Travelling around South Africa by train is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and so you want to be able to make the best of every moment. The following article attempts to provide you with guidance, so that your trip by train goes smoothly and you can create those special memories.
If you have booked yourself a trip around the beautiful country of South Africa by train, then you are in for something truly special. It is the country that brings us some of the best wine in the world and it has natural parks with species that many of us only get to see on the television. When people think about South Africa, they immediately think about the Serengeti and Mister Nelson Mandela. South Africa’s tourism industry is growing all the time because it has so much to offer and so little time to explore all of it.
There are a number of significant routes that you can take on your South African train journeys, and the whole train network allows you to explore a great deal of the country. You want to be properly prepared for this trip of a lifetime. The following are just some excellent pieces of advice when travelling around South Africa using their excellent train system.
Make Sure You Have Travel Insurance
South Africa is indeed a wonderful country but its infrastructure is probably nothing like the country that you come from. It does boast some excellent hospitals and fantastic doctors and surgeons, but there is no guarantee that you’re going to be able to get the help that you need if you are not able to pay for their services. This is why it makes perfect sense that you would want to take out the right kind of travel insurance that covers you for all eventualities.
Choose Your Train
There are a number of different train routes that you can take, and there are many different local models as well; you have the option of using the National Railway provider or there are a number of luxury private operators that can provide you with a luxury trip on a very well equipped train.
Be Sure To See The Karoo
A train trip to South Africa will not be complete without enjoying some adventure and spending time on the air conditioning dining cars so that you can get out of the midday sun. Travelling by train will allow you to see the real South Africa. You will see the many townships as you pass by. The Karoo itself is truly something to behold and as this vast area covers almost a third of the whole country, it is steeped in history and is the main place where people who love dinosaurs love to visit. You can stop at the mining town, where they have been searching for diamonds for many years.
Meet The People
The South African people are a wonderful race who always have a smile on their face no matter what and it is important that you follow government advisories. It can be easy to get caught up in the whole travelling experience to the point where you don’t pay attention to the people that you see and pass by every single day. You will get to learn many things from the people that live there, then you can learn many stories that you’re not going to be able to read about in your guidebooks.
You need to make the most of this trip of travelling around South Africa by train and the only way it is going to happen is by creating your own memories that you can talk about many years from now. It is a place steeped in history both good and bad, and it is the home to many different species of animals that many of us only get to see in zoos and in movies.