MALAWI MEANDER SOUTHBOUND LILONGWE-PRETORIA Route Map & Itinerary Train Specifications General Information Terms & Conditions SOUTHBOUND LILONGWE-PRETORIA • 15 DAYS • 3600KM DAY 1: DEPART LILONGWE 12:00 Depart from Lilongwe, Malawi. Guests may freshen up in their cabins before joining fellow travellers in the lounge and observation cars. Please ensure the Train Manager or Administration Deputy is in possession of your passport. It will be returned to you before the end of the trip. Lectures will take place throughout the journey during the morning and/or afternoon in the lounge car. Please consult Lecture Sheets for details. 13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. Travel towards Lake Malawi. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Overnight on board. Dress: Smart Casual DAY 2: LIWONDE NATIONAL PARK & LAKE MALAWI Please pack a small overnight bag for the stay at Lake Malawi. Tog bags have been placed in your cabin for your convenience. 06:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. 08:00 Depart for a game drive in Liwonde National Park with lunch overlooking the Shire River. Enjoy an afternoon boat cruise with game viewing on the river. Transfer to the Makokola Retreat on Lake Malawi for dinner and overnight. Dress: Casual Liwonde National Park is a delightful and peaceful experience of lagoons, swamps, grasslands and Mopane woodlands. Its claim to fame is that it has the largest elephant population in Malawi with herds of sable, kudu and many other gracious antelope and small numbers of predators, namely lion, leopard and jackal. The birdlife is prolific along the Shire River. The Makokola Retreat is on the palm-fringed southern shore of the renowned Lake Malawi, home to many birds, fish and reptiles. DAY 3: LAKE MALAWI BORDER: MWANZA, MALAWI / ZOBUE, MOZAMBIQUE Please ensure that your luggage is ready for collection at 09:30 and proceed to check-out. 07:00 Breakfast at Makokola Retreat. Various optional morning activities available. 10:00 Return to the train. 13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. Border formalities with Mozambique. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Moatize. Dress: Smart Casual DAY 4: MOATIZE COAL MINE 07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. 09:00 Enjoy a tour of Minas Moatize open-pit coal mine, which will reveal not only how the coal is extracted but will show how the multinational investment has helped in developing the area and its economy. 11:00 Return to the train. Traverse the undulating landscape of Mozambique’s interior. 13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Sena. Dress: Smart Casual UPDATED 13 JULY 2020 After dinner, the train crosses the rebuilt Dona Ana Bridge from Mutarara to Vila de Sena. At 3.67km, it is the longest bridge to span the mighty Zambezi River comprising 33 spans of 80m and 7 spans of 50m. Built by the Portuguese in 1934 during the Portuguese rule of Mozambique, it was rendered unusable in the 1980s during the civil war. USAID assisted with the repairs and converted it to a single-lane bridge for vehicle traffic. In 2009, after three years of rehabilitation, it was converted back to a rail bridge and, in 2017, the pedestrian lane – used daily by over 3000 people – was renovated. DAY 5: AT LEISURE ON BOARD 07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00. 13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The train travels through Muanza and Dondo. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Beira for overnight. Dress: Smart Casual The journey towards Beira shows impoverished towns and settlements, which indicate how locals have had to become self-sustaining subsistence farmers. The main agricultural products of this district are corn, cassava, cowpea, peanut, pearl millet, sorghum and sweet potato. DAY 6: BEIRA BORDER: MACHIPANDA, MOZAMBIQUE / MUTARE, ZIMBABWE 07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. 09:00 Enjoy a tour of Beira including the Macuti Lighthouse and Shipwreck. 11:00 Depart Beira passing through Mafambisse, home of Hulett Sugar in Mozambique. 13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to the border for overnight. Dress: Smart Casual The somewhat swampy approach to Beira takes you into Mozambique’s busiest port and third-largest city, which is situated on the Mozambique Channel at the convergence of the Pungwe and Buzi rivers. Ravaged by the civil war and mostly in a ruinous state, Beira can be an enjoyable place to explore. Like Maputo, the Portuguese influence is evident in its architecture. The red and white-striped lighthouse was built in 1904. In 1985, the Macuti tugboat was intentionally run aground here to serve as a breakwater. For a vessel that was once on a national postage stamp, it seems like an undignified end. DAY 7: MUTARE & LEOPARD ROCK 07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. Border formalities with Zimbabwe. 09:00 Visit the Mutare Museum followed by a scenic drive to Leopard Rock Hotel for lunch. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Harare. Dress: Smart Casual The Beira-Mashonaland Railway, initiated by Cecil Rhodes, brought prosperity to Mutare. Railway workshops and staff housing were erected there. The decision to move the main workshops to Bulawayo sadly brought a decline in the economy of the town. The charming museum covers a range of themes such as archaeology, ethnography, transport and natural history with a collection of vintage vehicles. The Leopard Rock Hotel, once a favourite spot of some British royals, is located in the tranquil, forest-clad slopes of the Bvumba Mountains, which straddle the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border at 1911m high. In the language of the Shona people, bvumba means ‘mist’ or ‘spatter’. The countryside between Mutare and Harare is famous for its varied landscape of farmlands, Msasa trees, granite boulders and rolling highland mountains. DAY 8: HARARE 07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. 09:00 Discover Harare on a sightseeing tour visiting local galleries and a flea market. 13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. Travel across the Midlands province to Gweru, nicknamed the City of Progress. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: “Africa” Theme or Smart Casual Harare (nee Salisbury until 1982) is the capital city of Zimbabwe, once a vibrant and prosperous nation that has been detrimentally affected by the political and economic crisis. However, Zimbabweans are renowned for their artistic abilities so – in an economy that is now over 85% informal trade (street trading) – you can visit the flea markets and experience how gifted and talented the people are at producing much out of very little. DAY 9: ANTELOPE PARK 06:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. 08:00 Visit Antelope Park. 13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. Travel through attractive granite hill country to Oreti for overnight. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Smart Casual Set in over 3000 acres of open savannah grassland, Antelope Park is a unique game reserve and a haven of tranquillity welcoming guests and volunteer eco-tourists alike. It is home to the world-famous African Lion and Environmental Research Trust (ALERT) lion rehabilitation programme, which is a multiphase lion conservation initiative. It is Africa’s first genuine programme working to ethically reintroduce the offspring of captive-bred African lions back into the wild. DAY 10: GREAT ZIMBABWE MONUMENT BORDER: SANGO, ZIMBABWE / CHICUALACUALA, MOZAMBIQUE 06:30 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure. 08:30 Visit the Great Zimbabwe Monument followed by lunch. 15:00 Return to the train at Rutenga. Traverse Gonarezhou National Park. 16:30 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. 19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Chicualacuala. Mozambique, for overnight. Dress: Smart Casual UPDATED 13 JULY 2020 The Great Zimbabwe Monument is an impressive monument situated on the southeastern edge of the central plateau and the largest precolonial monument south of the Egyptian pyramids. A celebrated achievement of the African people and a place where magical fables such as the story of King Solomon’s Mines find their origins amongst the ruins of an ancient city built by the Rozwi people. Discover how these ancient people lived and mined gold and silver, which were ultimately taken out of Africa by Arabic and Portuguese traders. The area is also home to forests of precious timber such as teak, mahogany and mukwa. Gonarezhou National Park, the Place of Elephants, is situated in a remote part of the country at 5 053km2 in size. It forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Gonarezhou with the Kruger National Park in South Africa and the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. Animals may move freely between the three sanctuaries, together totalling 35 000km2.