Steam & Excursion > Zambia (Former Northern Rodesia) Steam

In July 2011 I was a passenger on Rovos Rail from Pretoria (or whatever it's called now by those in charge) to Dar es Salaam. At Victoria Falls we stopped for two nights at the famous Victoria Falls Hotel. On a previous trip I had seen a dinner train pulled by steam that ran from Livingstone on the Zambian side of the bridge. Further investigation showed it was the Royal Livingstone Express which only runs when tour groups hire it.  They would take individual passengers if it had enough bookings to run. Getting there wasn't easy. The tour company puts their clients up in a five  star hotel on the Zambian side. I was staying in Zimbabwe. They provided a car and driver to take me to Zimbabwe Customs. There I got stamped out and walked across to the Zambian side.  There the necessary visa was obtained....a double entry was required as Rovos would be crossing the same bridge the next day. Americans pay way more for their visa than citizens of any Commonwealth country's.

 Once cleared I was met by an open top dune buggy type vehicle on the other side. Normally they would have taken me to the hotel and then bus to the train. However I wanted to get there early for some photos before the tour group turned up. As a result, here is Zambian Railways 12 Class No. 204 at their siding in Livingston waiting for departure. The passenger equipment is former Rovos Rail stock, all beautifully restored by Rohan but sold as wooden body carriages are no longer allowed on SA rails. Zambian track is 3'6' Cape Gauge, same as South Africa.  A  gourmet dinner was provided (no sauce on food please) followed by drinks in the bar and on the rear open platform. We traveled about 17 miles up the Sawmills Branch to a place called Symonga. I recall sharing a table with a nice woman from the U.K. and her daughter. Her husband was working in Zambia. Traveling in such luxury through abject poverty provided a harsh view to the reality of daily life in the former Northern Rhodesia. Like Zimbabwe, the railway  was built to a high standard by the British but has now fallen into disrepair with poor track, few working signals, and frequent derailments.  Following dinner the entire border control process was repeated in reverse.  Tomorrow the series concludes with Zimbabwe, home of the Garratts.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/19 08:00 by andersonb109.

---

Fascinating series.
Bob

Call these countries Northern and Southern Rhodesia please, in respect to the English speaking founders.   That’s what I called them when I was there in 1972.

But now they are called Zambia and Zimbabwe. And were when I visited. So those are now the correct names. But in theory I agree with you. In South Africa the powers currently in charge have changed the names of all sorts of towns and cities. Very confusing to a visitor. It's really tragic what has happened to the two countries.  Southern Rhodesia was a bread basket for Africa. Then all the white land owners got booted off their land by the dictator Mugabe. And with no more farming education or proper means, the land went to fallow. One of the well known tour organizers who owned his own luxury passenger train and brought thousands of dollars into the country was told either to renounce is U.K. passport or get out. The train was sold and is no longer in service. 

Way back when I was trading copper futures on the Comex in NYCity my biggest commercial hedgeing account was RST ( Rhodesian Selection Trust) then the world's 3rd. largest copper producer.. Their hedging program was run by an Englishman. He called me from Rhodesia about a month before the country was to become " independent" and said he and his family were leaving the next day to return to the UK as he felt that there was a strong chance that "things" would get bad once the natives took over running the country.

   Sadly he was spot on. 5 years later the once prosperous well run country had become a basket case which it remains today. Nothing functions well ( utilities,transportation, heath care, food production etc., etc.) and their GDP has gone to hell in a hand basket. With rare exception its the strory of the whole African continent and South Africa is now also following suit.

   What a waste. IMHO-Ross Rowland
 

Ah, our bwanas have spoken.  Here are some stats:   According to the World Bank,  GDP growth in 2017 (latest available)  was:    S. Africa  1.32%;  Zambia  3.40%;  Zims  4.70%.     According to IMF projections, 2019 GDP for the top five African nations is Ethopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal,  all over 7%.    And as China and other Asian nations continue to develop transport infrastructure,  mines, etc.  they're going to keep growing.

Meanwhile, here we are at 2.9% GDP in 2018 and projected 2.5% for 2019.

Keystone1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Call these countries Northern and Southern
> Rhodesia please, in respect to the English
> speaking founders.   That’s what I called them
> when I was there in 1972.

You must have been a wonderful cultural ambassador for whatever country you come from.  Do you also refer to our neighbor to the north as “British North America”?

