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.
Kapiri Mposhi
► Dar es Salaam:
|
|
km |
Classes: |
"Mukuba Express" or "Kilimanjaro"
1,2,3, M or R |
1,2,3, R |
1,2,3, R |
|
0 |
Kapiri Mposhi
(New) |
depart |
16:00 Tuesdays & Fridays |
17:00 Mondays |
- |
|
882 |
Nakonde |
arr / dep |
09:09 Wednesdays & Saturdays |
12:00 next day |
- |
|
883 |
Tunduma (frontier) |
arr / dep |
10:29 Wednesdays & Saturdays |
- |
- |
|
1003 |
Mbeya |
arr / dep |
14:28 Wednesdays & Saturdays |
- |
xx:xx
Wednesdays |
|
1852 |
Dar es Salaam |
arrive |
12:35 Thursdays & Sundays |
- |
xx:xx
next day? |
Dar es Salaam
►Kapiri Mposhi:
|
|
km |
Classes: |
"Mukuba Express" or "Kilimanjaro"
1,2,3, M or R |
1,2,3,R |
1,2,3,R |
|
0 |
Dar es Salaam |
depart |
15:50 Tuesdays & Fridays |
11:30 Mondays |
- |
|
849 |
Mbeya |
arr / dep |
13:23 Wednesdays & Saturdays |
xx:xx
next day? |
- |
|
969 |
Tunduma
(frontier) |
arr / dep |
17:17 Wednesdays & Saturdays |
- |
- |
|
970 |
Nakonde |
arr / dep |
16:47 Wednesdays & Saturdays |
- |
17:55 Tuesdays |
|
1852 |
Kapiri Mposhi
(New) |
arrive |
09:26 Thursdays & Sundays |
- |
13:05 next day |
x = time not known, please check
locally. 1 = 1st class
4-berth sleeper; 2 = 2nd class 6-berth sleeper & 2nd class seats; 3 = 3rd class
seats; M = meal at seat service; R = Restaurant
car.
One of the two
weekly Dar-Kapiri Mposhi trains is called the "Mukuba Express"
(= 'copper' in the Bemba langauage), the other is the "Kilimanjiro".
Kapiri
Mposhi (New) station is 2km from Kapiri Mposhi (Zambia
Railways) station.
Check train times at
www.tazara.co.tz. Please double-check exact times
locally.
Fares:
|
|
One way per person |
|
Kapiri Mposhi to Dar es
Salaam: |
1st class sleeper = 180,000 Zambian kwacha (£23 or
$40)
2nd class sleeper = 150,000 kwacha (£19 or $35)
2nd class seat =
130,000 kwacha (£17 or $30)
3rd class seat =
110,000 kwacha (£14 or $25) |
|
Kapiri
Mposhi to Mbeya: |
1st class sleeper = 90,000 Zambian kwacha (£11 or $20)
2nd class sleeper = 65,500 kwacha (£9 or $17)
2nd class seat =
60,000 kwacha (£8 or $15)
3rd class seat =
55,000 kwacha (£7 or $13) |
|
Dar es Salaam to Kapiri
Mposhi: |
Around 55,000 Tanzanian shillings (£27 or $50) in 1st
class sleeper. |
|
Dar es
Salaam to Mbeya: |
Around 28,000 Tanzanian shillings (£14 or $25) in 1st
class sleeper. |
On Tazara,
Children under 7 travel free, under 15 pay half fare.
The sleepers are
single sex, so men and women will be in separate compartments
unless your party books the complete compartment.
Travellers' reports...
Here are some real
accounts of trips on the Tazara Railway. Any further
feedback or
photos is very welcome..!
Above: Tazara train
from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi in Tanzania.
Photo courtesy of
Adam Young. |
|
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."
|
Traveller
Chris Cummins reports (July 2007): "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."
David Eerdmans
reports (Oct 2005): The Tazara is a great way to
travel. We used it between Dar es Salaam and Mbeya
(Zambia) on our way to Malawi. Don't expect a modern,
comfortable train, and don't expect the trains to run on
time. However, for African standards, the train is
actually pretty good and it is an absolutely fantastic way
to see Tanzanian countryside, some nice scenery and (if
you're lucky) some wildlife. In Dar es Salaam the
station is a bit out of town, on the road to the airport.
