Team says it finds new source of Nile

Reuters ^ | 4/1/06 | Arthur Asiimwe

[Valin]

NYUNGWE FOREST, Rwanda (Reuters) - Surviving a rebel attack and braving crocodile-infested waters, a group of explorers has completed an 80-day voyage down the world's longest river reaching what they say is the source of the Nile.

The three explorers from Britain and New Zealand claim to be the first to have traveled the river from its mouth to its "true source" deep in Rwanda's lush Nyungwe rainforest. "History has been rewritten," British explorer Neil McGrigor told reporters on Friday. "This is the end of an 80 day amazing and exhausting journey." The expedition, dubbed "Ascend the Nile", traveled over 6,700 km (4,163 miles) in three boats, tracing the Nile from the Mediterranean through five countries to what they say is its origin.

McGrigor and New Zealanders Cam McLeay and Garth MacIntyre suffered a rebel attack in northern Uganda, which killed one of their team, and overcame a cocktail of testing climates, massive rapids and crocodile charges before reaching their final destination. The last leg of their journey saw them abandon their tiny boats and trek some 70 km (43 miles) for seven days through thick forest, sometimes being forced to wade in the fast-running Nile waters. "We have followed the Akagera river system to its longest point up in the Nyungwe forest and it's this point that we now finally know as being the longest source of the river Nile," McGrigor told Reuters.

The team, which used a Global Positioning System (GPS), believes the Nile is at least 107 km (66 miles) longer than previously thought. Debate over the real source of the Nile has raged since the late 1850s, when British explorers like John Hanning Speke began staking their reputations, fortunes and health on finding it. It was not until the 1864 expedition by American journalist Henry Stanley -- when he found missing British David Livingstone in 1871 and circumnavigated Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika for the first time -- that much of the area was mapped and many questions answered.

[1rudeboy]

A message received from the team read, " I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor, and surviving. "

[capt. norm]

80-day voyage down the world's longest river

I'm not a famous explorer, but I think I would go UP the river to look for the source.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

The Nile flows from South to North? Hey, that could explain it. Of course so does the Monongohela here in the USA. But a north flowing river is a rarity. And I doubt if much of the world cares the Nile is 66 miles longer than we thought. After all most are more intrested in who is going to win IDOL!bwhahahaha!
BTW...before somebody else posts it:
"Dr. Livingston, I presume?"

[mtbopfuyn]

How does one go DOWN to the mouth of a river?

[Aarchaeus]

How does one go DOWN to the mouth of a river?

The same way yo would re-write history by learning a little more about geography. By simply using worda a little carelessly.

[Riley]

A message received from the team read, " I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor, and surviving. "

Good. That ought to keep Martin Sheen out of our hair for a while.

[yankeedame]

Look, I hate to be the skunk at the orphans' picnic but geography doesn't seem to be Mr. Arthur Asiimwe strong point; and this editor at Reuter's should be kicked in the pants.

What the heck am I talking about? "Team says it finds new source of Nile". Which Nile???

The Nile River of travel posters is a blending of two rivers -- the Blue Nile and the White Nile, which come together at Khartoum in the Sudan; the White Nile flowing in from the east and the Red Sea; the Blue Nile from the southwest in the area of the Congo.

P.S. And yes, the Nile does flow south to north from the African interior to the Med. Sea. I know, I know, its kind of wonkers. But remember, the sources of the Nile are in the (relatively) highlands of Africa and flow downwards -- in this cause north -- to the flat plains of the Egyptian delta.

[riker7]

Did they find King Solomon's mines and the diamonds? God will punish them for this.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

I'm not a famous explorer, but I think I would go UP the river to look for the source.

Well, Capt., that is why you are not famous and they are, you would do it the conventional way. It is also the reason the river was longer than they expected.

[flib]

I saw a film of this trip. It was facinating. It is in IMAX now.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Doctor Presume's middle initial was "I".

[Tailback]

Of course so does the Monongohela here in the USA. But a north flowing river is a rarity.

Willamette river in Oregon does the same thing.