stop was at the Nelson Mandela Capture Site museum, which was very well laid out, and very moving. I wonder what Nelson Mandela would think about the state of South Africa now.

From there we went to the Ardmore Ceramics Gallery.

I had visions of being able to buy a bowl, or a jug, or something for the friends we will be staying with in Johannesburg. However, it was not that sort of ceramics establishment. The ceramics were all absolutely amazing works of art. Some a bit kitsch, some totally beautiful, but all magnificent. They were more like sculptures, and the colors were bright, with intricate designs. I was in love with the gallery. However, best of all, they had some of their designs printed on scarves. I am a huge fan of scarves, so Brian bought a really lovely one for me. A good memento of our visit there.

After wandering around the gallery we were treated to tea in their beautiful gardens, and then it was time to get back on the coach for our one hour ride back to the train.

We returned to the train at 6:30. We were greeted with champagne again, my kind of train.  There was just enough time to shower and get ready for dinner. One thing I love about Rovos is that you are supposed to dress up every night – last time on Rovos as we were on our way to catch QE2 we did the whole tuxedo and long dress thing, but this time we decided on jacket and tie for Brian and cocktail dress for me.

Everyone was dressed appropriately, and there was one gentleman in a tuxedo. I love it when people follow the dress code. Dinner felt so elegant. The dining car is very classic, and with the soft lighting it was like being in a dream. There were 4 courses with dinner, all paired with the appropriate wines. The food looked beautiful, and was delicious. It was an amazing meal.

After dinner we went to the lounge car for a night cap. We are so happy to be back on Rovos again!