Leaving on that midnight train
Kagiso Onkatswitse | Friday February 3, 2017 15:16
I had a trip to make up north and had originally planned to travel on Friday morning by bus. Changing my plans, I instead decided to board the Thursday train after work for an opportunity to experience Botswana Railways’ new sleeper class.
Knocking off a few minutes before 8pm, I rushed to the train station to secure a ticket, picking from the range of classes available. There’s the standard sitter, which has a bus seat-like arrangement, business class, with more space between seats and a fancy first class sleeper coach, which comprises four seats, turned into bunk beds and a face basin.
I upgraded my ticket from business class to sleeper and checked in.
Room B cabin was fairly clean and welcoming. The first thing I did was to jump onto the bed to get a feel of it and at that moment, the other male passengers I would be travelling with entered the cabin. I noticed that we were generally of the same age range, then the last passenger entered, a slightly older Indian man who appeared unsettled as though he had almost missed the train.
After settling in, I went to the onboard restaurant, which is stocked with light food items such as soft drinks, peanuts, sweets, fresh chips and fat cakes, but no alcohol.
By 9:16pm, the sound of metal grinding was background noise, as the city lights of Gaborone pulled away into the distance. The train guards knocked shortly thereafter to confirm our tickets and to offer a snack, one of the benefits of First Class.
In our cabin, ‘a boys talk’ was underway with everyone getting to know each other. The older Indian man said he needed to sleep straight away as he was reporting to work the following morning, while one of my age mates said he was going to Tonota for a funeral. Unfortunately for him, the train passes through but does not stop in Tonota, meaning he has to go to Francistown, then travel back by bus.
Another passenger was on his way to Blue Town in Francistown. The Indian gentleman tugged in his bunk bed and fell asleep. Within no time, the other fellows joined him in their respective beds.
Only one other passenger was left enjoying the experience with me. He too, however, eventually fell asleep, unable to resist the soothing, soporific drone of the train on its tracks.
I was left alone, browsing the Internet on my phone, thanks to the on-board WiFi. Just after midnight as we reached Mahalapye, I was still wide awake. I could not sleep with the sound of the clanging of metal and the feeling that the railway was uneven. The bed vibrated immensely and I found myself unable to catch a wink.
An hour and a half later, there was an announcement that we would be reaching Palapye. There was no way I would reach Francistown without a dose of sleep and I had to make a plan to ignore the noises and jolts.
I set a song, ‘Midnight Train’ by The Journey, on repeat on my headphones and I closed my eyes only to awaken to an announcement that we were arriving at our last stop, Francistown. I checked the time, 6:10am.
Water and soap on the face, mouthwash and I was ready to meet the city, having hit two birds with one stone; sleep and travel well in time for the new day.