African Train Safari Destinations

The drop from the escarpment to the Lowveld is negotiated between the quaintly named towns of Waterval-Boven (1 471ms) and Waterval-Onder (1 310ms). Although only six kilometres apart as the crow flies, the journey by rail covers 14 kilometres of switchbacks and tunnels. Traversing the escarpment was not always easy as when engineers of the Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Zpoorweg Maatshapij (NZAZM) built the Eastern line between Pretoria and Lourenço Marques (Maputo), trains were assisted up to the escarpment utilising a ratchet between the rails. With a steep gradient of 1-in-20, it was little wonder that a rack railway system had to be used. The narrow NZAZM tunnel and bridge can be seen from the train on the cliff side. The eastern line was completed in 1895 and opened by President Kruger and the Portuguese governor of Mozambique. Exactly 100 years later, to commemorate the centenary, President Mandela and President Chissano of Mozambique travelled along the same route.

Waterval-Onder was, from June to August 1900, the temporary capital of Paul Kruger's South African Republic as he sought vainly to withstand the might of the British war machine during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). As the British Army advanced down the line from Pretoria, he retreated and finally crossed the border into Mozambique and went into exile.

Labels: African Collage, Durban Safari, Golf Safari