Safari Steam

Apart from the classic book 'Steam in Africa' and a number of books on South Africa and latterly Zimbabwe, the published photographic record of the steam locomotive in Africa from the 1950s to the present day is less than substantial. These two CD-ROMs set out to remedy that by documenting steam from when enthusiasts first visited in significant numbers some 30 years ago or more through to the present day where there is still a rump of activity in just a few countries. There are more than 2000 pictures (approx 1000 per CD-ROM) from over 30 different photographers taken between the 1950s and the present day, the vast majority of them in colour, black and white being used where it is the only record. Each image is designed to be presented on a full 1024 x 768 or 800 x 600 (sVGA) screen using 'Hi-color setting'. Most of the pictures have never been published and this is the definitive record of post Second World War steam in Africa (outside South Africa). There are also a number of historic postcards which extends coverage to some areas where steam finished early on.

Safari Steam (North) covers East, West and Northern Africa

East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) provides the lion's share of the photographs. The maroon Garratts are the most familiar of the 'big game' and are seen at work in all three countries along with the full range of 'straight' locomotives. There are small historical sections on the BuBuBu Railway in Zanzibar and the steamers of the East African lakes.

There are plenty of pictures of the Mallets in Eritrea, of particular interest from the days when it was 'real', extensive coverage of the desert railways of Sudan and glimpses of the end of steam in Egypt, Ethiopia, Senegal and Tunisia. Elsewhere, there is narrow gauge steam at work in the Magreb and Sierra Leone, together with rare pictures of steam at work in Nigeria and Ghana, a number of preserved locomotives and a brief look at some of the dieselised railways of West Africa.

Safari Steam (South) covers Southern and Central Africa

As in the northern part, Garratts are the stars. Naturally Zimbabwe (and its predecessor Rhodesia) features strongly, but there were plenty of them in Angola and Moçambique too, not to mention Botswana and Zambia (and an unloved example in Madagascar).

The Portuguese colonies (particularly Moçambique) not only had an enormous variety of steam power for their size, including the World's last Atlantics, they kept their locomotives in immaculate condition. They also had some delightful steam powered narrow gauge railways. Also included is steam in Malawi and Swaziland, current steam in Botswana, plus glimpses of Zaire and the Indian Ocean islands. Finally there is extensive coverage of the legendary Zambezi Sawmills Railway.....

This compilation, which has taken 3 years to bring together, draws heavily on the collections of Basil Roberts who was resident in Tanzania and South Africa from 1968-70 and Jeremy Wiseman who, like Charles Small got to places few of us had ever heard of at the time. I have contributed modestly from my short time on the continent and we have also been fortunate to have access to the collections of Bryan Acford, Bill Alborough, John Alexander, Paul Ash, Peter Bagshawe, Terry Bagworth, Hugh Ballantyne, Roland Beier, Donald Bell, Cyril Boucher, Richard Bowen, Mark Carter, Keith Chester, David Dixon, John Dobson, Rod Farr, Ray Gardiner, Alex Gillieron, Olaf Güttler, Günter Haslbeck, Hans Hufnagel, Thomas Kautzor, Rob Kingsford-Smith, Jeffrey Lanham, Nigel Lawrence, Peter Michie, David Mitchell, Geoff Monks, Thierry Nicholas, Kevin Patience, Graham Roberts, Karl Rummans, Cliff Schoff, Alan Short, Charles Small, Geoffrey Smith, Trevor Staats, Manfred Stolz, Mike Swift, Tony Wardrobe, Chris Wilkinson. Extra help has been given by Chris Walker and John Agnew.

Safari Steam is available for the Windows 95 and later platforms only (not 3.1 or Mac).
The pictures may not display properly on monitors set to only 256 colours.

You can pay directly with Paypal quoting or use the Buy Now buttons below. I do not accept credit or debit cards directly, but non-Paypal account holders can use their cards by choosing the 'guest' option offered by clicking these Buy Now buttons. 

I would prefer UK residents to send a cheque or make online payment, I can advise an address/account. Please send your orders to the email address below.

Dropbox download, I have withdrawn the CD versions as I have to buy a colour ink cartridge if I get an order!

I will supply a link which allow you to obtain the CD content which you can then play directly off your hard drive or burn to CD yourself. Also included will be a file to print a jewel case insert. Since this will also save me the considerable cost of postage (especially outside the UK), the cost will be just GBP 12 for both or GBP 6 for one.

Use this button to pay for the Dropbox Download for both Safari Steam North and Safari Steam South. (Read this if you are a non-UK EU customer.)

Use this button to pay for the Dropbox Download for Safari Steam North. (Read this if you are a non-UK EU customer.)

Use this button to pay for the Dropbox Download for Safari Steam South. (Read this if you are a non-UK EU customer.)

Alternatively send an email to , indicating where you would like the CD sent and I will advise available methods which will avoid excessive bank charges.

(IMPORTANT: the addresses with "@" above are NOT LINKS which can be clicked, they are images, you will have to retype them for an email or Paypal transaction. Sorry but that has to be done to try to prevent the address being spammed.

Non UK EU customers should note that for VAT purposes you are actually paying for a plain vanilla CD version without Jewel case which I will retain here unless you are willing to pay extra for posting it to you. The Download will then be free,