Shosholoza Meyl - By train to Johannesburg

On Friday morning, it was time to say goodbye to Cape Town for now. Luckily, I will be coming back here at the end of my stay in South Africa. The next destination was Johannesburg. From there, I will be going on a big safari tour on Wednesday. The fastest way would have been by plane, but I wanted to see more of the landscape. And I can already say, it was totally worth it. There are different trains that travel to Johannesburg. From luxury to affordable, there is something for everyone. I chose the latter option and took the tourist class train called Shosholoza Meyl. The word Shosholoza means 'go forward boldly' and is the title of a South African folk song. Meyl stands for the long-distance train itself (source Wikipedia 😂). Beforehand, I read a few travel reports where it was mentioned that there were attempts to break into the compartments at night. Even when I told another German girl at the hostel in Cape Town about my plans, I was met with skeptical looks. But I can say now, everything went well and I never felt unsafe at any time. And no one broke into my compartment 😂. The train was quite empty overall. In my compartment, there was an older man from England. He was a nice enough guy, but unfortunately, it seemed like it had been a few days since his last shower 😅 but as they say, you can't always be lucky 😂 Overall, I really enjoyed the journey. It was just beautiful to look out the window and see the landscape race by. For a few euros, you could even have a bed with a blanket and pillow prepared in the evening, so the night was also very comfortable.

Overall, the train arrived in Johannesburg two hours late. But with a scheduled travel time of 26 hours, this was almost negligible 😂 Now I will be staying in Johannesburg until Wednesday. Then, I will go on a safari to Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Kruger National Park for a total of 12 days ☺️