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Summary
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Duration
13 DaysStarts In
Victoria FallsRoute
Victoria Falls , Hwange National Park, Pretoria, Kimberley, Cape Town
From the thundering spray of Victoria Falls to the foot of Table Mountain, this thirteen-day journey combines two nights at the legendary Victoria Falls Hotel, the timeless luxury of Rovos Rail, a two-night stay in Pretoria, and a final two nights in Cape Town into one of the most complete Southern African experiences imaginable. The train travels through Hwange's wildlife-rich plains, crosses baobab country and the Tropic of Capricorn, visits Kimberley's diamond heritage, pauses in Victorian Matjiesfontein, and descends the escarpment into the winelands — all at the unhurried pace that only rail travel can provide. On board, impeccable cuisine, beautifully appointed private suites, and the timeless elegance of Rovos Rail make every mile between destinations as rewarding as the destinations themselves.
RAIL JOURNEY 13 Days / 12 Nights Aboard Rovos Rail Luxury Train from Victoria Falls to Cape Town, featuring Hwange National Park, Pretoria, Kimberley, Matjiesfontein and Cape Town. Includes private arrival & departure transfers, your choice of luxury cabin accommodations, room service, all meals, local beer, wine and soft drinks, onboard lectures and guided excursions as indicated in the itinerary.
Includes
- Accommodations as per itinerary
- Meals as per itinerary; breakfast (B), lunch (L), dinner (D)
- Sightseeing: per itinerary
- Train tickets as per the itinerary
- Special onboard entertainment per itinerary
- Keytours 24-hour emergency assistance
- Private arrival and departure transfers as per itinerary
Excludes
- Items of a personal nature
- All other items not mentioned as included
- Transfers not mentioned in the itinerary
- Gratuities for drivers, guides, and escorts
Itinerary
Day
1
1
Day 1
Day 1: Arrival at Victoria Falls
Your journey begins with a transfer from Victoria Falls or Livingstone Airport to the legendary Victoria Falls Hotel — one of Africa's great colonial-era properties, set just moments from the thundering edge of Mosi-oa-Tunya. Check in, settle into the hotel's gracious atmosphere, and allow the distant roar of the falls to begin its work. The day is entirely yours: explore the hotel's beautiful gardens, arrange a tour of the falls, or simply absorb the extraordinary energy of one of the world's most celebrated destinations. Tours and additional activities can be arranged on request, and the hotel's service and setting ensure that even a day at leisure here feels richly rewarding.
Day
2
2
Day 2
Day 2: Victoria Falls
A second full day at the Victoria Falls Hotel invites deeper exploration of this extraordinary destination. The falls themselves — the mighty Zambezi plunging 108 meters over a 1.6-kilometre precipice, the spray rising in permanent clouds above the gorge — reward multiple visits as the light shifts through the day. As evening approaches, a sunset cruise on the Zambezi provides the perfect counterpoint to the falls' overwhelming drama: hippos surfacing in the shallows, crocodiles watching from the banks, and the last golden light catching the spray as drinks are served on the water. It is an evening of quiet, irreplaceable magic.
Day
3
3
Day 3
Day 3: Departing Victoria Falls
A final day at leisure in Victoria Falls — time for one last walk to the falls, a morning activity, or simply a slow breakfast on the hotel terrace before the afternoon transfer to Victoria Falls Station. By early evening, Rovos Rail departs southward toward Hwange, the bush settling into its twilight rhythms around the carriages as the formal dining car glows warmly ahead. The suite, the observation car, the lounge — all waiting exactly as imagined — and the magnificent days of rail travel stretching ahead as Zimbabwe's extraordinary interior darkens beautifully beyond the windows.
Day
4
4
Day 4
Day 4: Hwange National Park
The day opens with an early game drive at The Hide in Hwange National Park — Zimbabwe's largest wildlife area and home to one of Africa's greatest elephant populations — as the dawn light floods the bush and animals gather at the waterholes with extraordinary frequency. Back on board, the train travels the legendary 114-kilometre straight between Dete and Gwaai, one of the longest unbroken stretches of railway line on earth, the flat immensity of Hwange's eastern boundary stretching in every direction. Meals are served throughout the day as the journey continues its southward arc, the Zimbabwean interior giving way to the border ahead.
Day
5
5
Day 5
Day 5: Into South Africa
Border formalities mark the crossing back into South Africa as Zimbabwe's ancient baobab country recedes behind the train and the Tropic of Capricorn is crossed — that quietly momentous geographical threshold best marked with something celebratory in hand. The broad grassland plains of the Highveld take over as the afternoon deepens, the landscape opening into the vast golden interior that defines this part of Southern Africa so completely. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and a formal dinner are served as Pretoria draws steadily closer, an overnight on board carrying guests gently toward the city and the next chapter of this remarkable journey.
Day
6
6
Day 6
Day 6: Pretoria
The train arrives at Rovos Rail's magnificent private station in Pretoria late morning, and guests transfer to Capital Menlyn Maine for a two-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. The remainder of the day is entirely at leisure — or for those with energy and curiosity, a tour of Pretoria awaits. Sometimes called Jacaranda City for the thousands of jacaranda trees that line its streets and erupt into purple bloom each spring, Pretoria is a city of genuine character, history, and beauty that rewards unhurried exploration. Two nights here provide a welcome pause before the journey's final, magnificent chapter begins.
