Is this finally the source of the Nile?
Apr 05, 2006
Last week, a three-man team announced to the world that they had reached the real source of River Nile in a forest in southern Rwanda.
By Kalungi Kabuye
Last week, a three-man team announced to the world that they had reached the real source of River Nile in a forest in southern Rwanda.
They claimed that the muddy hole above which they stood, out of which came a trickle of water in Nyungwe forest, was the beginning of the River Rukarara, a tributary of River Kagera, largely regarded as the true source of the Nile.
Neil McGrigor, a Briton, and two New Zealanders, Cam McLeay and Garth McIntyre, travelled almost 7,000km in three boats as they became the first people to travel along the Nile from Egypt to its ‘true source.’
“History has been re-written,†McGrigor was quoted by the press. “This is the end of an 80-day amazing and exhausting journey.â€
The search for the source of the Nile has captured the imagination of adventurers for centuries and goes back to the first century, when the Greek philosopher Ptolemy, while resident in Alexandria, Egypt, declared the source to be the mysterious “Mountains of the Moon.â€
The search intensified till John Speke, the British adventurer, claimed the credit on July 28, 1863, when he stood at the Ripon Falls where the Nile exits Lake Victoria.
That fact is no longer debatable, but it is also generally accepted that since the Nile comes out of Lake Victoria, then the lake’s most remote headstream should be regarded as the river’s true source.
The River Kagera is accepted as by far the most important of the Lake Victoria feeders, both for length of course and volume of water carried. (The tales we had in school about River Kagera being distinctively different even as it flows through the lake are just that — tales).
There have been claims that the Lavironza in Burundi is the most distant stream that contributes waters to River Kagera. According to an online encyclopedia, the Lavironza joins the Ruvuvu, which flows east to join the Nyavarongo, which eventually pours into the Kagera.
But the Rukarara stream is one of the major feeders of the Nyavarongo and it is this one that the Ascend the Nile Expedition set out to trace and prove that the world’s longest river is actually even longer than previously thought.
McLeay, described on the National Geographic website as a world-class river runner, is an expatriate who has been living in Uganda for the last four years; MacIntyre operates a successful outdoors provision company in Wellington, New Zealand; and McGrigor has committed himself to what he calls “adventuring and record breaking†ever since he sold his British crate-rental business in 2002.
So the three set out to “record the expedition for history,†with the help of GPS data to pin point exactly where the Nile really starts. They started off on September 20 and by November had gone through the deserts of Egypt and the swamps of the Sudan. Even the world’s largest swamp, the Sudd, did not pose much of a problem. It was when they got into northern Uganda that the problems started.
Apparently, the river valley narrows to a few hundred metres and then goes over massive rapids, biggest of which is the Murchison Falls.
Real trouble engulfed them in trying to get over the falls. Their boat capsized and McGrigor broke his leg. Then the inflatable flying raft they had brought along crashed while trying to rescue McGrigor.
They called for help and Steve Willis, who ran the Red Chillies camp just below the falls, came with his land Rover to pick them up. On the way back, however, they ran into an LRA ambush and Willis was shot dead. McIntyre also sustained bullet wounds in the head. The Government was later to blame Willis for not waiting for army escorts.
With its members injured, the expedition was put off till earlier this year, when the three re-turned and started off where they left. They also met with the Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Mutebi, whose ancestor, Kabaka Mutesa, had met Speke late in the 19th century when the latter came looking for the Source of the Nile.
By this time, they were left with 5,000km and last week, they completed them to become the first team to travel up the Nile from Egypt to its source. And they also revealed that the real length of the river, which is usually given as 6,611km, is longer.
“We’ve measured the river for the first time and found it to be 6,718km (4,174 miles) long,†McGrigor was quoted as saying.
But not everybody is taking their achievement that seriously. Pasquale Scatturo, who has been up and down the Blue Nile, was not very impressed.
“Their claim to have found a new source for the Nile just depends on what counts as a meaningful source,†he was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Robert Collins, river historian and author of The Nile, agrees: “They are talking about a difference of a few miles — nothing compared to the entire length of the river. These chaps are really just out for adventure, and I am all for that.â€
As a footnote to this story, the spot which the three adventurers point out as the true source of the Nile is only 15km away from the point ‘discovered’ in 1898 by Richard Kandt, the first German Governor of Rwanda.
