The Tanzania & Zambia Railway
Authority (TAZARA) runs trains between Kapiri Mposhi, Mbeya and Dar es
Salaam, taking two nights. The trains have sleeping-cars
and a restaurant car, and the journey is a great adventure, see
the travellers' reports below.
The line is 1,860km long and was only opened in 1976, built with
Chinese funding and assistance.
The times shown here reflect the new timetable introduced on 10
October 2008 and still in force as far as I know in 2010. There are no longer any additional local
trains Dar-Mbeya or Kapiri-Nakonde, just the two train shown
here, one train per week an express, the other now an ordinary
train.
Dar es
Salaam ► Mbeya ► Kapiri Mposhi
|
|
km |
Classes: |
"Mukuba" or "Kilimanjaro"
Express train
1S, 2S, 2, 3, M or R |
Mukuba" or "Kilimanjaro"
Ordinary train
1S, 2S, 2, 3, R |
|
0 |
Dar es Salaam |
depart |
15:50 Tuesdays |
13:50 Fridays |
|
849 |
Mbeya |
arrive
depart |
13:08 Wednesdays
13:23 Wednesdays |
14:10 Saturdays
14:40 Saturdays |
|
969 |
Tunduma
(frontier) |
arrive
depart |
17:02 Wednesdays
17:17 Wednesdays |
18:38 Saturdays
18:53 Saturdays |
|
970 |
Nakonde |
arrive
depart |
16:22 Wednesdays
16:47 Wednesdays |
17:58 Saturdays
18:18 Saturdays |
|
1852 |
Kapiri Mposhi
(New) |
arrive |
09:26 Thursdays |
13:37 Sundays |
1S = 1st class
4-berth sleepers; 2S = 2nd class 6-berth sleepers;
2 = 2nd class seats; 3 = 3rd class
seats; M = meal at seat service; R = Restaurant
car.
One of the two
Dar-Kapiri Mposhi train sets is Zambian and called the "Mukuba Express"
(= 'copper' in the Bemba language), the other is Tanzanian and
called the "Kilimanjaro". You have a
50:50 chance of getting either trainset.
Each train typically
consists of 3 x 1st class sleepers, 3 x 2nd class sleepers, 3 x 3rd
class seats cars, a 2nd class seats car, two restaurant cars, a
1st class lounge car and a couple of baggage vans.
You can check times
at
www.tazarasite.com.
Kapiri
Mposhi ► Mbeya ► Dar es Salaam
|
|
km |
Classes: |
"Mukuba" or "Kilimanjaro"
Express service
1S, 2S, 2, 3, M or R |
Mukuba" or "Kilimanjaro"
Ordinary train
1S, 2S, 2, 3, R |
|
0 |
Kapiri Mposhi
(New) |
depart |
16:00 Tuesdays |
14:00 Fridays |
|
882 |
Nakonde |
arrive
depart |
08:39 Wednesdays
09:09 Wednesdays |
09:13 Saturdays
09:23 Saturdays |
|
883 |
Tunduma (frontier) |
arrive
depart |
10:14 Wednesdays
10:29 Wednesdays |
10:30 Saturdays
10:45 Saturdays |
|
1003 |
Mbeya |
arrive
depart |
14:13 Wednesdays
14:28 Wednesdays |
14:32 Saturdays
15:00 Saturdays |
|
1852 |
Dar es Salaam |
arrive |
12:35 Thursdays |
15:46 Sundays |
Kapiri
Mposhi (New) station is 2km from Kapiri Mposhi (Zambia
Railways) station.
Fares...
|
|
One way per person.
Express train fares. Ordinary train fares are
around 20% less. |
|
Dar es Salaam to Kapiri
Mposhi: |
72,600 Tanzanian shillings (£28 or $48) in 1st class
sleeper.
52,800 Tanzanian shillings (£21 or $35) in
2nd class
sleeper. |
|
Dar es
Salaam to Mbeya: |
32,400 Tanzanian shillings (£13 or $21) in 1st class
sleeper.
