I had read about the Tazara and really wanted to try it. I don’t like long distance train journeys because they are usually boring and uncomfortable. I don’t get much if any sleep and feel constantly dirty. However I like to arrive to arrive slowly and I enjoy the journey as much as the destination so I went to Tazara Railway Station and paid 104k/= for a first class berth.
I made preparations by going to the Chinese supermarket and buying some instant noodles and biscuits. I took a small jar of coffee, some UHT milk and a half bottle of Red Label whisky.
The train left on time at 3pm and I found myself sharing a cabin with two women and a young girl from Arusha. One woman who Zambian and one was Botswanan. The young girl was nice, not crying or annoying which was a relief. I could not have asked for nicer cabin mates.
There was another girl who shared our cabin but she rarely showed up. She was clearly a regular traveller on this route as she seemed to know all the staff and spent all her time in the bar carriage.
I grabbed a bottom bunk even though I had been allotted a top bunk and nobody seemed to mind. It was nice to see Tanzanian countryside go past the window. When we stopped at stations, young children would run alongside the train.
I risked two meals in the canteen. One beef dinner was ok but my second portion had too much gristle and I couldn’t get through it. The canteen kept unpredictable hours too so you never knew when it would open. I was glad that I had taken a couple of pot noodles. They were s life saver.
We stopped several times, once to check the health of the locomotive before entering Zambia and once to decouple the bar carriage which had become defective.
Each time we stopped at stations, we stopped for a long time – at least 20 minutes each time which seemed excessive to offload passengers and goods. But then we are operating at African speed and so I learned to relax and not to care. I was not in a hurry so chill out.
We crossed into Zambia in the middle of the night and due to problems with the issuance of my visa, we were delayed slightly. It was all sorted out eventually but I was frustrated that the stupid man – Joseph – in the visa office in Dar had messed it up – charged me the wrong amount.
When the sun came up Zambia looked lovely – more backward perhaps than Tanzania but beautiful scenery. After two days and three hours we arrived at our destination – New Kapiri Mposhi station in the Copperbelt region of Zambia.
Tazara train is an interesting experience. There were surprises – I got what I was expecting I would get out of it…. a cheap but uncomfortable and slow entry to Zambia.