Africa & India 2006: 1 - Costa Rica to Johannesburg, South Africa

Monday, January 30, 2006

This was one of those very difficult trips to put together, as it involves a lot of smaller airlines and locations to which air service is infrequent. It was complicated by last minute flight cancellations by Air Zimbabwe, Air Malawi and Paramount Airlines. With a lot of help from Emily at Flight Centre in Victoria and Travelmasti in India all are booked again, but African airlines are notorious for last minute cancellations or schedule changes. Changes or cancellations could have a domino effect that could throw off the whole trip. As it is, we will have to leave the train a day earlier than planned, as the morning flight to Harare was cancelled.

Marilynn returned from Canada on January 16, and after three frantic days was ready to go. I'd been down sick for a week, which also made the last minute rush even more interesting than usual, however we were both there for the 7:30 departure on a COPA airlines 737 this morning to Sao Paulo via Panama City. It was a one-hour hop to Panama City, then seven hours to Sao Paulo. The flights were on time, and we disembarked at the rain swept Sao Paulo airport as scheduled.

Immigration and customs were quick and painless, and an information booth was conveniently located on the way to the exit. I was not sure if our chosen hotel, the Best Western Panamby, had a shuttle or not, but information had a schedule of all hotel shuttles and the Panamby hourly service was due in five minutes, stopping about half a short block away. It was very organized - another employee in jacket and tie confirmed we were at the right place and pointed out the comfortable bus when it pulled in. The loading area was roofed, and after a 15-minute ride we disembarked at the hotel also under cover, so the rain was no problem.

Check in was efficient, so after storing our gear in the room we headed for the bar where we had drinks and snacks. Due to the four-hour time change from San José it was after 10 PM, and even though we were well fed on the plane it was nice to relax.

The bed was comfortable, and after catching up on BBC World News we went to sleep at about 12:10 AM local time. We didn't crawl back out of bed until almost one PM the next day, so were well rested. After a great shower we headed for the restaurant for brunch. A little sun a peeked through, but it soon changed to heavy rain again. The hotel's 2 PM checkout made an ideal departure time so we shuttled back to the airport to check in at the South Africa Airways counter, where I scared the hell out of myself, as I could not find my passport. We had been first in line!

After sitting down and going through suitcases and pockets in detail it finally showed up, so back to the end of the line where after a delay we left ticketed. There were no line-ups for security or immigration, and we were soon comfortably seated in the Varig first class lounge, where I got some odds and sods done on the computer while Marilynn went off to browse the shops.

The wide-bodied Airbus 340-400 operated by South African Airways looked quite new. We had been bumped up to first class from business class for some reason, and had the best high tech seats I've seen. Besides independent control of each part of the seat, there is a complete entertainment centre with a number of movies, games, short features or music to choose from. Each movie runs independent of the others - a private set of controls allowed it to be stopped, paused, fast forward or backward as the viewer wishes. There were electrical plugs to charge batteries or plug in a laptop which accepted a number of common international plugs, including the 3 prong North American ones.

Filet mignon dinner was good, following cocktails, snacks and starters. The South African wines were great. We finished up with a nice plate of Brazilian cheeses and Port.

When it came time to sleep the chair rearranged itself into a horizontal bed, with a covered alcove at the head. Near full sized pillows and a duvet instead of the normal thin blue airline blankets completed the bedtime ensemble. It allowed for sleeping quite comfortably, although being pretty rested from the night before and I didn't sleep much.

The first light of dawn appeared just as we were crossing the coast of Africa. What appeared to be a horizontal rainbow lay along the horizon, graduating from black to dark purple then through the spectrum of lighter colours until it reached a deep blue cloudless sky. Shortly after, the red sun peeked over the horizon and quickly climbed into full brilliance.

When we arrived in Johannesburg it was in bright sunshine in spite of being the rainy season here. Immigration was slow, as a large aircraft full of Asians had landed just before us and hundreds stood in line waiting. One of the guides from the train was there to meet us once we had finished the formalities, but we had another considerable wait, as there were others to be picked up on a flight from England. Finally we made our way to the train, inching along through heavy Johannesburg traffic.

The train was parked on a siding well outside the city in a rural area. It is 800 meters long, made up of carriages from the old Rhodesian Railway - it still has RR etched on the glass. The carriages were built in Rhodesia when it was a booming economy. According to the year shown on them they were produced in the early 1950s.

The train shows wear, but we are assured it has been updated mechanically. The cabin we have is quite small, but has opening windows, a fan, two single bunk type beds - one barely fits Marilynn for length, but the other works for me. There is an ensuite bathroom with a properly enclosed shower and some limited storage space. Unfortunately cleaning leaves something to be desired. The lounge car is very basic with padded bench seats along the outer walls, but the dining car looks quite nice. It is going to be a very interesting 17 days!