23,800 Tanzanian shillings (£9 or $16) in
2nd class
sleeper. |
|
Kapiri Mposhi to Dar es
Salaam: |
1st class sleeper, express = 261,400 Zambian kwacha
(£33 or
$55)
2nd class sleeper = 198,000 kwacha (£25 or $50)
2nd class seat =
171,600 kwacha (£23 or $44)
3rd class seat =
145,200 kwacha (£18 or $35) |
|
Kapiri
Mposhi to Mbeya: |
1st class sleeper = 118,800 Zambian kwacha (£14 or $28)
2nd class sleeper = 86,600 kwacha (£12 or $24)
2nd class seat =
79,100 kwacha (£11 or $21)
3rd class seat =
71,400 kwacha (£10 or $20) |
On Tazara,
Children under 7 travel free, under 15 pay half fare.
Bookings open 1 month in advance.
The sleepers are
single sex, so men and women will be in separate compartments
unless your party books the complete compartment.
You can check prices at
www.tazarasite.com.
How to buy tickets for journeys starting in Dar es
Salaam...
You cannot buy
tickets online, you should buy them at the station or by
phone. Call Dar Es
Salaam ticket office on +255 22 26 2191 for westbound
journeys. An email from Tazara customer relations
suggests that bookings can be made on any of the following
numbers, although this hasn't been confirmed:
+255 784345492, +255 754260988, +255 715469239 or
+255 784454510. Please let me know if one of these
works for you. Alternatively, you can buy tickets before
you get to Tanzania by contacting a good local travel agency.
Contact the highly-recommended Sykes Travel Ltd, www.sykestravel.com, tel +255 22 211 5542 or email
abe@sykestravel.com.
Booking opens 1 month in advance of departure.
Feedback on ticket buying would be appreciated.
How to buy tickets for journeys starting in Zambia...
You cannot buy tickets online, you
should buy them at the station or by phone. Call the Kapiri (Zambia) booking office on
+260 211 220 646. One report suggests the
Kapiri ticket office answered the phone promptly and made a
first class booking, with payment to be made at the station
on the day. The same report suggests places in first
class were available even booking at the station one day
before travel.
Feedback on ticket buying would be appreciated.
|
|
Above: Tazara train
from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi in Tanzania.
Photo courtesy of
Adam Young. |
|
|
|
Above: The 'Mukuba' train from Kapiri Mposhi
to Dar es Salaam.
Photo courtesy of Ivor Ines |
|
|
|
Above: The 'Mukuba' train
on the Tazara railway in Tanzania.
Photo courtesy of Ivor Ines |
|
|
|
On boardthe 'Mukuba': This is a cosy first
class sleeper. Each passengers gets 2 blankets, 2
sheets, mineral water & toilet roll. Photo courtesy of Ivor Ines
|
|
Travellers' reports...
Here are some real
accounts of trips on the Tazara Railway. Any further
feedback or
photos is very welcome!
Traveller Geoff Edwards reports from a December 2010 trip
on Tazara:
Buying the
tickets: "Booking tickets was done easily through
Sykes Travel Agents via email. The tickets can only be
booked a month in advance but can be collected at the
offices in Dar. Booking through the travel agent meant
that the price was 87,500 Tanzanian Shillings per person in
1st class sleeper rooms. We booked four places between
the two of us which allowed us to have the whole compartment
to ourselves. If budget allows, I would recommend doing
this. You may lose out a bit on the opportunity to meet new
people but the extra freedom and comfort it allowed us was
very worthwhile. You have more space to spread out your
things and can lie down and watch the country go by as you
please.
On board the
train: Due to a local strike, we eventually left 8
hours late, so instead of leaving at 14h30 we left a little
after midnight. As much as this was an inconvenient event,
it did not take away from the great time we had on the rest
of the trip. The 1st class sleeper cars are clean and
comfortable. We had a sheet, pillow, bottle of water and
roll of toilet paper for each bed (No blanket). The carriage
was kept clean by a couple of friendly staff members and the
bathrooms were adequate, although occasionally lacked
running water. The lights in the compartment worked in the
evenings, and we had a ceiling fan which worked for about
half the trip.
Food & drink
on board: There was a dining car and a bar
carriage on the train. We never went to eat in the dining
car but spent some time in the bar. Drinks started off cold
but as the trip progressed the ice melted and the drinks got
a bit warmer. We were served food in our carriage. An
attendant comes around and asks if you will be having the
meal, and then brings it to your compartment about 30
minutes later. Breakfast was an omelette and two slices of
toast, with tea or coffee. At supper time there was a choice
of two meals. We had chicken both nights (I think the other
options were steak and fish) which was very tasty and came
with either rice or chips and some vegetables. The meals
were not too expensive (15 000 Zambian Kwacha on the Zambian
side) but you might want to bring some snacks for lunches
(as we did) to avoid unnecessary costs.
