Richard,

for future reference the landline numbers are too short, there are two digits missing from them

(safc asked me to try them for him as he was having no luck, I'm also getting 'the subscriber cannot be contacted' on the mobile number. I suspect that if this was a feasible way of making a booking Seat 61 would have included these numbers but it specifically says book in person at the station or do it through one of the links it provides)

Thanks Doff, yes I was being a bit dozy about those numbers.

I've now posted the photo of the fares and schedule sheet and a short write-up on my Kenya blog (see my TA profile for url).

Richard

iam struggling to find the info on your blog could you possibly post it on here for me thanks

All my blogs are on my TA profile (just click "Yankari" and then click "Profile")

The Kenya blog is:

theroughguidetokenya[dot]blogspot[dot]com

Richard

Broken plastic seats, not fringed velvet!

We've travelled by train in Africa before (Tazara train in Tanzania), but this was worse than expected. No romanticism involved, just a nerve-wrecking ride through the night with windows and doors locked against robbers (the conductor came and locked the windows, so we had no air), squeaking of brakes, mysterious, long stops before hurtling on again at what felt like break-neck speed. No, we did not sleep! Then in the morning, when we had looked forward to enjoying breakfast in the dining car while watching the scenery, we were told to get off the train as another train had capsized on the line ahead of us. "You're on your own!" was the message from our conductor. We were 90 km from Mombasa. We saw families with children break down and cry. The train personnel did nothing to assist us, but other passengers offered help. In the end, we had our hotel in Mombasa send a car out to our rescue. Only good thing I can say about this train is it's cheap, USD 65 1st class (which includes dinner and breakfast), you can book and pay on the Internet, but pick up tickets at railway station some hours ahead of departure, as lines are shorter then. Dinner was good. Toilets defy description. We travelled between Christmas and New Year 2011. Four adults.

I've used the train several times and it is always one of the highlights of my trip. Last time the train broke down and arrived 4 hours late but we were prepared for a delay and seeing an elephant from the window at breakfast made up for it. I've been fortunate enough never to be stranded thankfully.

Better you book train tickets and pay in advance, It would be better to contact train travel booking companies to arrange the ticket for you. Kenya railways will need payment to guarantee the seat as Allan have said.

You can check with this two train travel booking agents http://www.kenyatrainbooking.com and www.nairobi-mombasa-train-tickets-booking.com they have good recommendations reports.

Check this link: nairobi-mombasa-train-tickets-booking.com/na…

The two companies are also listed in http://www.seat61.com/Kenya.htm#Nairobi to Mombasa by train for their train travel reservations services.

Um, why has this thread been resurrected after 11 months? The original post is over a year old!