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Here The Blue Train guests are cordially invited to disembark,
take a tour through the streets of modern day Kimberly to
visit the Kimberly Mine Museum and the 'Big Hole'. The Blue
Train luxury coach is used to transport guests, alternatively
they can be taken on a historic electric tram when it is
available.
Step back into a world of pioneers and adventurers-circa
1880. Marvel at the sheer magnitude of the "Big Hole",
the largest hole in the world excavated by hand. At a replica
of an alluvial-diamond diggers, try your luck at panning
and possibly finding a diamond of your very own!
Board The Blue
Train once more and continue on to a South bound journey
into the heartland of the Great Karoo. Awaken
to the sight of vineyards and orchards as you descend through
mysterious and beautiful valleys and mountains, such as
Drakenstein, Slanghoek and Elandskloof - towards Cape Town's
imposing
and instantly recognizable Table Mountain, sentinel and
gateway to the African continent.
The city of Cape Town has a lot to offer a discerning tourist,
among places of interest, you can visit pearl-white beaches
washed by the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, watch colorful,
old-style fishing boats in Kalk Bay, explore the old Malay
slave quarters, enjoy the finest seafood in the world, wander
through Greenmarket Square's famous flea market and enjoy
a sundowner at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
On the return leg, follow on the northbound tracks of Cecil
John Rhodes, who dreamed of a railroad from Cape to Cairo.
Pass through the wine lands of the fertile Hex River valley,
in the shadow of imposing mountains, up and inland to the
endless sweeping landscapes of the Karoo. Here, between high-road
and rail-road, is the tiny hamlet of Matjiesfontein. The
Blue Train guests are invited for a short ride back in time,
on a historical London double decker bus. Stop a while and
savor the vastness and the silence of the surrounding plains.
The Victorian buildings and original nineteenth century London
lamp posts impart to the traveler, the uncanny sense of entering
a colonial time warp - an oasis suspended in a different
age.
Stretch your legs breathe in the dry clear air and walk
in the footsteps of those who over the years have been enchanted
by this place. Among them, Lord Randolph Churchill, Cecil
Rhodes, Olive Schriener and the Sultan of Zanzibar. Sip a
drink at the renowned Lord Milner Hotel - refurbished in
the 1970's by the visionary hotelier and designer David Rawdon,
who bought the entire village.
Board The Blue Train once more for the journey northward
into the interior. Before you drift to sleep, glance through
the window at a sky filled with a trillion stars. And when
you awake, you will be approaching the mining centers on
the Gold Reef, and will soon end your journey in the jacaranda
city - Pretoria.
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