Crossing the
border was very simple, but was made a bit awkward by
the timing of the crossing. We crossed the border around
midnight so at 11pm a Tanzanian official came around and
stamped all passports, and the Zambian official waited until
7am to do his rounds and stamp the passports into the
country. Being South African we didn’t need to pay for
visas. Money changers also jump aboard around the
border, but offer very poor exchange rates. You need the
currency of the country that you are currently in, but try
exchange as little as possible, and rather wait until you
are in a bigger centre to exchange money.
The scenery
was really beautiful and changed as you moved through the
countries. Tanzania started off dry and sparsely inhabited,
and then moved into a mountainous region filled with tunnels
and bridges, and then the Zambian countryside is lush bush
with a lot more signs of population. It was a fabulous and
relaxing way to see a lot of the country from the comfort of
your bed! Bring plenty of books as it affords you time to
catch up on those books you always meant to read.
We arrived in
Kapiri Mposhi at around midnight again ( which meant that,
apart from the initial 8 hour delay, the train kept good
time and arrived almost on schedule). There were buses
waiting outside the station ready to take people to Lusaka
or wherever there next destination was. Overall, the
trip was an adventure out of a different era. The train felt
like quite a anachronism compared to the plane trip and the
hustle and bustle of Dar es Salaam. We thoroughly enjoyed
the trip and would recommend it to anyone with a desire to
see Africa. Things I would recommend bringing on the
train: Blanket or sleeping bag, bottled water, good
books, torch or headlamp, and an interesting travelling
partner."
Ivor Morgan
reports from a summer 2010 trip on Tazara:
Buying the
tickets: "I had originally planned to travel
southbound on the Tazara, starting in Dar Es Salaam. I
tried emailing the travel agents listed on Seat 61:
Inihotours.co.tz did not respond at all, but Sykes responded
very promptly, with helpful information and a price of 350,000
TSh for a 1st class 4-berth sleeper. However, as we
eventually travelled northbound I didn’t book with them as
they couldn’t help with northbound bookings. To book a
departure from Kapiri, I called the number for
Tazara in Kapiri Mposhi listed on Seat61 and got through
immediately – the woman on the end told me the booking clerk
was away on a 2 months training course, but she gave me a
mobile number for someone else. I got through to him
immediately, he confirmed the price as 237,200 kwacha per
first class berth, and I booked a compartment. I asked about
payment, and he said it was fine to pay at the station on the
day.
...Arriving at the station in Kapiri
Mposhi: We actually
reached Kapiri Mposhi the day before
departure. The same man I’d spoken to on the phone was working
in the ticket office, and it was no problem to get our ticket
issued. I’m not sure he had formally made a reservation for us
in advance, but there was no problem getting space one day
beforehand, and some other tourists also managed to get berths
in first class even just a few hours before departure.
We were told to be at the station 2 hours before departure. We
had to get our ticket endorsed by the ticket office man, then have our passport details entered in the manifest at the
adjacent reservations office. Some people had old-style
cardboard tickets, but we only had a piece of paper like a
receipt, so I was a bit concerned about the difference.
It turned out that both are valid, though I couldn’t work out why
some people got issued one type, and others the other!
As noted on Seat61, the Tazara station is a couple of km from
the old RSZ station in the centre of town. There aren't many shops around the Tazara station, so if
you need supplies for the journey, buy them in
the town centre first. Also, the few ‘hotels’ in Kapiri Mposhi are
along the main drag, there’s nothing near the Tazara station.
...What was the Tazara train like?
We travelled on the Zambian-operated Mukuba express. The
train consisted of : 3 luggage vans (2 of these were left at
the border); 6 economy seats cars; 1 restaurant between
economy & 2nd class; 1 ‘super-seater’ car (reclining seats
with 2 overhead TVs); 3 2nd class sleepers (6 berth
compartments); another (more upmarket) restaurant car; 3 1st
class sleepers (4 berth); a lounge/bar car; and a staff car.
