Tales From The Tracks

Travelling is not just about reaching a destination; it's about the journey. It's about the experiences we gather, the people we meet, and the stories we create. And when it comes to journeys, there's nothing quite like a train ride. Join us as we delve into the tales of three individuals who embarked on extraordinary rail adventures, each a testament to the enduring magic of the railway.

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Opened in 1963, the Train du Desert in Mauritania provides a daily service that commences from the Nouadhibou port on the Atlantic coast and terminates at the iron ore mines in Zouérat, located in the north-western part of the country. The entire journey, which skirts the border of the contentious Western Sahara territory, spans approximately 20 hours and covers a distance of 704km. The train, extending over 2km, comprises three to four diesel locomotives, a single passenger carriage, and anywhere between 200 and 210 freight cars.

The train transports passengers to and from remote desert settlements. Many Mauritanians bypass the congested passenger carriage and travel "second-class" in the freight cars at no cost. However, this mode of travel is noisy, unclean, and perilous: falls are frequent, and daytime temperatures can easily exceed 40 degrees Celsius.

In 2021, Navankur Chaudhary, a doctor and YouTuber with 1.5 million followers on his channel "yatri doctor," embarked on a journey aboard this train.

"I have travelled in trains in over 50 countries, but the Train du Desert was one of the most fascinating and challenging," said 27-year-old Chaudhary, who undertook this journey in April 2021.

Chaudhary, who started travelling around the world in 2017, had spent years watching videos of travellers journeying on the Train du Desert. "Unlike me, they had ample funds, resources, contacts, and prior information. Many of them had been globetrotting for decades," he said. But he decided to go on this journey of a lifetime anyway. "I had limited information. I only knew the train's point of departure, its expected arrival time, and potential delays. The cab driver who dropped me off at the station told me to be prepared for a long wait and introduced me to a local transporting goats." In that region, there are no roads, so everything, including bulky items like livestock, vegetables, fruits, and fish, is transported by train.

While Chaudhary was drawn to the romance of the Train du Desert, he was unprepared for what it entailed. "The freight car, a metal box open to heat, wind, and noise, was a lesson in austerity. And no one told me how cold it gets on the train at night," he recalled.

In the Sahara Desert, the temperature plummets to nearly zero degrees at night. When Chaudhary left Nouadhibou, it was around 30-35 degrees Celsius, and he had not packed for the cold.

"I was huddled up under a sheet, but it did nothing to beat the cold. It was a long, cold night as the train sped along the desert with no stations along the way. I awoke to a view of the Sahara Desert and soaked in its warmth—a welcome relief after the bitter cold night.

Not everyone was as uncomfortable as Chaudhary, though. Looking around, he was shocked to see locals sleeping soundly on top of the freight cars overflowing with iron ore.

"They were unfazed by the potential dangers of sudden braking or falls as they drifted off to sleep, trusting the train to carry them safely through the night."

Chaudhary was fascinated with Mauritania's vast desert landscape, unique way of life, and capital city, which was perpetually shrouded in dust. "Seeing how people thrived in such an environment was eye-opening. Their clothing, so different from mine, was designed to handle the harsh conditions. This experience highlighted the profound influence that environment has on shaping culture."

From Strangers To Friends

Flights are tame compared to train travel. "A flight does not break down on the way in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere in Bolivia, forcing you to hitchhike with 20 Bolivians on the back of a truck for 7-8 hours through the mountains. It's unpredictable, but I'd choose this kind of travel any day," says the Egypt-born Omar Nok to OT.

Having travelled a fair bit while growing up, Nok was bitten by the travel bug early on. Even a cushy job at a tech giant in Munich couldn't stop him from going after the adrenaline rush; he quit in April 2022 to take up travelling full time. Since then, he has explored the length and breadth of Europe and Latin America and is now on a journey across Asia, travelling from Cairo to Japan by land.

"I started this journey in February after realising I had not explored Asia yet. I chose Japan as the endpoint because it was the farthest. My idea was to see as many places as possible, so I marked all the countries on the map and laid out a route," said Nok.

From Cairo, Nok travelled on a cargo ship across the Red Sea to reach Saudi Arabia. He stopped at Mecca and Medina before moving on to the UAE. "From there, I crossed by a ferry to an Iranian island, spending six months travelling through Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. After that, I made my way to Uzbekistan for three weeks, from where I travelled by train to Kazakhstan," recounted Nok, who was in Kyrgyzstan when speaking to OT. Over the now five-month-long expedition, the 46-hour train journey that Nok undertook across Kazakhstan stands out for all the friendly encounters he had. The Kazakhstan railway network (officially known as the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy), comprising largely Soviet-era trains, covers 16,636 km, making it the cheapest and easiest way to discover its sweeping landscapes. While foreigners are scant, locals fill up the compartments in heavy numbers.

"I spent a lot of time travelling from Aktau to Astana by train. It lasted two full days and nights. The train didn't have private rooms; instead, it was an open carriage with about 30 to 40 others," said Nok. "What made this journey so memorable was the company on the train. From the first day, people noticed I was a foreigner and became curious, asking about my experiences in Kazakhstan. I met a group of high schoolers travelling for a tug-of-war competition, with whom I played card games, chess, and other board games. Other passengers also joined in, challenging me to chess and inviting me to eat with them."

This was the longest train journey Nok had ever taken by train, but the warmth of the locals made it feel like the journey lasted for only a few hours.

A Journey Through History

A dam mezey and Veronika Cíbová moved from Slovakia to the Netherlands to travel more frequently. They worked for three months in warehouses as order pickers and at greenhouses, cutting and preparing plants, and then travelled for the next three months. Finally, they decided to commit a year to travelling, but not by taking flights from one place to another. They embarked on an arduous journey from Amsterdam to Dubai on land, documenting each day on their joint social media platforms (@letsgobyland on Instagram and YouTube).

While the couple has also undertaken the daunting Iron Ore train that cuts through the blazing Sahara desert, their experience on the Soviet-era Prietenia train from Romania to Chisinau in Moldova remains unique. Considered to be one of the poorest and least visited countries in Europe, the means of transport to reach Moldova are limited. Apart from congested buses and costly flights, this overnight train, which is also known as the slowest international train journey in Europe, is the only option.

Launched to mark the glorious Socialist brotherhood of Bulgaria, Romania and the USSR, the Prietenia train is also known as the Friendship Train. The interiors of the wagons built in communist East Germany truly take one back in time. "This type of train is starting to become rare. The interiors are kitschy, featuring old-school floral linen and golden-coloured curtains printed with the Socialist Realist insignia of the Moldovan Railway Company," says Mezey. In addition, the train also features bilingual Romanian and Russian signs and posters.

The way the Prietenia operates is just as interesting. "When we crossed the borders, the train's gauge had to be changed due to the difference in rail standards between countries. The entire train was separated into individual carriages, and workers used machines to change the chassis. Once this process, which took about an hour, was completed, the carriages were reconnected, and we continued on our way," says Mezey. This unique facet of the train comes from the time when the Russian Empire decided to build their railways wider than those in continental Europe to deter an invading army from transferring their troops by train.

Concluding his experience, the couple admits, "You miss out on a lot while travelling by flight. For instance, once we reached Chisinau, we also spent a few days in the unrecognised territory of Transnistria. The breakaway state is covered with breathtaking Soviet-era architecture and statues of Lenin. More interestingly, they even had their own currency and used plastic coins until recently. It is these kind of things and places that travelling by land lets you experience."