Africa rail holidays

Whilst not all of Africa is connected by rail, there are pockets where rail travel is convenient, quick and often atmospheric.

The overnight train in Egypt means travellers can fall asleep in Cairo and crawl towards sunrise in Luxor on a dated, but perfectly comfortable sleeper service. Trains in Morocco bustle with commuters and people travelling between cities to see family. Tourists can enjoy sharing the space. “Taking the train cuts down the road transfers which can be quite time-consuming and quite dull,” says Andy Scase from our expert Morocco partner Rediscover the World, who has travelled extensively in the country by train.

In Kenya, the Madaraka Express replaced a very slow colonial-era sleeper service with a speedy train. People can travel for work along the line from Mombasa and Nairobi – the train takes four and a half hours end to end. Tourists can use the route as a brilliant way to combine safari and beach.

Jonny May, founder of our partner Wild Paths, recommends giving it a go. “I love train travel in any country, but the Madaraka Express in Kenya has a few extra bonus points which make it so special,” he says. “There can’t be many train journeys where you can look out of the window and see herds of elephant playing and drinking at a waterhole. As you travel through Tsavo you have a great chance of seeing elephants and loads of other wildlife out of the window.”

For many countries, the history of rail in Africa is a history of outside interest – lines built by foreign powers during occupation, or in exchange for minerals. Border-crossing railway networks – such as the Uganda Railway, which linked Uganda with Kenya, were a product of colonialism. In the 19^th century, Britain, an occupying colonial power in East Africa, proposed a pan-African railway to link its empire from Cairo to Cape Town – but it was never built.

Many of the railway lines across Africa are not what they once were – some have fallen into disuse and disrepair, others no longer cross borders. The Covid-19 pandemic halted services – such as those in Botswana – that were never reinstated. Tazara may be functional, but many of China’s large-scale infrastructure initiatives in Africa, such as its standard gauge railway connecting Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, sit uncompleted with no prospect of being finished.

There are some success stories. High-speed rail arrived on the continent in 2018 with a line between Tangier and Casablanca, Morocco. There are other high-speed networks planned elsewhere in Africa, including Namibia, Egypt and Tunisia. A new Chinese-built line in Ethiopia replaces old track and creates a faster route between Addis Ababa and into Djibouti, taking an amazing route from the highlands down to the scorching coast.

Along the lines that do exist, the train presents tourists with a great opportunity to meet and mingle with others.

“What makes this journey so special is the interaction with normal Kenyan life,” says Jonny. “When you’re on the train you feel part of this country and are travelling like a Kenyan – for me this is when travelling is at its best and feels real.”

“In my mind what the train is all about is an opportunity to meet the local people,” says Jim, describing the Tanzania to Zambia journey. “You get to eat on the train – there’s a bar car with lounge type seating and a dining car – that is an opportunity to share the experience with fellow passengers. You’ll see people getting on and off, doing relatively short hops. The train links really quite remote communities with limited road access. People are keen to practise a few words of English with you. That’s the beauty of rail travel – it breaks down barriers: everybody’s on the same train. On the Tazara you leave Friday and arrive Sunday. You’ve got two nights and a whole day on the train on Saturday. You’re bound to start chatting to other passengers.”

While many travellers – particularly those going to east Africa – are shuttled between lodge and airport without ever meeting people outside the tourist industry, a clutch of train trips are connecting more than just cities. Safari holidays, notes Jim, can be quite a sheltered experience. “You’ll only come into contact with guides, drivers, people working in the lodges,” he says. Trains offer the experience of meeting other demographics: “People who aren’t being employed by the tourism industry to look after you – that’s what you can achieve by train.”