There was an attendant for each 1st class sleeper or two, who
was generally very helpful, and swept the corridors and
compartments a couple of times each day. The main compartment
and corridor lights worked during the night (but not the
individual reading lights, nor power sockets). Our carriage
had running water (most of the time) in the shower and in the
washroom. There was no running water in the toilet, but a
bucket full of water was provided for flushing. I am not sure
if even the other 1st class carriages had functioning showers,
but the staff seemed to be very good about keeping the water
buckets in the toilets topped up, and the toilets themselves
reasonably clean. There was no security chain on the
compartment door, but the main lock did function (after a bit
of fiddling around). We could lock it ourselves from inside
when leaving, and then just needed to ask the attendant to
open it with the staff key when we returned. The window and
screen both worked, and locked in position, so the compartment
was fairly secure. At the start of the journey, each
berth was provided with 2 blankets, 1 sheet, 1 pillow, 1
pillowcase, and a bottle of water. There was also one
toilet roll per compartment.
...Crossing the Zambian/Tanzanian border:
Crossing the border at Nakonde
(Zambian side) / Tunduma (Tanzanian side) was pretty
straightforward. Moneychangers boarded at Nakonde, exchanging ZMK for TSH, and also selling Tanzanian SIM cards. (As other
Seat61 correspondents have noted, the restaurant car only
accepts currency from the country it is in, so you need to
change money at the border). The Zambian authorities came down
the train, and stamped us out before the train moved on. On
the Tanzanian side, I was a bit worried that we pulled out of
Tunduma before we had seen an immigration official. However,
the staff said they had boarded the train, and would make
their way along it while we were moving. Which, sure enough,
was what happened. We didn’t have visas for Tanzania, but it
was no problem to get them on the train for $50 each, paid in USD. I
was told by Sykes Travel in Dar that you can get
Zambian visas on the train when going the other way. A bit
later on, we passed the Kilimanjaro Express going the other
way, and all the immigration officials jumped off our train,
and on to the Kilimanjaro for a ride back to the border.
...What's the scenery like?
The terrain is fairly flat on the Zambian side, so the train
moves fairly fast. However, as it approaches the border, the
terrain gets more hilly, and it slowly creeps and crawls over
the Southern Highlands. Some of the track speed limit signs
were as low as 20km/hour, but the route through the hills is
very scenic. There were lots of damaged railway wagons
alongside the track, presumably the result of previous
derailments and crashes. However, we
only saw wrecked freight wagons so hopefully passenger
carriages have a better safety record! We seemed to be
keeping to time for the travel between stations but we had a lot of long waits while we
were at various stations. I estimated this as ~12 hours due
to a derailment of a freight train ahead of us; ~6hrs due to
‘miscellaneous’; and ~6 hrs because we had to keep waiting for
a Rovos cruise train ahead of us, which was running to a slower
timetable but was still given priority – which was very
annoying. We eventually reached Dar Es-Salaam almost exactly
24 hours late... Unfortunately, the late running meant
it was dark most of the time we were passing through the Selous Game Reserve, but we did see some wildlife
including warthogs,
baboons, guinea fowl and various deer on the outskirts of the
reserve in the morning. As noted by other Seat61
correspondents, the restaurant car serves basic but good and
reasonably cheap food; the lounge/bar car could be pleasant,
but is ruined by the TV screens playing loud B-movies.
There were 4 other western tourists travelling from Zambia
through to Dar, and another 5 or so got on in Mbeya. The train
itself was reasonably well-used but not full in 1st & 2nd.
Economy seemed much more crowded, especially as a lot of
people seemed to bringing farm produce with them which was
stacked up in the vestibules and elsewhere.
...Summing up: Guidebooks
and some websites including the UK Foreign Office seem
to discourage train travel in Tanzania – but this seems
misguided. The Tazara was very pleasant, and although I
haven’t been on a bus in Tanzania, I’m sure the train was more
comfortable. Trains in
Tanzania may be less safe than those in Europe, but air & bus travel in Africa
is hardly risk-free either, a point
the guidebooks and FCO often seem to miss. Despite the 24
hour delay, the Tazara was a very pleasant and relaxing way to
travel."
Traveller Adam Young writes:
"The service to Mbeya is fantastic. The train goes through
the Selous game park and I've seen elephants, monkeys,
gibbons, zebra, giraffes, bok things (it's difficult to
get a good ID from a moving train!) and various bird life.
