Luxury trains and hunts

[Kevin Peacocke]

Recall the grand age of travel, whether it be Africa or anywhere else and there is bound to be a train in there somewhere. Imagine the added spice of arriving at your hunt destination on one of the World's exquisite trains to set the tone for an epic adventure. In South Africa there are a few options, landing in Johannesburg you can either catch the Shongalolo Dune express to windhoek and Walvis bay, or head north to Victoria falls on Rovos Rail. From Vic Falls its an easy connection to one of the Matetsi hunting lodges, and indeed the wife and I are booked to do this one later in the year, hopefully catching a freight ship from Walvis Bay to Cape Town to begin it all.
Scotland does the Royal Scotsman from London to the highlands to tie in with your stag, or grouse. Our recent trip London to Inverness was booked on the Highland Express, but a strike put paid to that and we flew instead - how boring!
So, what other possibilities are you aware of?

 

[Ike85123]

Recall the grand age of travel, whether it be Africa or anywhere else and there is bound to be a train in there somewhere. Imagine the added spice of arriving at your hunt destination on one of the World's exquisite trains to set the tone for an epic adventure. In South Africa there are a few options, landing in Johannesburg you can either catch the Shongalolo Dune express to windhoek and Walvis bay, or head north to Victoria falls on Rovos Rail. From Vic Falls its an easy connection to one of the Matetsi hunting lodges, and indeed the wife and I are booked to do this one later in the year, hopefully catching a freight ship from Walvis Bay to Cape Town to begin it all.
Scotland does the Royal Scotsman from London to the highlands to tie in with your stag, or grouse. Our recent trip London to Inverness was booked on the Highland Express, but a strike put paid to that and we flew instead - how boring!
So, what other possibilities are you aware of?

I have always wanted to visit the uk. My grandfather came over from wales early 1900s. It's om my bucket list among many others.
Used amtrak in thr us once, it was nice. Rode the blue train from joburg to cape. That was really nice !

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I have always wanted to visit the uk. My grandfather came over from wales early 1900s. It's om my bucket list among many others.
Used amtrak in thr us once, it was nice. Rode the blue train from joburg to cape. That was really nice !

Ike, the UK is train country, it is so easy and convenient. Although not a long journey you might try London to Birmingham, just an hour, then spend the morning at Westley Richards. Get a nice breakfast bag from the buffet car on the way.

 

[Ike85123]

I would love to. Will probably never happen for me. My wife has severe medical issues, so she dont fly anymore. A 5hr drive to las vegas to see her kids is about as much as she can do. Thr last couple years ive just done solo short trips. Mostly fishing or just seeing family.

 

[Petey J]

On a couple episodes of “Under Wild Skies,” Tony Makris did a bird hunting Safari on Rovos Rail. I thought it looked like an amazing adventure. It is definitely a bucket list trip.

 

[sierraone]

Have traveled over most of England, France, Italy, Greece and Serbia by rail in years past, and a little less on Croatian and Hungarian systems. If I can just pull off a few days on the Rovos Rail in S. A. and a couple of days on the Alaska rail system I would definitely take advantage of the trips.

 

[Alistair]

One of my buddies from the range does the Caledonian Sleeper when he goes up to Scotland.

He actually boards at Preston, as oppossed to the full route from London Euston as he's local to there, but it still sounds a decent gig. Board around 11 friday night, have a whisky and a kip, wake up early for a light breakfast in your cabin whilst watching the sun rise over the highlands, disembark around 7.00 up at Aviemore for collection by the stalker. Dump the bags, a quick change of clothes and then out on the hill for around 9am. Then back home on the following saturday. More civilised than the 4 hour slog up the motorway anyway.

If you guys ever fancied Scottish stalking, I think you could do worse than a flight into Heathrow, overland to Paddington, a quick 5minute tube jaunt to Euston (perhaps via Holland and Holland or Purdey in Mayfair if youve got a spare couple hours) and hop on the Caledonian Sleeper on up to Scotland. A fun little interlude between travel misery and joyous hunting anyway.

