Taking the Tazara: We go on an epic 1,860km rail journey from Zambia to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

[Music] so we have made it to uh capiri and POI but it has been dramatic um the roads the starters were uh pretty hairy saw a couple of crashes and also I saw a guy getting attacked by a snake um and then when we uh got here what happened though when we got here we got in a back for taxi managed to find one get here um then when we went to get our ticket they said we had to pay in cash and we didn't have on cash but not that much so I to break the stuff jez went into go back into town the only ATM is get out some cash but um the ticket costs 4,000 cers so we B don't have any money now for the train when it's in cash only so we've got about4 to last Us 2 and 1/2 days of food we were going to just chill and have some nice beers tonight instead we're going to be eating apples and carrots like horses now in the cabin it's nearly 4:00 which is when we're about to leave it's actually like pretty it's pretty good like there's loads of like so it's meant to be for six people well it can fit up to six people we've splurged a little bit and booked it all out just for the just for the two of us which I'm very very glad we've done because it's at least 2 days and which just means we can spread all our stuff out um and yeah it's actually it's actually pretty nice so we're going to wait to wait till the train goes and then maybe go and explore so it's 400 p.m. bang on 400 p.m. and we've left we've like left on time amazing so these are our rations to last the trip it should be ample if the trip lasts 2 days as advertised but um we have heard that this train journey can sometimes take up to 5 days in which case we're going to be pretty screwed particularly on the waterfront as we've literally just got this and that as our sources of water um so fingers crossed we arrive on time so tending to the essentials so we have 2 hours into our journey and we have just made our first stop at a place called cushy um which is pretty good going uh considering all the stops and starts we had on our last train so uh long may this continue um we've discovered that there is Taps that do water so we're not going to run out of water even if we run out of food so that's a bonus despite the stuff in the cash just like really happy to to be on this train and uh to have made it and uh you know whatever happens uh you know we won't starve we'll be okay however long it takes we'll get there um so you know we may be seeing something different in uh the next 24 hours 48 hours or in fact the next few seconds when watch the next clip but for now it's a good feeling it's now uh 8:30 in the evening we've just been to the dining car for dinner uh we had some Shima which we spent the last of our money apart from the 20 quates that we've got saved for water on um but yeah there's a bar Carriage but obviously we can't go there because we've got no money to buy anything um we've just come back to our little compartment and settling down for an early night and uh very pleasant it is too so it's just after 700 on Wednesday morning and we are uh just pulling into casani we've been going about 15 hours um and had a pretty good night's sleep have to say it was very comfy beds um very slight thing is the conductor doesn't seem use his inside voice but other than that uh it a it was a very pleasant evening and uh yeah I think we're going to cross the border hopefully with a fair wind at about 2:00 this afternoon um yeah it's be very very easy so far it's not a high Pace some of the time but you know we're progressing you say you a woman at leisure right now though journey is not feel that bad I'm WR rewriting all my French notes into a new into a brand new school notepad that I've brought in the Saka we've got some nice snacks to eat just going to edit a video not this video an old video and we got hopefully hopefully you can change our mosan beat M at TS and Border we will have a great night if you can't we will be having a dinner of AOS and crackers so it's now C to 4 on Wednesday and uh we think we're approaching the Tanzanian border uh hopefully we'll be able to get through there in a couple of hours um but we have heard Tales of giant spiders in the waiting room which is not too appetizing but if that's the worst we face I think we'll be okay we are just uh queuing up immigration on Zambia side it's like 10 p 4 uh and uh this could be a long process but we'll let you know when we're through just got through but um oh look who's there uh yeah we've just got through uh but the guy is not in a hurry and unfortunately it did just like taking phone calls and stuff and just like a man of leisure uh and it did cost us $50 so we definitely don't have any cash now to spend on extravagances or enjoyment on the train so tonight's train dinner we have red rolls slightly crusty little bit hard but that's the flavor Tomatoes which are slightly warm and we've H got a lovely toothpaste box which is our chopping board and a bush knife Brushy um I'm just going to have tomato and Pringle JZ is going to have tomato Pringle and some Dairy me laughing C laughing C laughing CS excuse me jez is going to have Laughing Cow Cheese Slices is so he's got enough I've got enough we've