Tracking down wildlife in South Africa

By MARK GRAHAM

At dawn, the gentle chugging of a steam engine fills the air. By nightfall, it has been replaced by the intimidating roar of hungry lions.

This is African travel Rovos Rail-style, where the romance of rail and the heart-palpitating thrill of safari are weaved together. It's a combination of nature and nostalgia which is expensive, exclusive and exhilarating.

The holiday on wheels, alternating between train carriages and four-wheel drives, is the brainchild of Rohan Vos, a businessman who decided there was more to life than deal-making.

He decided to turn his twin passions - steam trains and big game - into a full-time business, taking people by old-style train to view the African veld up close.

Within the space of three days, travellers on his rail safari step into a fantasy world far removed from 20th-century civilisation. The steam train dawdles its way up to the eastern Transvaal, through untouched bush country, before depositing passengers-turned-trackers for a one-night stay at the Londo Lozi lodge.

Vos, a dashing character straight from the pages of a Wilbur Smith adventure novel, and his equally urbane wife, Anthea, attend to every stage of the operation, in which they have US$5 million invested .

For a man who runs his own railway, Vos' metamorphosis into steam buff came late in life. A decade ago, he bought a dilapidated carriage with the vague aim of turning it into a holiday home. It sparked a casual interest in South African railway history which soon developed into a serious hobby and then a large-scale business which now occupies most of his time. Vos scoured the country for more rolling stock, saving eight coaches from an undignified retirement as chicken sheds and four engines from the likely fate of a rusty grave.

Next came the restoration, which was carried out with a fanatical attention to detail. The coaches have all been modified for modern living. The wood-panelled staterooms have adjoining bathrooms, carpets and polished fittings.

After the painstaking renovation, Rovos Rail was ready to hit the tracks, or so it seemed. The railway company, unused to having swashbuckling operators on its tracks, thought otherwise. Vos went through a long bureaucratic procedure before, two years ago, Rovos Rail could work up a head of steam.

The operation was launched, rather cheekily, as the World's Most Exclusive Train, pitching it a couple of notches further up market than the Orient Express.

People who have travelled on both say there is no contest. Apart from matching, or even surpassing, the European operation, Rovos Rail also offers views of lions, giraffes, rhino, elephants and hippo. There aren't too many of them lurking on the embankments between London and Venice.

On a typical safari trip, the train leaves from Pretoria station, in the heart of Afrikanerdom, where the scars of the old apartheid system are only too visible. As the shiny engine puffs out of the station, black workers look on from their commuter trains with astonishment.

The first leg is unremarkable, passing through the Boer economic powerhouse region. Steam from the engine blends with the grime created by belching power stations. As the train moves on, and passengers tuck into a champagne lunch, the countryside begins to oust the industrial landscape. Golden fields become the norm as the train rolls into the Eastern Transvaal proper.

At Nelspruit, the drama begins in earnest. After an overnight stop, two heavy-duty engines hunker down to the task of climbing the hills ahead. This leg is the most dramatic, both scenically and historically. It is the route the old ivory traders and gold-miners took, by train if they could afford it, by mule, using black slaves, if money was tight.

The branch line from Nelspruit to Graskop has about 200 curves, some of them as tight as a hula hoop; several times the train almost loops around on itself.

The view from the window - achieved by pulling a leather strap to bring down the wooden-slatted shutter - is magnificent. Sheer rock falls away into rambling farmland as a gentle morning sun teases its way into the picture. The end of the line comes too soon, but before the day is out, more visual marvels will be on the way. A two-hour drive from the station brings the 40 passengers to Londo Lozi lodge.

This is one of only a handful of private lodges in the larger Sabi Sand reserve, a sprawling conservation zone where animals roam free. Which means, in the case of predators, ripping less-hardy animals to pieces and devouring the tasty bits al fresco.

Londo Lozi promises, and delivers, nature as is. Trackers take small groups of people out into the bush to see lions getting ready for the prowl, or elephants chomping through bushes and trees. Nothing is promised in the wildlife-spotting stakes. In reality, though, it would be a very unfortunate or unobservant guest who failed to eyeball at least one of the so-called Big Five ... lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant.

Of the five, lions have to be the most thrilling to see at close hand. Even lounging around, something they do for 18 hours a day, there is an air of menace about a pride. They tend to snarl with a "you next" expression, appraising onlookers with the dead eye of a subway mugger.

The aftermath of a lion kill sees them in awesome, fang-chomping action. Not a place for hardline vegetarians. In the case of a large kill, such as a giraffe which has slipped over or been tripped by marauding lions, the big cats may take days to finish their meal, ripping off chunks of meat before retiring for a snooze.

The time for game-spotting is late afternoon, when the animals wake, or early morning when the night's hunting activities are winding down. After just one morning and evening, even a city slicker becomes an expert on animal tracks. Informed guides help the learning process, detailing the animals' feeding and mating habits.

In many ways, Londo Lozi is a low-key safari camp in contrast to the grandeur of Rovos Rail. At dinner, rangers compete to tell the tallest story of how-I-missed-death-by-inches from a charging rhino/lion/buffalo/elephant. All raucous good fun, enhanced by copious amounts of South African wine.

It is plain to see why the rangers opted for safari suits and desert boots instead of the pinstripes and brogues of the concrete jungle.

After the safari stopover, Rovos Rail passengers are taken on a gentle tour back to the station, up and down the hills where gold prospectors staked their claims and dug with a fevered gleam in their eye.

Part of the route they took is covered by the train ride back down the valley, done in a style the grizzly prospectors would have been unaccustomed to. Lunch and champagne accompany the passing view of canyons, forests and fields. At times, the twin engines wheeze noisily on uphill legs.

Passengers are encouraged to hop up on the footplate, where the beefy-looking drivers and firemen work themselves into a lather before the red-hot boiler. It's a thrilling way to ride, watching the countryside ease past at 40 km/h, occasionally shrouded in a mist of steam and smoke from the labouring engines.

As the train clanks back into the main-line station, the dinner bell rings gently through the carriages. There is time for one more feast before Rovos Rail starts up again for the final overnight and early morning ride back to Pretoria.

It takes Rovos passengers just three days to go up the Transvaal line, across the veld and into the bush. The experience crams in more sights and sounds than many people cram into a lifetime of holiday adventures.

* Rovos Rail is at PO Box 50241 Waterfront, Cape Town, ph (0027) 21 421 4020, fax (0027) 21 421 4022.

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