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World's Greatest Train Travel: Olde Africa, Bathtubs Optional

This week, we're mapping some of the world's greatest train trips.

Desk jockeys may find the route traveled by the Pride of Africa to be prohibitively long, not to mention impractical: The classic Cape to Cairo track may have been an innovation back in the days of "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"

But on a continent known for being unknowable, the Pride of Africa, making tracks through Zimbabwe and Tanzania aboard the self-described "World's Most Luxurious Train," this route attracts because, even with its airplane attachments, it's the kind of journey no one takes any more.

Between the classic train cars (some dating from the 19-teens) to the built-in balconies, there's only one word for it: audacious. We can't help picturing some kind of adventure along the lines of "Strangers on a Train" meets "The Constant Gardener," or a dry "African Queen," that envelops everyone on board.

Related Stories:
· Cape to Cairo [Rovos Rail]
· Cape to Cairo, Mostly by Train [Bootsnall.com]
· A Bunch of South Africans Who Took the Trip in 2007 [Our Cape to Cairo]
· Transsiberian Is An Ice-Cold Thriller [Jaunted]

[Photo: Old Fogey 1942]