got plenty such a reference so it is uh day three of our tesara train adventure um we are somewhere in tan here after a very good night sleep I think we both got about 10 hours um and yeah woke up this morning cold for the first time in probably a month maybe more uh it was a little bit nippy in the air but um yeah I don't think we're going to arrive on our scheduled time but hopefully we make it to Dar Salam in the daylight so that we can uh get to our hostel a little bit easier but uh it's not looking like that at the moment we stopped somewhere during the night for about 2 hours uh about 1:00 in the morning and we've been stopped here for about half an hour so um unless these are scheduled stops I think we're going to be quite late delicious nutritious breakfast not just had Pringles so had some some crackers very balanced wintry weather is morning somber so it is now uh 12:40 on Thursday uh We've stopped in a town called Mima uh we're du to be here for about 2 hours uh you know if this was running a schedule we would already be in Dar Salam now but at the moment it looks like it's going to be quite a long time before we get there and almost certainly Nightfall so got some uh interesting choices ahead but first direct daylight in two days so not all bad so here is a full shot of the mighty Beast that is the tazara uh it's a mighty beast but it's also bloody slow Beast one great thing about this train is that it has um every car every Carriage has a a speaker in it um that's just banging out like constant 8s Classics or African music and DJ maray uh is the DJ we know that because he will constantly interrupt songs by going DJ Mor um but yeah can't be a [Music] classic so it's 2our stop going a little bit still crazy this is a social experiment what happens if like what did two food deprived sunlight deprived people do after 4 days the only explanation mhm how do people from Tanzania score basketball I don't know how do people from tanzan score in basketball play Dar a lam D would just like to point out that zo scoffed at me for bringing a tin of tomatoes and now she craves that tin of tomatoes desperately she wants it for herself rather starve than eat the tomatoes it's a unconvincing alibi uhoh sorry it's now 7:30 on Thursday night uh we sort of have been stuck at a station for about 2 hours so not gone anywhere but this is kind of good because it means the longer we stay here the more chance we've got of arriving at darus Salan in daylight so um we're not too fussed about that are we zoor huh we're not too fusted about the weight here no it's actually it's fine and it actually works out better you just said you just s thisen you yeah um yeah we're not away it's all good this it's 8:55 we're moving again very slowly not sure what happened that was a long hour that was a long delay um at least 2 or 3 hours um possibly more than know it's kind of time's lost all meaning at this point okay my optimism was short lift there say 8:56 we've stop moving again so it's 5:45 on Friday morning and it looks like we've just arrived from darus Salam that's the end of the line we made it there she is the Mighty the mighty slow cesara so we just got caught in the downpour as we went to a cash machine but we have money again which is great and uh you know just a 16h hour delay so on our train so again not too bad I mean we think English trains are bad and and they are um but yeah 16 hours and no sense hint of a refund and uh that's just the way it is um can't complain we just got to the same um we booked a night but obviously we were day late so we don't have a booking here so we decided to go straight to Zanzibar so we going to have some breakfast and and then get ferry to the island so that was a another yeah pretty uh full-on arrival we got to the ferry terminal um and just got swamped with people again and it was very confusing as to where to go but we figured it out the nice guy who was one of aan Fes helped us and we're now in the lounge waiting to get the F which should leave in about an hour or so fingers crossed and then we'll be on zanti bar and then we've got to go through all the chaos again so we're just doing the an ultimate leg of the journey now the fer to Zanzibar uh and then when we get the uh taxi across the island should take about an hour and a half and then finally after well over days and all worth it we have a and so we're off the ferry finally and uh well not finally it was actually a pretty easy journey and uh now just got to go through customs and then we're on zanib bar and we just got to get a taxi to page and then we can rest through C and now we well show your passport and now we're on our way to the hospital in P this should just be the last leg of the journey and then we're there so we have spent 62 hours on a train uh and six of the last nine days either on a ferry a bus a car or a train and it's been Hardo but uh I think it's going to be worth it NeverEnding joury to an end so we are blessed you can find out exactly how blessed we are next we he's basically like us just taking his home with him wherever he [Music] goes

Channel: Jez and Zoe

Views: 1,320

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Id: Udqnf-gbp4g

Length: 14min 15sec (855 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 16 2023