The legendary, magical, secretive Nile River has long bewitched people’s imaginations. Many have tried to conquer it, few have succeeded. One man who could not resist its lure, was a former British soldier, Levison Wood, who set out to walk the length of the Nile in December 2013.
He followed in the shadow of great Victorian explorers such as Livingstone, Stanley, Speke and Burton, and after nine strength-sapping months, he had walked more than 6 000km on a journey as extraordinary as theirs had been.
He began at the furthest source of the Nile in the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda, following the river through Tanzania and Uganda. The ghosts of the 1994 genocide linger in Rwanda, where Wood and his guide camped beneath an abandoned prison, the site of a terrible massacre. In the capital, Kigali, the entire population is required to devote itself to the maintenance of the city on the last Saturday of every month, an admirable feat of community service, where all are rendered equal.
In Uganda, they crossed the Equator, but also came face to face with the scourge of the Aids epidemic. For some there is acceptance – “no worse than malaria”– for others education is a necessity to sweep away the myths of witchcraft and poisoned condoms.
There too, Wood saw the destruction of virgin forests and the construction of dams on the Nile, not all of which would bring significant benefit to the local people.
The risks of Wood’s quest were forcefully brought home when an American journalist, Matt Power, joined him for a week so he could write a magazine article. Three days later, Power was dead. The soaring temperatures led to hyperthermia, but finding medical help in the deep wilderness was impossible.
The infant republic of South Sudan brought new dangers – civil war, and their arrest. Crossing through the conflict area in the Sudd swamp had to be abandoned, but it was the only practical option. Some of the customs still amaze. Seeing a cow beginning to urinate, one of the guides ran towards the animal and, thrusting aside the other men, put his head straight under the cow. He then stood up, rubbed the urine from his eyes and exclaimed: “It’s good for your hair.”
In Sudan, Wood was captivated by the pyramids of Meroe, which, unlike their Egyptian counterparts, receive few visitors. Some locals regard the pyramids as just piles of stones.
By the time he reached Egypt in August last year, General Sisi had taken power. Watched by the police, Egypt was the most infuriating, bureaucratic and frustrating country he had encountered.
The expedition became a circus act with a prearranged route from which he could not deviate. When Wood finally plunged into the Mediterranean Sea, he was surrounded by officials and bewildered sunbathers.
If it was not quite the ending he had envisaged, Wood nevertheless felt a real sadness at the conclusion of his very long walk along the Nile.
If nothing else, there is the realisation that the Nile will never be for the faint-hearted. Nor will the Nile be easily conquered, not even for a man as resolute as Levison Wood.
* Walking the Nile by Levison Wood is published by Simon + Schuster