I recently spent two months traveling from South Africa to Kenya on public transport. Despite the long distances, traveling through southern Africa was much faster than I expected. Most importantly, Africa has many looooong distance train and bus connections. The new express train is also built by the Chinese. The express train is scheduled to arrive at However, this was not the case on my trip. My new travel buddies Anna and Roc made the trip very enjoyable.
Luckily I met Spanish travellers Anna and Roc at the booking office. We decided to join forces, booking a 6-berth 2nd class compartment for just the three of us.
For the express train, a 1st class berth from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi would have cost The second class is berth For the ordinary train on Fridays, the prices are slightly cheaper: ZMK The views along the way vary a lot. We spent a lot of time waving at kids that ran along the railroad tracks. Taxi drivers can get very clingy at the bus stop, but you can just ignore them and walk 10 minutes from the bus station to the new TAZARA train station.
The food on the train was cheap and filling. We especially loved the fried fish! Most important things to take with you are snacks and cash. On Zambian side, you can only use Zambian kwacha on board. After you cross the border, though, kwachas are forbidden and you need to start using Tanzanian shillings.
Money exchangers board the train at the border, although their exchange rates are tolerable at best. Our white skins might have had something to do with that. The new express train was surprisingly clean and well-maintained. There were no samovars water boilers like on the Trans Siberian trains, but even the 2nd class carriage had both a shower and a seated toiled which was mainly kept locked, though. A full second class compartment might feel a bit crowded. The 1st class berths were softer and wider than the 2nd class berths, but both should be fine for the purpose.
