Fifteen days and four countries, from the Zambezi to the Atlantic, across Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola. This is the Copper Trail run in reverse, from Victoria Falls west to the Angolan coast at Lobito. It follows the line of the old Benguela Railway, the route built to carry copper from the mines of Katanga and the Zambian Copperbelt down to the sea, and traces it back to its Atlantic terminus. The trip opens with the great river crossing at the Falls and the safari country of Zambia, then works through the South Luangwa valley before crossing into the mining south of the Congo and on through the highland towns of Angola to the coast. It is not a wildlife trip with some travel attached; it is a genuine expedition through countries very few visitors ever see by land, with a copper mine, a three-night safari, and a string of walking tours, and onboard lectures throughout to make sense of it all. It suits the curious and the well-travelled, and rewards them with a trans-African journey on a scale almost nothing else offers.
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Scheduled Tour
Fifteen days and four countries, from the Atlantic coast of Angola to the Zambezi, across Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Copper Trail is the most ambitious journey Rovos runs, and one of the most unusual rail journeys anywhere. It follows the line of the old Benguela Railway, the route built to carry copper from the mines of Katanga and the Zambian Copperbelt down to the sea at Lobito, and traces it in reverse across the breadth of the continent. This is not a wildlife trip with some travel attached; it is a genuine expedition through countries that very few visitors ever see by land, with walking tours of Angolan towns, a copper mine in the Congo, a three-night safari in Zambia’s South Luangwa, and a finish at Victoria Falls. Onboard lectures run throughout to make sense of the history and the country passing the window. It suits the curious and the well-travelled rather than the first-time safari-goer, and it rewards them with a trans-African journey on a scale almost nothing else offers.
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Scheduled Tour
Sixteen nights and seventeen days, around 5,500 kilometres across five countries, from the foot of Table Mountain to the Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania. This is the northbound run of one of the longest and most celebrated rail journeys in the world, the full length of southern and East Africa by train. It leaves Cape Town through the winelands and the Karoo, takes in the diamond town of Kimberley and the capital at Pretoria, then turns to the bush for a two-night safari at Madikwe before crossing the Kalahari into Zimbabwe. Two nights at Victoria Falls follow, then the train crosses the Zambezi and joins the historic TAZARA line up through Zambia and into the Tanzanian highlands, descending the Udzungwa escarpment and crossing Nyerere National Park to finish at the coast in Dar es Salaam. It mixes wildlife, deep history, and the sheer scale of the continent, all from a wood-panelled suite on a train carrying no more than seventy-two guests. Onboard lectures run throughout, and three nights are spent off the train.
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