Last week, a three-man team announced to the world that they had reached the real source of River Nile in a forest in southern Rwanda.
They claimed that the muddy hole above which they stood, out of which came a trickle of water in Nyungwe forest, was the beginning of the River Rukarara, a tributary of River Kagera, largely regarded as the true source of the Nile.
Neil McGrigor, a Briton, and two New Zealanders, Cam McLeay and Garth McIntyre, travelled almost 7,000km in three boats as they became the first people to travel along the Nile from Egypt to its ‘true source.’
“History has been re-written,†McGrigor was quoted by the press. “This is the end of an 80-day amazing and exhausting journey.â€
The search for the source of the Nile has captured the imagination of adventurers for centuries and goes back to the first century, when the Greek philosopher Ptolemy, while resident in Alexandria, Egypt, declared the source to be the mysterious “Mountains of the Moon.â€
The search intensified till John Speke, the British adventurer, claimed the credit on July 28, 1863, when he stood at the Ripon Falls where the Nile exits Lake Victoria.
That fact is no longer debatable, but it is also generally accepted that since the Nile comes out of Lake Victoria, then the lake’s most remote headstream should be regarded as the river’s true source.
The River Kagera is accepted as by far the most important of the Lake Victoria feeders, both for length of course and volume of water carried. (The tales we had in school about River Kagera being distinctively different even as it flows through the lake are just that — tales).
There have been claims that the Lavironza in Burundi is the most distant stream that contributes waters to River Kagera. According to an online encyclopedia, the Lavironza joins the Ruvuvu, which flows east to join the Nyavarongo, which eventually pours into the Kagera.
But the Rukarara stream is one of the major feeders of the Nyavarongo and it is this one that the Ascend the Nile Expedition set out to trace and prove that the world’s longest river is actually even longer than previously thought.
McLeay, described on the National Geographic website as a world-class river runner, is an expatriate who has been living in Uganda for the last four years; MacIntyre operates a successful outdoors provision company in Wellington, New Zealand; and McGrigor has committed himself to what he calls “adventuring and record breaking†ever since he sold his British crate-rental business in 2002.
So the three set out to “record the expedition for history,†with the help of GPS data to pin point exactly where the Nile really starts. They started off on September 20 and by November had gone through the deserts of Egypt and the swamps of the Sudan. Even the world’s largest swamp, the Sudd, did not pose much of a problem. It was when they got into northern Uganda that the problems started.
Apparently, the river valley narrows to a few hundred metres and then goes over massive rapids, biggest of which is the Murchison Falls.
Real trouble engulfed them in trying to get over the falls. Their boat capsized and McGrigor broke his leg. Then the inflatable flying raft they had brought along crashed while trying to rescue McGrigor.
They called for help and Steve Willis, who ran the Red Chillies camp just below the falls, came with his land Rover to pick them up. On the way back, however, they ran into an LRA ambush and Willis was shot dead. McIntyre also sustained bullet wounds in the head. The Government was later to blame Willis for not waiting for army escorts.
With its members injured, the expedition was put off till earlier this year, when the three re-turned and started off where they left. They also met with the Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Mutebi, whose ancestor, Kabaka Mutesa, had met Speke late in the 19th century when the latter came looking for the Source of the Nile.
By this time, they were left with 5,000km and last week, they completed them to become the first team to travel up the Nile from Egypt to its source. And they also revealed that the real length of the river, which is usually given as 6,611km, is longer.
“We’ve measured the river for the first time and found it to be 6,718km (4,174 miles) long,†McGrigor was quoted as saying.
But not everybody is taking their achievement that seriously. Pasquale Scatturo, who has been up and down the Blue Nile, was not very impressed.
“Their claim to have found a new source for the Nile just depends on what counts as a meaningful source,†he was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Robert Collins, river historian and author of The Nile, agrees: “They are talking about a difference of a few miles — nothing compared to the entire length of the river. These chaps are really just out for adventure, and I am all for that.â€
As a footnote to this story, the spot which the three adventurers point out as the true source of the Nile is only 15km away from the point ‘discovered’ in 1898 by Richard Kandt, the first German Governor of Rwanda.