The train to Bulawayo

We'd been helped to find this train by the wonderful website, 'The Man in Seat 61'. (And thank you Jan!) In this blog I've included the email I wrote him to help keep the site updated. What I didn't include was how lovely it was lying in a comfy bunk, with the light off, and hearing the long whistle of the train as it left - so romantic. I also didn't include the information from the man sitting next to me in the waiting room who regularly made the journey to his home near Francistown. He said that the train was often delayed by people committing suicide on it. Oh dear. That didn't happen on the way to Francistown, but we were halted for a while near Bulawayo because a man looked as if he were going to jump and might have done. So the security people got out and walked down the line and concluded he'd changed his mind and run. Phew. ...Or as Peter would have put it, 'A man threw himself under the train, but missed.'

We enjoyed the train being a bit late because it meant that instead of arriving at Francistown at 6.00, the dawn, we saw the dawn come up over Botswana and watched as people left the train at small stations along the way.
The following (minus pictures) is what I have sent to the Man in Seat 6. 
"We took the train from Gaberone to Bulawayo on 24-25 May this year. It is a lovely train. You can't book on-line all the way to from Gaberone to Bulawayo but you can reserve a coupe (or anything else, I should think) from Gaberone to Francistown. Then you have to pick up the tickets at Gaberone station in person, and you need your passport as identification. At that point they will sell you the ticket from Francistown to Bulawayo. It was clean and everything worked, at least in first class where we had a coupe.


We had hot water in the basin in the compartment. They gave us a little pack of crisps, chocolate biscuits and orange juice for our breakfast. There was drinking water on tap in the corridor together with polystyrene cups. The toilets stayed clean for the whole journey and still had toilet paper in them at Francistown. Well, when I last used them fairly close to Francistown.

We were advised to be there at 8.00 for a 9.30 departure, because the train sometimes leaves early, and also the boarding is like an aeroplane - first come first served. Luckily, we sat at the front of the 1st class waiting room which meant we got the first coupe. The train was late starting in Gaberone, but they kept us informed. Then it got stopped by a technical fault in the night and they told us that 'a technician from Palapye was coming to rescue us'. He must have arrived because the train set off again and we arrived at Francistown maybe a couple of hours late.

We worried that the train to Bulawayo might not wait but we had no need to worry. We waited an hour and watched as they cleaned it very thoroughly.

 

Then the two coaches were disconnected, an engine arrived and they formed the new train to Bulawayo.

It would have been useful to know that they would take any large luggage away and put it in the luggage van. We were allowed two suitcases which were aircraft cabin size, and couple of plastic bags. We had brought some food and water in case we needed it. As it turned out we were glad of it because of our late arrival in Bulawayo (nearly 2.30)."