To See Our Photos of Kenya, Click Here
 |
| Nairobi Railway Station in all it's glory |
We've only taken a couple of trains on our travels through Africa, but one that is considered one of the great train journeys of Africa is the Nairobi-Mombasa Train. Nairobi is at 5453ft (1662m) above sea level and travels overnight down to Mombasa at 18ft (5.5m). The British built rail lines through Eastern Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) to open up trade with Central Africa.
Derek was extremely envious of us doing this train journey as he has very fond memories of taking the train himself as a boy with his parents, and now would like to take his own family on the same adventure. On Derek's recommendation we arrived late afternoon to hang out on the platform and observe the goings-on. The station was busy with commuters, but was also undergoing renovations so was not completely open and up and running, but you could tell that it had once had some class. As we waited, we chatted to some other train travellers, and to a guy, Daniel, selling bits and bobs at a table on the platform. Daniel was very happy showing his collection of coins and money from around Africa. Martin in turn showed him his Zimbabwe 10 trillion dollar note. From his reaction, I think that made Daniel's day!
 |
| Squeezing through the tight hallways |
No longer a steam train (sorry, Derek), it was still exciting when our engine was finally attached: our departure was getting closer and closer. Finally it was all aboard and we squeezed through the narrow passage-way to our cabin. We had bought first class tickets since mixed genders are not allowed in second class (unless you purchase all four beds) and third class is wooden seating only - which we did not consider as fun for a 15 hour overnight journey! So our two berth compartment was cosy and even had a working washbasin and wardrobe.
The carriage staff had just enough time to introduce themselves when suddenly we were off bang on 7pm! (not like our Mbeya to Dar Es Salaam train which departed more than 24 hours late!). Pulling pole-pole out of the station we left Nairobi behind. Almost immediately, the bell for evening dinner started ringing. Dinner was in a nice old-fashioned dining car almost like a setting out of an Agatha Christie, and I half expected Hercule Poirot to mysteriously enter through the carriage door at any second stroking his moustache. We were treated to quite a colonial experience at the small tables cluttered with their three course meal settings. The mediocre food of rice, meat and veg was even served silver-service style by uniformed waiters. Classy for us!
 |
| Our snazzy First Class cabin |
We sat for dinner with the fellow travellers that we had briefly met/seen on the platform. Sheila and Micheal were both Canadian, Josh from the UK, and Dorette and Guillaume from South Africa. We shared their 'Konyagi', a toxic spirit (liquor) that was tolerable with Sprite. We swapped travel stories: Sheila and Micheal volunteers at an orphanage, Josh traveling from England, and Dorette and Guillaume travelling from South Africa all the way to Egypt on their piki-piki (Chinese-made motorbike)! As the night wore on, Guillaume got more and more goofy. At one stop, he made us all jump by banging on our outside window - I mean, the train hadn't even stopped yet, so it really surprised us to see him outside. It was a fun evening though, and it wasn't until 11.30 that we all retired to our cabins.
While we had been at dinner our cabin had been turned down. The cabin staff had made up our beds complete with sheets and blanket. Super cosy. Even though it was exciting to be on such a classic adventure speeding into the night (in relative safety and comfort) across the hills and plains of Kenya, the lilting rhythm of the train was surprisingly smooth and we soon fell asleep.
I awoke just before dawn and lay gazing out the window at the passing red, flat landscape. The
 |
| Sheila, Michael, Guillaume, Dorette, Martin and Josh in dining car |
commonplace round mud shacks with their grass roofs were scattered across the plains. Once in a while there would be a domed mud structure which was more unusual. As we headed east I saw the occasional white frilly mosque with minaret, and even a homestead with a small herd of camels in the yard - both signs that we were getting closer to our destination on the arabic Swahili coast. It had been a fairly good night's sleep and Martin said he had felt a lot safer in his bunk with webbing to hold him in if necessary - unlike our Mbeya to Dar Es Salaam train which only had low metal bar for him to cling to! On the other side of the train the sun was rising and we rose to watch the soft light warm up the landscape.
Soon after, the train staff walked up and down the corridor dinging the bell, and in various states of sleep and hangover (Guillaume didn't even appear!), the handful of first class passengers headed to
 |
| Our View entering Mombasa |
the dining car for a not too fancy breakfast. A couple of hours later we were passing larger towns and eventually the views became more and more busy and built-up. We were coming into Mombasa. Forgotten were the open plains as we passed the industrial outskirts with its pungent, toxic dumps. We were horrified to see people actually living on the huge mountains of rubbish in shacks made out of anything they could find! Awful! And then hundreds of flies invaded our train through the open windows!! A charming welcome to Mombasa!
The arrival into Mombasa was not a pretty one for sure, but it was 10am and we were on time! I think the Mombasa train may have changed a little since Derek's time, but we found it a charming and eclectic adventure. We were glad we had done this classic journey and had met some great people who we would yet see again. We said our goodbyes and watched Dorette and Guillaume pack up their gear onto the piki-piki, before wandering off into old Mombasa. * Mush
 |
| Guillaume and Dorette packing up the Piki-Piki for IDoAfrica |
No comments:
Post a Comment