One of our last stops in Ethiopia was in the town of Bahir Dar, on the shores of Lake Tana. We went there to see the source of the Nile (you can see the river’s outlet from the lake in the photo below left). Ok, technically it is only the source of the Blue Nile. The White Nile is much longer, with a source is somewhere way back in Rwanda/Uganda, but because it spreads out more through marshy areas, the White Nile actually loses 80% of its volume from evaporation, and the Blue Nile provides most of the water that flows through Sudan and Egypt. Now you know.
There are quite a few dams on the Nile River, including just outside Bahir Dar where there are two power generation plants near the Blue Nile Falls, sending energy to Addis Ababa. Our local guide told us that the Blue Nile Falls is the second biggest waterfall in Africa after Victoria Falls. Ha! No comparison if you ask me, although if the full river volume was allowed over the falls it would be much wider than what you see in the photos below.
There are quite a few dams on the Nile River, including just outside Bahir Dar where there are two power generation plants near the Blue Nile Falls, sending energy to Addis Ababa. Our local guide told us that the Blue Nile Falls is the second biggest waterfall in Africa after Victoria Falls. Ha! No comparison if you ask me, although if the full river volume was allowed over the falls it would be much wider than what you see in the photos below.
After seeing the outlet of the Nile, we caught up with it again in Wad Medani, Sudan, after spending a night in a village about 50kms before that town, camping outside this teacher’s house. It was interesting for me to learn more about how local people live. His house is the small one-room brick building you can see behind our car, which he shares with at least his three sons and maybe more of the people who came to shake our hands while we were there. I am not sure. Also, he has to share a simple latrine with many other families. It was really hot even at night, and I had a hard time sleeping in our rooftop tent, but I am sure it was probably even hotter in his house. It was still Ramadan when we were there, and I think it must be incredibly hard to fast and not even drink water all day in the summer in Sudan.
The next big river milestone was the confluence of the Blue and the White Nile, which we saw in Khartoum. I heard you can normally see the different colours of the two rivers as they join, but it was cloudy or rainy both times we went to the confluence, so it all just looked murky brown on both sides to me.
After we left Khartoum we followed the Nile north for a while, and then cut across the Bayuda desert and met up with it again at Karima. Then we crossed the Nubian desert and met up with it again in Dongola. Man, let me tell you in the desert there was NOTHING but sand and rocks and sand. We saw only a handful of houses, only a couple of people, and maybe only a dozen cars or busses both of the days when we drove across the desert. I have new appreciation for the word “deserted”. My dad was a little worried on those drives because if anything bad happened to the car it could take a long time to wait for help and would be nearly impossible to walk to find help. But nothing bad happened because we have a great car and my dad is an awesome driver.
Whenever we met up with the Nile river, then you saw all the signs of life: green trees (especially date palms) and other growing crops, animals, people, and towns. It is like a long, winding oasis. Amazing differences, as you can see below. Now we are waiting to take a ferry up the Nile across Lake Nasser (Lake Nubia on this side). to Aswan in Egypt. Probably we will see more of the same contrasts there (my mum says it is a contrast between fertile and hostile).
Whenever we met up with the Nile river, then you saw all the signs of life: green trees (especially date palms) and other growing crops, animals, people, and towns. It is like a long, winding oasis. Amazing differences, as you can see below. Now we are waiting to take a ferry up the Nile across Lake Nasser (Lake Nubia on this side). to Aswan in Egypt. Probably we will see more of the same contrasts there (my mum says it is a contrast between fertile and hostile).
Oh, and while I remember, there is an explorer named Levison Wood who is currently walking the Nile (from its White Nile source) – a total of 4250kms. He started more than 220 days ago. He goes about 35-40kms every day, even when the temperature outside is 40 °C. That is amazing and incredibly hard. We met a Sudanese man Moez Mahir) who had accompanied him while he was walking in Sudan, and he told some amazing stories. Mr. Wood is walking to raise awareness in the fight against poaching, especially elephants. You should look up his Facebook page or his website and support him. We were hoping to meet him along the way, but it may be he is too far ahead of us already, since he is already past Luxor and we are still in Sudan.