First full day on train.
Koketso Sithole (or K.K.) our stateroom steward, woke us up at 5:00 am with a gentle knock on our door.
It was time to get ready for the first excursion of this 4-day train trip.. Getting dressed on a moving train that sways and rocks is harder than it may appear. Still we did manage it and they saved a 4 x 4 Range Rover for drive into Hwange Game Reserve. Even though the Reserve’s 20,000 strong elephant herd is world famous we saw far fewer. This herd is large but the Reserve is huge and easy for 20,000 elephants to hide in. They are constantly on the move searching for food during this dry season.
One of the draws of a train trip through the Hwange Game Reserve was the anticipation of spotting many of Africa’s animals from the windows of our stateroom. We see zebras during lunch but otherwise just lots of leafless trees outside our window.
We did see other species:
Wildebeests
Wildebeests
Our game guide and driver tried his best but neither he nor the other guides could locate the herd of elephants
After nearly four, hours we stopped for some refreshments
…waiting to be shuttled back to the train.
After lunch I went exploring and found the lounge car…
and the observation car..
The halls are narrow and the staterooms all look the same…
But at least our names are on the door so we can’t lost.
The train stopped by an elementary school about 5 pm. Four girls in school uniforms stood right in front of our stateroom window. I waved and they waved back. Several minutes later they knocked several times on our train car. They began to pantomime hunger and tears, hoping we would toss them something from our stateroom. But Barbara echoed their pantomimed tears and they all had a good laugh.
The dining room was full but we managed to find our favorite server Josias Bokaba.
And the featured entry was Springbok from the antelope family and national symbol of South Africa.
Note to self for Chenin Blanc from Peter Smoot. Total Wine or Spitits
Our South African Adventure 