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When the Albert Nile, as the river is known here, leaves Lake Victoria, near the
town of Jinja on the northern edge of the lake, it proceeds via the Owen Falls
Dam and the Bujagali Falls to Lake Kyoga. From there, it heads for the
northern tip of Lake Albert and just before it reaches it, the water tumbles 122m
over the spectacular Murchison Falls.
Today, a struggle for control of the Sudd’s 3 billion barrels of crude oil and its
significant resources of water and fertile soil have fuelled one of the world’s
longest civil wars. In the last 20 years alone, hundreds of thousands of people
have been killed or displaced.
After the Sudd, the White Nile is joined by the Ghazal and the Sobat rivers,
which replace most of the water lost in the swamp and the White Nile, as the
river is known from this point, broadens into a slow-moving channel. Five
hundred kilometres later, the White Nile is joined by the Blue Nile at the twin
cities of Khartoum and Omdurman and from this point the river is called simply
the Nile.
The Blue Nile, which is just 1,610km long, rises in the springs
around Mount Gishe by Lake Tama in the Ethiopian Highlands.
Although some 60 rivers flow into the lake, only the Abay Wenz
flows out. Just a few kilometres downstream, the river plunges
forty-five metres. This waterfall, called Tis Isat (Smoking Fire),
is the second largest waterfall in Africa and it converts the Blue
Nile into a raging torrent.
After Lake Nasser and the Aswan High Dam, the river enters
the Nile Valley – a strip of fertile land some 12km wide on
either side of the river. Beyond this floodplain are the barren
deserts of the Sahara. Just north of Cairo, the river splits
into several branches, the two main ones being the Damietta
and the Rosetta, to form the Nile Delta – some of the most
productive agricultural land in the world.
Cairo suffers from water pollution as the sewer system tends to fail and
overflow. On occasion, sewage has escaped onto the streets to create a health
hazard. This problem is hoped to be solved by a new sewer system funded by
the European Union, which could cope with the demands of the city. The
dangerously high levels of mercury in the city's water system has alarmed
global health officials who are concerned over related health risks.
Flooding occurred throughout the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta
region. After the river peaked, the levels fall quickly. In
November, the water begins to recede revealing a land
blackened with sediment that is a rich, natural fertilizer. This
was the season for planting and growing. The waters continued
to recede, reaching their lowest point in March at harvest time.
This annually recurring flooding is now controlled by means of
the Aswan Dam, which was completed in 1970.
One of the main reasons for the rise of Egyptian civilisation was the
development of ways to control the river’s flood waters. They appreciated that
extra crops could be wrung out of the silt by efficient irrigation
and the entire nation was involved in building elaborate systems of
embankments, dykes, barriers, canals and basins to manage
the flow of water. The two most commonly used mechanisms for
raising water have been in use since Ancient Egyptian times: the
chaduf, a see-saw instrument that lifts buckets of water and the
noria, a large water wheel. So productive was the land that after
the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, the country became
known as the bread basket of the empire.
It is expected that the population of the Nile basin, which was about 160 million
in 1990, will grow to 300 million by 2010 and 550 million by 2030.
Reliable access to water remains key to increasing agricultural productivity,
providing employment, and raising the standards of living of the people who
live in the ten countries along the Nile. On the other hand, the Nile also
represents a vast resource for hydropower generation. Competing projects
combined with the impacts of climate change could send the region’s over-
tapped water resources into crisis. In a historic effort, on 22 February 1999,
the ten countries of the Nile basin adopted a shared vision for sustainable
development – the Nile Basin Initiative.
Very few people walk along the pavements beside the river. Perhaps because
of the noise and pollution of the roadways, perhaps because these roadways
are very difficult to cross! Perhaps also because even on the pavement,
pedestrians are cut off from the river itself. Strolling over the Nile bridges is
however a very popular pastime. In particular, on a Friday afternoon after work,
people bring foldaway chairs and picnics and sit looking out at the Nile through
the sunset and often well into the night. A rare exception on the Nile waterfront
which integrates access to the waterfront is located between Kasr El Nil Bridge
and 6 October Bridge in the north. This project has strengthened the
embankment, designing stepped terraces, parks and public spaces by the
river. The southern portion of the site is a 200m long park called the Al-Riyadi
Garden, meaning ‘the initial’. The garden is a successful model for allowing the
public to access the riverfront.
There are 87 pyramids along a 100km (60 mile) stretch of the Nile. The efforts that
went into the Great Pyramid were immense. The granite blocks required to build
the pyramid – some weighing 70 tonnes each – were brought 500 miles down the
river from Aswan on reed barges. The site for a pyramid was set far enough back
from the Nile so as not to be affected by the annual flood. The blocks were drawn
along a specially constructed causeway from the Nile to the pyramid site.
Herodotus describes shifts of 100,000 men taking ten years just to build this
enormous causeway, 18m wide from the Nile to the plateau.
Bruce entering Gondar and prostrate River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
(in Arab costume) in front of the Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British
Emperor of Abyssinia from Bruce’s Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
Travels to Discover the Source of the www.nilevalleytravel.com
Nile
RIVER NILE
While Speke and Grant were making their way home, Samuel and Florence
Baker were travelling upstream from Egypt on a self-funded mission to find its
source. Baker had been born into immense fortune. After his first wife died be
married Florence, a Hungarian refugee he had bought in a Turkish slave
market. Baker’s family money gave them total independence. In 1862 they
travelled up the Nile to Khartoum. It took them 40 days to navigate the Sudd
arriving in Gondokoro in 1863 just 12 days before Speke and Grant marched
in from the south. A year after leaving Gondokoro they arrived at a Lake –
which Baker named Lake Albert. The Bakers returned to London – arriving in
1865. They had discovered a new lake, but the source of the Nile was still
unresolved.
Burton and Speke at the Ugandan River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
court from Speke’s Journal of the Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British
Discovery of the Source of the Nile Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.nilevalleytravel.com
RIVER NILE
But it would take yet more expeditions to find and trace the main watercourse
that fed Lake Victoria. The Kangara and its tributary the Ruvubu, with its
headwaters in Burundi, is now considered to be the true source of the White
Nile.
Stanley (left) meeting Livingstone River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
from The Life and Explorations of Dr Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British
Livingstone the Great Missionary Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
Traveller www.nilecruised.com