電車は夜通しサバンナを走り、僕らが目を覚ますときもサバンナを走っていた。ちょくちょく村っぽいような駅っぽいような場所で停車するのだけども、基本はサバンナばっかりだ。カギのかかる安心個室で横になって寝られるのが思いのほか心地よくて、朝起きて食堂車でコーヒーを飲みながらどこに行っても賑やかなオバちゃんたちを見るのが楽しくて、とにかくとにかく快適な列車旅だった。夜の7時にヴィクトリアフォールズの街を出て、翌朝9時に到着予定だったのが、結局出発8時過ぎ、到着午後2時で着いた。途中で客車を引っ張るディーゼル機関車が動かなくなり新しいのを追加していて送れたのだが、僕らバッドタイミングと思っていたら、ブラワヨで再開したオランダ人に聞いたところ彼らの電車は合計29時間かかって到着したらしい。原因は不明だそうな。恐るべし。
The train ran through the night across the savanna. We were still crossing the savannas when we woke up. It made a few stops at places like village or station, while going all the way over the savanna. We were so relaxed sleeping in a safe locked private compartment, drinking morning coffee and watching ladies with laughter on a dinning car. It was just a super comfortable railway transportation. Although the train was scheduled to leave Victoria Falls at 7PM and arrive 9AM the next morning, it actually took off more than an hour late and arrived at 2PM the next day. The delay was caused by the maintenance of the diesel engine that pulls the passenger cars. We thought we had a bad luck before we heard from the Dutch travelers we reunited in Bulawayo that it took them 29 hours for an uncertain reason. Holly Cow.
translated by Mizue Kawamura