Rovos Rail: Pride of Africa

Photographer Misha Taylor captures the wild beauty and endless skies of South Africa as seen from Rovos Rail’s Pride of Africa locomotive. Traveling from Cape Town to Pretoria on the restored 1930s era train with his actress girlfriend Julie Fournier, Taylor passed by quaint villages and historical landmarks such as the Big Hole in Kimberley, the site of South Africa’s late-1800s diamond rush. The restored trains all feature en-suite bedrooms, multiple lounge and dining carriages, and an observation car at the tail, as well as impeccably sourced early-to-mid 19th-century antique furnishings. Others routes the Rovos fleet covers include a 1600-kilometre journey through Botswana and Zimbabwe ending at Victoria Falls, a Namibian safari and an epic 28-day expedition from Cape Town to Cairo that involves flying across the Serengeti in light aircrafts, visiting chimpanzees in Uganda and a cruise on Lake Nasser. Natural disasters, lack of infrastructure and political instability in Africa mean that trips regularly have to be rerouted or rescheduled, but it is something that founder Rohan Vos has learned to take in his stride. “There are flash floods that wash away the tracks, copper thieves stealing parts, troubles at the border, or the locomotors might fail,” he explains. “We have to come up with elaborate schemes to entertain the guests as the tracks are fixed—like fly them to the nearest safari lodge for a night.”

Visit our Facebook page to watch a short film shot during the trip, and see more images of the train and the breathtaking South African landscapes it passed through here.