JB in Nairobi: Leaving on a night train...for the Indian Ocean

Billed as "one of the world's classic rail journeys" and a "rare colonial gem", I was definitely intrigued by the Nairobi-Mombasa overnight train and thought it would be a great way to start off a short beach vacation near Mombasa. Yes, I had been warned that the train was unreliable, sometimes arriving a day late (for a journey that only takes 5 hours by car), that the food was sub par and that you won't get to see the beautiful scenery because you're traveling at night. But, I had also heard that your bound to see spectacular wildlife because the train travels through a national park, the train isn't usually that late in arriving, and the 3-course dinner meal is actually pretty good.

So on a rainy Friday evening, with our tickets in hand, my roommate, close friend and I were ready to board the train to Mombasa. Well, just as we were heading out the door to the Nairobi Railway Station, I received a call from the station that the train would be 4 hours late. Apparently the train coming from Mombasa had our caboose, and it was running behind schedule. Clue number one that this was not going to be a straightforward journey.

It was dark and dreary at the Nairobi Train Station, with few people waiting to board the one train leaving that night. What were we thinking?

We were allowed to board the train at 10 and proceeded straight to the dining car for our 3-course meal. The food wasn't bad, but I couldn't stop thinking about the cockroach running across the floor!

The three of us shared a second class compartment, which was actually quite comfortable. I even fell asleep despite spotting another cockroach running across the compartment floor as I got into my bunk! The train finally departed the station shortly after 1 am (now 6 hours late!).

View of the plush 2nd class compartment

In the morning, as the train continued its slow crawl to the coast, we were signaled to the dining car by the breakfast bell. By the time we reached the dining car, the train had stopped. Then came the bad news...a cargo train had derailed in front of us and it was going to take the engineers 5 hours to reach the train and at least 2 hours to fix the problem (best care scenario!). On top of that, we were still a 9-hour train ride from Mombasa! Luckily we had a way out ...

Matatus to the rescue!

We piled as many people as possible into each matatu and headed down the road to Mombasa. Shortly after 3pm, we finally arrived at the bustling Mombasa Train Station...

It is no exaggeration to say that station was abandoned. Since the only train arriving that day was our train, which was now going to be at least 15 hours late, the railway employees had left for the day. No sense in hanging around an empty station - time to explore Mombasa! Mombasa is the second largest city and he center of the coastal tourism industry in Kenya. It is also the gateway to the Kenyan beaches (our eventual destination that weekend).