A taxi is the best way to get there. The station
reminded me of stations in China - not very surprising, as
the line was built by the Chinese in the times when Tanzania
was still more of less a communist country. We tried
to make reservations online, but that didn't work out.
Fortunately it was no problem to make reservations in the
station only two days in advance.
There are several classes.
We took 1st class, which consists of 4-berth compartments.
The train interior again reminded me of Chinese trains - you
can even spot some Chinese signs on the train. It was
however in a pretty bad state compared to Chinese trains
I've travelled on: pretty filthy, and many windows and doors
were broken. Ride quality is absolutely horrible:
the train shakes and bounces like I've never experienced
before. Our train left a couple of hours late.
Just after departure, the friendly train manager came by to
say hello to all 1st class travellers. Some time later
we got menus from the restaurant - there's some great food
on the train. In addition, first class passengers have
access to a lounge car with comfortable seats, cold drinks
and incredibly loud music. It could be a nice place to
meet people; that is, if there are people: we were the only
ones in the car. Never mind - we enjoyed the train
thoroughly; hanging out of the window, waving to the kids in
the villages and admiring a great sundown. The scenery
near Dar es Salaam is rich and green. Waking up the next
morning was quite strange, because now the scenery had
changed to a yellow, dry landscape. The villages were quite
a shock - very poor compared to the thriving city of Dar es
Salaam. Somewhere in the afternoon we reached Mbeya,
which is a convenient hub to reach Malawi. There are
lots of crowded minibuses going to the border. The border
can be crossed on foot, after which you can take a minibus
again. At the train station in Mbeya you will be
approached by touts selling bus tickets to Malawi. Don't
fall for this, as they are way overpriced. And don't
try to reach Malawi on the day you arrive in Mbeya, as it
will involve travelling at night, which isn't exactly a
pleasant experience in Africa. You'd better spend the
night in Mbeya, which is a pleasant town. As the train
station is located way out of the town centre, the best
option is a taxi. There are several hotels in town, as
well as the nice Swiss-run Karibuni lodge which is located
on the main Tanzania - Zambia road.
 |
|
 |
| 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 |
Traveller Peter Hooper reports
(May 2005): "There are three classes on the train 3rd,
2nd, 1st. There is also a new seater class which is only
slightly better than 3rd. I wouldn't recommend 3rd class..!!
We travelled 1st class and it was great. We got our
own cabin with beds and we also got room service. 2nd
class is ok with beds, etc., but be expected to share and
they are men only and women only cabins. To obtain a
ticket phone or go to Tazara house in Lusaka (Zambia) or Dar
es Salaam TAZARA train station in Dar. If they say
they are no tickets ask for the station master as he will be
able to get you a ticket."
Traveller Carolyn Deans writes:
"The train was clean, comfortable, and we had meals
delivered, and there is a rudimentary shower on board..!
We got to Kapiri Mposhi in about 42 hours with one 1 or 2
stops in the middle of nowhere. At each station,
people sell you bananas and other food through the windows
of the train. We would highly recommend this journey.
It's also possible to travel on from Kapiri Mposhi to
Livingstone by minibus."
Neil McNeilance reports:
When the train crosses the border from Tanzania into Zambia,
the restaurant staff will only accept Zambian Kwatcha. I had
both Tanzanian Shillings and US Dollars, but neither were
acceptable so the only way I could get something to eat was
to go round the other compartments until I could find
someone who was willing to change some dollars. Money
changers get on the train before the border and it would be
a good idea to get some local currency at this point, albeit
at a poor rate. I imagine the situation will be the same
travelling in the opposite direction. Apart from this slight
inconvenience, the journey was fantastic and gives a great
window into rural African life.
 |
|
 |
| Above: The Mukuba
Express from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi...
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
|
The
restaurant car of the Mukuba Express...
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
 |
|
 |
| A 4-berth 1st class
sleeper on the Mukuba Express
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
|
The sleeper corridor...
Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Stobino |
|
|
