The Safari Express

[Furryanimal]

A single-car train that seats 22 people seems an “unlikely safari vehicle”, says BBC Travel, but Zimbabwe’s 80km Elephant Express offers an “utterly unique” animal-spotting experience. Rather than searching for the great beasts in a 4x4 or on foot, passengers happen upon them randomly, “adding a sense of serendipity to the wonder”. Zimbabwe’s railways were originally built to connect the landlocked country’s rich mines and farmland with coastal ports in neighbouring Mozambique and South Africa. This particular stretch of track was laid in 1904, meaning there’s not an animal anywhere which “remembers a landscape without the trains”. It’s not unusual to meet lions “napping on the sun-baked rails or using them for cover when hunting on the plains”
the Knowledge

 

[Been There]

I did a safari back in 2009. I have been showing pictures off and on of the animals that we saw. We had 2 brothers that acted as guides and 3 more guys that came along with the bazookas (big guns) in case we found ourselves in trouble around some animals that didn't take kindly to us being there.

 

[Nemo2]

Great stuff - the closest I got to Zimbabwe was looking across the Limpopo River, (in a small rented camper), from South Africa early 1983. Given time limitations, and the fact there was so much to see in RSA, we didn't attempt to cross.

(Did get stopped at a road block, not far from there, checking people who might be going to/from Mozambique though.)

 

[Furryanimal]

 

[charry]