Dave

Where ever the white man from Europe went, he built railroads, churches, opera houses, theaters, bridges, post offices and things of culture. When he left to let the natives enjoy their precious heritage, the renamed countries have descended into ruin inspite of massive loads from the World Bank, which are never paid back. Steam in gone, and the railroads are deplorable.



 

Keystone1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where ever the white man from Europe went, he
> built railroads, churches, opera houses, theaters,
> bridges, post offices and things of culture. When
> he left to let the natives enjoy their precious
> heritage, the renamed countries have descended
> into ruin inspite of massive loads from the World
> Bank, which are never paid back. Steam in gone,
> and the railroads are deplorable.
>
And the people are no longer treated with disrespect and humiliated on a daily basis by those wonderful Europeans.  Today the former colonies have their own nations and it's their business how they conduct things. And if you look at the GDP of sub-Saharan African nations lately, they seem to be conducting business quite nicely.  The days of European imperialism are long gone and it's way past time for everyone to move on.
>
>  

Dear utwazoo....I am sure we would get along fabulously....talking about steam locomotives, of course.

Just had long time good friends return from a 3 week African tour. They said it was presented as ' ultra first class " throughout. Their experience can be summed up with this advice they gave me, " make it absolutely the very last item on your bucket list and hope you don't run out of the other items before your time comes".  

   They reported that in most of the 7 "nations" they visited abject poverty was the norm, their so called first class hotels were barely above hovels, utilities were sporadic and totally unreliable, the railroads ( with the exception of the recently built Chinese lines to various mines) were in terrible shape and many totally unserviceable. 

    They said in over 35 years of world traveling they were never so glad to be headed back to the good 'ole USA. 

    Bottom line....hope you never have to go anywhere near Africa.

    Ross Rowland 

Sad a bunch of steam photos have to descend into a political cultural discussion. But since someone else started it, here's my take.  First, countries should absolutely be referred to by their current name. Past names can be used as  a point of reference. No one complained when I called Sri Lanka by it's current name. I did however mention it was formerly Ceylon in case readers didn't know where I was referring to. Second, there are no doubt many first class accommodations in southern Africa, including several at Victoria Falls on both sides of the bridge. And many five star game parks in South Africa. You just have to know where to go and be prepared to pay.   Rovos Rail provides one of the finest trains anywhere in the world and runs on a regular schedule between Cape Town and Pretoria. Third, I never visited Africa during colonial times. My friends in Cape Town tell me what a better place it was then. Now even in the nicer neighborhoods, most have bars on the windows and security systems.  And last, the once thriving economy in Zimbabwe is in shambles. Inflation is worse than Venezuela. There are no jobs as those who provided them have long since returned to their native countries. Kicked out by the Mugabe regime.  

I would highly recommend a trip to southern Africa. There are plenty great places to stay. Crime is a bit out of control but if you mind your own business and are with a group or in a private accomodation, you would be fine. I'm going back in June with no hesitation at all. Not much worse than some areas in most large Amerian cities.

Very, very sad.  My first of 5 trips to the “dark continent” was in 1970. It was truly a paradise for travel with steam and animals.  A few of the countries like Sudan, Mozambique and Tanzania were not a nice...but all in all the steam was worth it. Today, the place is a hell hole and no steam. In some places, the brass has been stolen and torched out of preserved locomotives, so they can’t be moved or even displayed.  All historic steam locomotives had to be finally scrapped. But, the natives are now in charge of their own countries.

I must say that I rarely agree with the current occupant of the White House but his description of the countries on the African continent as s...holes seems to jive with the reports I've gotten back from recent visitors. 

    Sad but true it seems. Ain't independence great !!!

    Ross Rowland 

Not to belabor the point, but quoting statistics on percentage of GDP growth to prove the economic health of a country can be very misleading.    If a country has a GDP value of say 100, a 7% GDP growth means an absolute increase of 7, but if a country has a GDP value of 10,000, then a 3% GDP growth is 300.  Big Difference in absolute numbers.   To use real numbers   Senegal has a GDP of 43 Billion,  Ivory Coast around 59 Billion and Ethiopia around 80 billion, while the US has a GDP of 20,000 Billion (20 trillion)  

Thus the Senegalese economy grew by 3.7 Billion, Ivory Coast by 4.13 billion, and Ethiopia by 5.6 billion, while the US economy grew by 667 billion.   That is the real numbers, not the percentages.

The unemployment rate in S. Africa is 27.5%. The percentage of the population in Zimbabwe living under the povert line is 73.6 %

    I think I'll get my train kicks in the good 'ole USA.

    Ross Rowland