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 Country information

South Africa to Botswana by train...

There are no trains from Botswana to South Africa, as the daily train to Mafeking and weekly train to Johannesburg were withdrawn in 1999.  However, you can take a comfortable train from Cape Town to Johannesburg (see the South Africa page for details), then there's a daily bus between Jo'burg and Gaborone leaving Johannesburg at 14:30 and arriving Gaborone at 21:10.  In the other direction, it leaves Gaborone daily at 06:30, arriving Johannesburg at 13:00.  For times, fares and online booking see www.intercape.co.za.

Zimbabwe to Botswana by train...

In 1999, the weekly Johannesburg-Gaborone-Bulawayo train was withdrawn and the daily Mafeking-Gaborone- Bulawayo 'blue train' was cut back in to run purely within Botswana, Francistown-Gaborone-Lobatse.  However, after an absence of 6 years, an international train service between Zimbabwe and Botswana restarted in June 2006, from Francistown to Bulawayo, 3 times a week.

Francistown ► Bulawayo				Bulawayo ► Francistown
		Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday				Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Francistown	depart	09:00		Bulawayo	depart	09:30
Bulawayo	arrive	15:00		Francistown	arrive	15:00

The train has standard class coaches with reclining seats.

The fare is 25 Pula one-way (£3 or $5).

For train connections to Gaborone and Lobatse (near the South African border) see below.

The train uses Zimbabwe's modern standard class coaches like this, complete with with TV entertainment(!)

Click for map of train routes

IMPORTANT:  All Francistown-Gaborone-Lobatse trains were cancelled from April 2009 A shock announcement in early 2009 was that Botswana Railways was to stop all passenger service indefinitely because of mounting losses.  The day train stopped running in 2006, and the last overnight train between Francistown, Gaborone & Lobatse ran on 1 April 2009.  See this article.

A daily overnight train with sleepers and restaurant car runs from Francistown to Gaborone and Lobatse.  If you have any feedback or further information about these services, please e-mail me.

Francistown ► Gaborone ► Lobatse					Lobatse ► Gaborone ► Francistown
		Suspended *	Suspended**				Suspended *	Suspended**
Francistown	depart	10:00	21:00		Lobatse	depart	-	19:10
Gaborone	arr / dep	16:24	06:30		Gaborone	arr / dep	10:00	21:00
Lobatse	arrive	-	08:25		Francistown	arrive	16:25	06:45

* The daytime train hasn't run since October 2006, when a number of coaches were damaged in a derailment.  See article

** Ceased running on 1 April 2009, after which there will be NO TRAINS AT ALL on this route.  They are unlikely ever to resume.

On board the trains...

The overnight train has 4 classes of accommodation: 

• 1st class (also known as Sleeper class) has comfortable sleeping berths in 2-berth & 4-berth compartments (fully air-conditioned, allegedly with a shower at the end of the corridor though this may be locked off), see the photographs below.

• 2nd Class is similar, but with 3-berth & 6-berth sleeping compartments.

• Club class has fully-upholstered air-conditioned reclining seats.

• Economy Class has more crowded and basic seating, also air-conditioned. 

The daytime train has two classes of accommodation:  First Class with air-conditioned airline-style reclining seats and Economy Class with basic upholstered seats, also air-conditioned.

Fares & how to book...

Buy tickets at the station - there's no known way to book from outside Botswana.  The ticket office normally opens about an hour before departure. 

• Gaborone to Francistown:  1st class sleeper 128 pula (£15 / $29), 2nd class sleeper 107 pula (£13 / $25), Club class seat 37 pula, economy seat 28 pula (£4 / $7). 

• Lobatse to Gaborone:  1st class 39 pula, 2nd class 28 pula, club class 9 pula. 

• Lobatse to Francistown:  1st class sleeper 141 pula, 2nd class sleeper 122 pula.

Children under 7 travel free, children under 12 travel at half fare.

1st class sleeper, bunks folded out, bedding yet to be provided.		2nd class sleeper (upper & middle bunks folded away)		Economy class seats... All photos courtesy of Paul Carey...

The famous Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable has train, bus and ferry times for every country in Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australasia.   It is published every two months.  

It's an essential publication for any serious traveller, and an inspiration for armchair travellers!  

It costs around £13.99 from the bureau de change section of any branch of Thomas Cook, or you can buy it online at www.thomascooktimetables.com (look for 'Timetables').  Alternatively, you can buy the twice-yearly  Independent Traveller's edition at Amazon.co.uk also with shipping worldwide.

To get the most from a trip to Southern Africa, you'll need a good guidebook - and I think the Lonely Planet guides are about the best ones out there.

Buy Lonely Planet Southern Africa online at Amazon

Or buy direct from the Lonely Planet website, with shipping worldwide.