Day
7
7
Day 7
Day 7: Pretoria
A full day to explore Pretoria at leisure or with a guided city tour — the Union Buildings, Church Square, the National Zoological Gardens, and the city's celebrated jacaranda-lined avenues all within easy reach. Lunch is included for those joining the tour, the afternoon free to explore independently or simply rest ahead of tomorrow's departure. It is a day of gentle transition — the rhythm of the train not yet resumed, the anticipation of the Cape not yet fully formed — a pause between two extraordinary halves of a journey that has already delivered so much and still has remarkable things in store.
Day
8
8
Day 8
Day 8: Back on Board from Pretoria
A morning transfer to Rovos Rail's private station marks the resumption of the journey as the train departs late morning across the historic goldfields of the Witwatersrand — a landscape that speaks of extraordinary human ambition and the making of a nation. Settle back into your suite, rediscover the lounge and observation car, and let the familiar, beloved rhythm of the rails reassert itself. Lunch, afternoon tea, and a formal dinner mark the day's unhurried cadence as the South African interior opens up southward and the Cape — still days away but already filling the imagination — begins its long, slow, irresistible approach.
Day
9
9
Day 9
Day 9: Kimberley
After breakfast, the train arrives in Kimberley for one of the journey's most compelling historical detours — a guided tour of the Diamond Mine Museum and the legendary Big Hole, the largest hand-dug excavation on earth, brings vividly to life the story of the diamond rush that founded this city in 1871 and shaped a nation's destiny. Back on board, the afternoon belongs to the Karoo: that vast, ancient semi-desert of haunting beauty and geological drama, once the bed of an enormous inland sea. Lunch, afternoon tea, and a formal dinner are served as the ochre silence of this extraordinary landscape stretches endlessly in every direction.
Day
10
10
Day 10
Day 10: Matjiesfontein & The Escarpment
A mid-morning stop at Matjiesfontein invites a delightful stroll through one of South Africa's most perfectly preserved Victorian villages — the platform museum and fascinating collection of historic cars beside the Lord Milner Hotel well worth exploring at a leisurely pace. Back on board, the train reaches the first of four mountain tunnels as the escarpment begins its dramatic descent, the longest tunnel stretching 13.5 kilometers through the mountain. The train drops some 750 meters through the spectacular scenery before the landscape softens and greens into the celebrated winelands of the Western Cape, the vineyards and mountain ranges creating a scene of quite extraordinary beauty as the Cape draws near.
Day
11
11
Day 11
Day 11: Arrival in Cape Town & St James Manor
The train arrives at Cape Town Station late morning — journey's end for the rails, and the beginning of the final chapter. Guests transfer to St James Manor for a two-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis, the property's position along the False Bay coastline offering one of the most beautiful arrivals imaginable. Table Mountain dominates the skyline, the Atlantic light is extraordinary, and the sense of having travelled a very long way from Victoria Falls is both humbling and deeply satisfying. The remainder of the day is entirely at leisure — time to settle in, take a first walk along the shore, and simply savor the remarkable city that has been waiting at the end of this journey.
Day
12
12
Day 12
Day 12: Cape Town
A full day to explore one of the world's most celebrated cities at whatever pace suits. Table Mountain and its cable car, the V&A Waterfront, the colorful streets of the Bo-Kaap, the Cape Peninsula's dramatic coastal drive, the winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek — all within easy reach and all richly rewarding. Cape Town's extraordinary combination of natural beauty, cultural depth, and world-class food and wine makes it one of those rare cities that rewards both the structured itinerary and the aimless wander in equal measure. A final dinner this evening — wherever the city leads — brings a thirteen-day journey of remarkable scope and beauty to its fond, unhurried close.
Day
13
13
Day 13
Day 13: Departure
After a final breakfast at St James Manor, a transfer to Cape Town International Airport brings this extraordinary journey to its close. From the thundering edge of Victoria Falls to the foot of Table Mountain, from the wildlife-rich plains of Hwange to the ancient silence of the Karoo and the celebrated winelands of the Western Cape, this has been Southern Africa experienced in its fullest, most generous expression. Whatever lies ahead, the memories of thirteen remarkable days will prove extraordinarily persistent — the very best kind of travel, taken at exactly the right pace.
Dates & Prices
15 of Jan, 2027
Friday
16 of Jan, 2027
Saturday
17 of Jan, 2027
Sunday
18 of Jan, 2027
Monday
19 of Jan, 2027
Tuesday
20 of Jan, 2027
Wednesday
21 of Jan, 2027
Thursday
22 of Jan, 2027
Friday
23 of Jan, 2027
Saturday
24 of Jan, 2027
Sunday
25 of Jan, 2027
Monday
26 of Jan, 2027
Tuesday
27 of Jan, 2027
Wednesday
28 of Jan, 2027
Thursday
29 of Jan, 2027
Friday
30 of Jan, 2027
Saturday
31 of Jan, 2027
Sunday
1 of Feb, 2027
Monday
2 of Feb, 2027
Tuesday
3 of Feb, 2027
Wednesday
4 of Feb, 2027
Thursday
5 of Feb, 2027
Friday
26 of Feb, 2027
Friday
5 of Mar, 2027
Friday
26 of Mar, 2027
Friday
9 of Apr, 2027
Friday
21 of May, 2027
Friday
3 of Sep, 2027
Friday
8 of Oct, 2027
Friday
22 of Oct, 2027
Friday
5 of Nov, 2027
Friday
19 of Nov, 2027
Friday
31 of Mar, 2028
Friday
26 of May, 2028
Friday
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