Hi -
I have been on the Orient Express (22 years ago) and the Blue Train was the same - the only difference is that the waiters did not wear white gloves when they served meals. Sign of the times - We thoroughly enjoyed the Blue Train.
The Shongololo Express was a totally different experience. It was like the adventure version. We really enjoyed it as well. There were things that would benefit from change, we feel. Their guides were great save one - but in several places they needed local guides; the Anglo-Boer Battlefields was one of them.
In Kimberly we had a fabulous guide for the battlefields and the city of Kimberly itself. His name is Scotti Ross. He had worked for deBeers so he knew that piece; he was a member of the battlefield heritage society (I am not sure of the name) so he knew the battlefields. It was fascinating.
All the Shongololo guide did was take us from monument to monument and read off the names.
The other thing was the many times they were siderailed. That they cannot control. What they can control is letting people know when we would be leaving for tours. They could judge that by the time they offload the vehicles. It became very frustrating to be jammed into the lounge just waiting.
The food was good and the staff was very pleasant.
Kimberly turned out to be very interesting, because of the guide. Even though it poured rain part of the time, we saw a lot and I enjoyed it as much as my husband. The guest house was sparse and I don't think I would suggest it again.
The Soweto guide is also the person who provided transport. I don't think he was much of a guide - we didn't go to the Hector Pieterson Museum, which we did with the Shongololo group. The tour was billed as a half day, five hour tour. We had 3.5 hours. When viewing the Freedom Charter, I asked what the tot system was and he said no one knew. Later, when I was reading a book about Apartheid, I read about it. He should have just said he was not sure.
At any rate, I have recommended you to my friend whose partner wants to go to S. Africa. You really suited the itinerary to what we wanted to do.
Judy
