Probably one of the gay-friendliest ways to explore Southern Africa. It is hard to find the right words to describe our first-ever Africa experience, especially because we choose a completely new way of traveling for us by boarding a train from Rovos Rail.
Starting at the Namibian Atlantic coast in Walvis Bay, we traveled on railway tracks through Namibia entering South Africa on our way to Pretoria, South Africa’s capital city. Our nine-days train journey through endless no-mans-land, rural inhabited savannah regions, windy sand dunes, and the protected National Parks of Namibia turned out to be one of our biggest gay travel adventures ever.
While enjoying the luxury of a 5-star hotel on train tracks, we joined multiple day trips like our safaris in Etosha National Park or our hike on top of Big Daddy at the desert of Sossusvlei. As an openly traveling gay couple, we could have never imagined finding a way to explore the beauty of Africa in such a safe, comfortable, relaxed, and gay-friendly way reuniting the best of the republics of South Africa and Namibia in one trip of 3.450 kilometers by train. Join us on an LGBTQ+ friendly train journey ‘Rovos Rail Namibia Train Safari’ and experience the southern part of Africa with photos, videos, stories, tips, and info through a Couple of Men‘s eyes.
Rovos Rail Train Safari Namibia & South Africa
We are sitting in the last car of the ‘Pride of Africa’ train of Rovos Rail drinking Ginger Ale on the rocks, listening to African music and soaking in the view out of the lounge car’s panorama windows. It is frankly difficult to concentrate on writing today since our attention gets continuously distracted by the wide South African savannah we are passing through on our way to Pretoria and the countless springboks passing by on their way to the next waterhole. The past couple of days on our Namibia – South Africa Train Safari are hard to describe but have been undoubtedly wonderful.
We still have to pinch ourselves again and again that we are actually traveling through Africa. It is the seventh of nine days on the tracks and we are already getting sad about leaving the Rovos family so soon again. Rovos Rail, the family founded, owned and operated luxury train company from South Africa which started with a dream thirty years ago, is today successfully running what they proudly call ‘The Most Luxurious Train Journeys in the World’. And we couldn’t agree more! Let’s show you why.
Good to know about Rovos Rail’s Namibia Safari
Before we will give you a detailed overview of our 9-days Southern Africa Train Safari, we would like to start with some general information about the route, the cabins, the food, and some general advice you should keep in mind before booking and during your trip. We stayed in a 10 sq meters lengthways double Deluxe Suite with ensuite bathroom and shower. The cabin offers enough space for at least two suitcases per person. The bed was turned into a lounge corner during the day and into a comfortable bed for the night. The ensuite minibar will be stuffed with drinks you wish to have in your room (complimentary) although we had a 24 hours room service for food and drinks throughout the whole trip. Actually, everything you need for the perfect gaycation in Africa.
- Things you can take home: Rovos Rail overnight bag each, Rovos Rail toilet bag each, Rovos Rail slippers each
- Things you can use complementary during the trip: bathrobes, travel adaptors, any drinks/ food onboard
- Included in the trip package: Excursions incl. bus & flights, hotel stays plus meals/ drinks stated in the itinerary, 24hours room service, laundry service
Meals & Drinks during the Africa Journey
Were you ever made aware that dinner is served by the soothing sounds of someone walking by your room, playing a lovely melody on a xylophone? On the Rovos Rail train it means time to eat! Especially for Daan, it is important to point out the cuisine on board. During the boarding process, the kitchen chef visited our cabin to ensure that she was aware of all dietary requirements for the journey.
Daan was excited and super happy about that, since being a vegetarian during our travels isn’t always easy for him. For lunch, the kitchen always served a 3-course and for dinner a 4-course menu made out of a mix of local ingredients, herbs, cheese, and meat. Everything, seriously everything was unexceptionally delicious and served with the best wines (or in our case, beers) mainly from Africa. And every time Daan got a perfect vegetarian alternative. Bon Appetit!
Jacket and (bow) tie for the daily 5-course dinner menu © Coupleofmen.com
