We slept surprisingly w
ell in our private compartment, considering the noise and motion of the carriages – shows how exhausted we were. We watched Tanzania roll past the window from our beds, only having to get up around 10am when a porter knocked at the door to give us some water and toilet paper, and take our breakfast order.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, looking out the window, walking through the train, napping, and just generally hanging around. It’s quite a nice way to travel – once you get on the train! We’d love to do it again, though I don’t think we can recommend this particular train unfortunately.
We did hear some stories from other travelers about why the train was so late – there was a goods train that derailed, then our train broke down and another one had to be sent back from Mbeya and finally something about people getting drunk while waiting around, getting angry and violent when there was no food (while the people in first class still got theirs), smashing the windows in an entire carriage, then attacking first class (where we were booked into) hitting a woman in the head! The train then went backwards up the line for two hours to the nearest police station so the troublemakers could be arrested.
The train was very slow – top speed seemed to be about 50kmh, and in the morning the terrain was mountainous so there were lots of climbs and tunnels. It was also quite cool, but as the train left the highlands it became very warm and the train picked up a little bit of speed. Because we were in the first class carriages at the back we missed a lot of the action at each station, but we still managed to see lots of people trying to sell their produce to passengers.
We estimated the arrival time of the train in Dar to be around 5am, so after a basic dinner of beef and rice (all they had left) we commenced our second night on the train. Which unfortunately was when we passed through the Selous National Park, so didn’t get to see any wildlife as we'd hoped.
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