 

[Andrew Short]

On a couple episodes of “Under Wild Skies,” Tony Makris did a bird hunting Safari on Rovos Rail. I thought it looked like an amazing adventure. It is definitely a bucket list trip.

Saw this as well. Looked up the cost and was shocked!!!

 

[Beretta391]

Saw this as well. Looked up the cost and was shocked!!!

We bid on it every year at DSC convention!!! It goes way out of our price range!!

 

[Andrew Short]

We bid on it every year at DSC convention!!! It goes way out of our price range!!

I would love to hunt guineas and travel with Revos but I’d rather hunt big game...

 

[Donnstar]

Recall the grand age of travel, whether it be Africa or anywhere else and there is bound to be a train in there somewhere. Imagine the added spice of arriving at your hunt destination on one of the World's exquisite trains to set the tone for an epic adventure. In South Africa there are a few options, landing in Johannesburg you can either catch the Shongalolo Dune express to windhoek and Walvis bay, or head north to Victoria falls on Rovos Rail. From Vic Falls its an easy connection to one of the Matetsi hunting lodges, and indeed the wife and I are booked to do this one later in the year, hopefully catching a freight ship from Walvis Bay to Cape Town to begin it all.
Scotland does the Royal Scotsman from London to the highlands to tie in with your stag, or grouse. Our recent trip London to Inverness was booked on the Highland Express, but a strike put paid to that and we flew instead - how boring!
So, what other possibilities are you aware of?

Longing for the grandeur of old are we??? One can dream!

 

[WAB]

I would love to hunt guineas and travel with Revos but I’d rather hunt big game...

Just take a shotgun along on your big game
Hunts. I’ve had some awesome wing shooting once the buff is in the salt.

 

[slam8031]

In 2017 I ran into a gentleman that was formerly in charge of naval special warfare. He and his wife were friends with Makris and were a fill in for a cancellation on the train hunt. We spoke about twenty min waiting for gun check in Atlanta to get moving. Sounded like a fantastic (and pricey) way to see South Africa!

 

[Andrew Short]

Just take a shotgun along on your big game
Hunts. I’ve had some awesome wing shooting once the buff is in the salt.

That’s never even crossed my mind. There’s no reason not too!

 

[Beretta391]

That’s never even crossed my mind. There’s no reason not too!

We took our shotguns one year to
Namibia. Had a blast a couple of mornings shooting sand grouse over a water hole!!

 

[Andrew Short]

We took our shotguns one year to
Namibia. Had a blast a couple of mornings shooting sand grouse over a water hole!!

Wow! Sounds fun!

 

[WAB]

Wow! Sounds fun!

Yep, if I can’t source cartridges in country I take a .28 ga to get the max number within the weight limit. If I can source cartridges, they are typically 12 ga. Training trackers to circle and drive guineas to the gun is quite easy. Once they figure it out they have a blast.

 

[Petey J]

We took our shotguns one year to
Namibia. Had a blast a couple of mornings shooting sand grouse over a water hole!!

I’ve asked one outfitter about adding a few days of specific wingshooting to a PG hunt. This particular one required a travel day to a different location. But I have also looked at non-rail wingshooting trips to SA, since my first hunting passion in birds (and is about 99% of my hunting at home). All it will take is the money.

 

[Tra3]

I would love to hunt in Spain. One could land in Madrid and take the AVE to Sevilla and the have a short drive into the mountains. I’ve taken that train dozens of times. It is wonderful, impressively fast and might be the only thing in Spain that is exactly on time.

 

[fourfive8]

We took our shotguns one year to
Namibia. Had a blast a couple of mornings shooting sand grouse over a water hole!!

Absolutely, always a good idea to ask outfitter/PH about that possibility when booking a big game hunt. Also a good idea to ask about availability of shotgun and ammo as an option if not taking one. I've had some truly outstanding bird shooting in Africa. If you've never done it, hard to explain the challenge of sand grouse nor how difficult guineas and francolins can be. And yes, the trackers and skinners seem to have as much fun as the shooters.

Combining a hunting or fishing trip with travel by train is the stuff of romance, legend and dreams!