A very cheap safari. Hard sleep (6 beds per cabin) is good
and people are always very friendly and like most train
trips it is a good chance to meet local people. I've
been delayed for over 12 hours on this route, but hey,
this is Tanzania and is all part of the fun."Andrew Kerr
reports (August 2008): "We travelled from
Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Kapiri Mposhe in Zambia.
The dining car contract has been renewed, so getting food
was not a problem. Someone had their back pack
stolen out of a compartment window while they were
sleeping when we were in a station. This was entirely
preventable, as there are closeable metal grilles that can
keep out mosquitos and wandering hands. In addition, the
doors are lockable when you leave your compartment, you
just need to get your carriage attendant to open again
when you return (which was easy). Our journey took
72 hours instead of 45, as a goods train had derailed
further up the line so we waited for 15 hours, and then
later we also ran out of fuel! But I’d do it again:
amazing scenery and I met so many interesting people, both
other backpackers and locals. I managed to buy a
first class sleeper ticket on the day I travelled but I
think I was lucky in getting this.
Traveller
Chris Cummins reports: "We travelled
on the Tazara train from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi
from 20.07.07 to 22.07.07. Prospective travellers should
be aware that currently there is no restaurant car on the
train, the contract has run out and is still under
negotiation. Not knowing this, we arrived with only a
small amount of food. We also struggled for most of the
journey to buy any food from vendors as they mainly sell
large bags of potatoes, etc, there was not much other
foods available. The ones who do sell the suspect looking
roast chicken or fruit do not come down to the end of the
train to the sleeping cars, they stay up the front and
serve the seated passengers. There are little or no food
vendors allowed on the platforms at each station. We
were lucky to buy some rice mixed with boiled cabbage from
a tin shed kitchen adjacent to a platform, which kept us
going. Take all you need to eat and drink. We
eventually made it to Kapiri Mposhi over 12 hours late due
to numerous stops for repairs. We departed Dar an
hour late and stopped in many places so workers could get
out and hit the brakes with rocks picked up from the
ballast. At one stage the engine was taken away for 4
hours while we sat in the middle of nowhere in the dark
until it came back. We had a sleeper cabin and booked all
4 berths so we would not have to share, at each stop in
the night we kept the door locked and many tried to look
for a bunk with us only to be firmly told by the wonderful
carriage hostess (one in each carriage) to go away. At no
time though did we feel unsafe or have anything stolen
either on the local trains or over 6 weeks travel in
Africa.
Arriving in
Kapiri Mposhi was the usual chaos but we easily found a
mini bus to Lusaka and arrived there safely 2 and 1/2
hours later along a good road. Although we did squeeze 26
people and all their luggage into a Toyota Coaster."
A train ride on Tazara from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi..
 |
|
 |
| Dar es
Salaam station...
Photo courtesy of Tim Roberts |
|
Dar es Salaam station...
Photo courtesy of Tim Roberts |
 |
|
 |
| First
class passenger lounge at Dar es
Salaam station.
Photo courtesy of Tim Roberts |
|
The Mukuba in the platform at
Dar es Salaam station.
Photo courtesy of Tim Roberts |
 |
|
 |
| First
class sleeper on the Mukuba.
Photo courtesy of Tim Roberts |
|
Breakfast, served in a
first class sleeper.
Photo courtesy of Burcu Canbulat |
 |
|
 |
| The Mukuba
Express from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi.
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
|
A first class
sleeper on the Mukuba Express
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
 |
|
 |
|
Lounge car on the Mukuba Express
Photo courtesy of Burcu Canbulat |
|
'Mukuba Express' at Mbeya.
The sleeper attendant's uniform is the colour of the Zambian
flag. Courtesy of Alister Renaux. |
 |
|
 |
|
The
restaurant car on the Mukuba Express...
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
|
'Super seater' 2nd class seats...
Photo courtesy of Ivor Ines |
 |
|
 |
|
A meal on
board the train from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya...
Photo courtesy of David Eerdmans. |
|
The Tazara
train from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya...
Photo courtesy of
Sebastiaan van Kooij |
 |
|
 |
|
First class sleeper corridor...
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
|
Kapiri Mposhi station...
Photo courtesy of Ivor Ines |
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