Africa Unplugged

We travel through Johannesburg at dusk. From the comfort of our lustrous wood-panelled coach, we seem far removed from the industrial chic of skyscrapers and mine dumps. Somewhere in the city, it is easy to imagine, a saxophonist starts to play plaintive jazz in a smoky bar. As the night seeps further from the sun, the working weary will gather around him, there to forget for a little while.

From the train we look at the urban sprawl of the Place Of Gold from the outside. We are in a different, gentler world, merely brushing past slowly in our plush time capsule from the past. We are on The Most Luxurious Train In The World and we have become, for a while, observers, exempt from active participation.

We watch the hustle of traffic, billboards and neon signs. Slowly the city realises that night is falling as lights blink into life around us. A haze of activity lingers over the city; it has simply taken on a different hue, accessorised for evening. We pass an apartment block next to the tracks. On the seventh floor a woman stands silhouetted in the window, an oddly still point in the bustling cityscape. I wonder if she sees us as we notice her or if she stares unknowingly into the night, lost in her own life.

There is something about a train journey that opens the mind to contemplation. Relieved of the responsibility to drive or navigate, there is time to notice the shape of the clouds, the play of the breeze through the branches of a tree, the exact colour of your beloved’s eyes.

The elegance of Rovos Rail moves this experience into a whole new dimension. In a time of instant-everything, Rovos Rail stands as incontestable proof that sometimes it is indeed better to mend what you already have. The coaches were rescued from near oblivion by founder and owner, Rohan Vos, and lovingly restored to even greater sophistication than they had known before. No effort has been spared to blissfully marry the modern conveniences of the twenty-first century with authentic Edwardian style and finishes.

Apart from the price of a ticket, there is nothing commercial about Rovos Rail. Some say Rovos Rail is a luxury hotel on wheels. Personally, I would beg to differ. Rather, I would say, it is too short a stay in the country manor house of a dear friend. There can be no price tag on the true, relaxed hospitality with which the Rovos staff ensure that their guests’ every need is met. Here the guest is valued and welcomed to share an experience that must surely remain unforgettable.

The coaches each have a history and their proud lineage shines silently but unmistakably through the gleaming patina of the wood-lined walls. They somehow feel heavier, more solid. One is subliminally aware that these coaches have seen a great many passengers come and go. These coaches have been witness to the full range of the human condition. They have carried passengers to christenings, weddings and funerals, they have seen people fall in love and they have held people safe in times of grief. They have served and been discarded. Now they have been restored even beyond their former glory to take pride of place on a global scale. The sheer substance of their histories quietly demands respect, if not veneration.

It is thus appropriate that the train stops en route to Cape Town at Kimberley and Matjiesfontein, two South African towns that have stories of their own to tell. Despite their incontrovertible charm and their parallel twisting tales of a rush for respective riches, it is the spaces in between these excursion points that fascinate and particularly grow in stature when seen from an open window on a slow moving train.

At the Big Hole in Kimberley we are shown a cocopan full of glass chips. “If all the diamonds recovered from the Kimberley mine could be gathered together, they would fill three cocopans such as these,” the sign declares. But it is only that night, as we pass under the clear Karoo sky, that our breaths are wrenched away by that which glitters. If someone had thrown the three cocopans of diamonds into the sky, it would still not compare to the myriad stars that stud the velvet night sky of the Karoo.

One cannot help but become really still at the sight of such an illuminated heaven. The individual consciousness momentarily leaves its form, crossing in an instant to play amongst the stars and looks back humbled by the sudden insignificance of Earth. Simultaneously, awareness dawns of the profound importance of each human life, each blade of grass, each intricate part of what goes into forming the whole.

The next day we stop briefly at the small town of De Aar. De Aar is a major railway junction for lines from the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Namibia. The junction is bleak with concrete but just as one prepares to dismiss De Aar the eye falls on the lines of bright purple benches that disappear into the distance along the platform. How, one has to wonder, did the decision come about to have purple benches dotting the De Aar platforms? Surely, this must be a story of intrigue.

However, it is not just the abundance of scenery that delights on Rovos Rail. Plenty of care is taken over the pleasures of the flesh as well as one drifts lazily from the multi-course breakfast to lunches on Karoo lamb and bobotie. Cakes are served at 5pm in the lounge car, followed by sundowners and canapés at 6 and a no-holds-barred dinner at 8. Waterblommetjie Soup is followed by a mouth-watering choice between indigenous South African dishes such as Stuffed Ostrich Fillet With Blue Cheese And Vodka Sauce, or Springbok Loin Medallions in red wine and ginger. Moderation seems a very foreign concept in this environment.

For a hedonist greatly appreciative of the finer things in life, the temptation to stow away on Rovos Rail at journey’s end is almost unbearable. This must surely be the stuff of Eden – here where every wish is fulfilled as one travels slowly through a changing landscape of lush Highveld, empty Karoo plains and towering Western Cape mountains. This, for sure, is the best way to see Africa unplugged.

There are few hotels that can follow and opening act by Rovos Rail. The Twelve Apostles in Cape Town was enveloped in low-lying mist late on the afternoon of our arrival. However, this did nothing to detract from the spectacular view – towering mountain behind and an ocean of storms in front. The hotel arises like a beacon of stark white, a lighthouse; welcoming travellers to luxuriate in its well-appointed rooms, its indulgent spa (set around a beautiful courtyard), and its delightful cuisine. It is the perfect choice to ease the transition from the olde worlde elegance of Rovos Rail back into the reality of present day.