Walking the Nile

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The journey then takes him through strongholds for the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, and as the security situation deteriorates he finds himself accompanied by police vans and armed officers.

Yes, we certainly worry but he is leading the lifestyle he wishes to follow and in that we have always supported him. It’s strange how you can become attached so very quickly but her survival is paramount and so with a very heavy heart I pay for a taxi to take her to her new home and family. Unfortunately this forced us to backtrack some 10 miles after completing a full day journeying on the road. The landscape appears like an endless green carpet, devoid of any evidence of habitation and rather daunting to say the least.Obliterating any visible man made track way, we are forced to follow the winding, dusty red dirt road that runs parallel to the river. For the majority of the time Levison will be entirely alone apart from any local guide he may employ to assist him navigate unmapped sections of the river. Squeezing out the head first and then the white body, until the maggot that lay beneath finally popped from beneath my skin.

Ruined and destroyed, the once busy market place stood silent and empty, burnt to the ground by rebels in January. With a usual breakfast of African Chai and stale chapattis, which I spice up with lemon and sugar, in the hope of making them taste like pancakes – much to the locals’ amusement. Documentary about Ex-soldier and explorer Levison Wood who embarks on a quest to walk the entire length of the River Nile. Wild animals will be our biggest challenge and we will have to build a brush barrier around our campsite each night to keep them out. Having to explain our cause time and time again seems to make no difference to these fatigue clad figures that appear from nowhere.Although I was feeling very frustrated and angered by the enforced extra distance, this was tempered by the emotion of sheer joy when I discovered the blissful opportunity to soak my feet and sip a cold beer. This decision held its own inherent risk, but at least we could disappear off the local radar, at least for a while, or so we thought.

So thus with purchased baby milk I’ve been continuously feeding it through a bottle and giving it mashed banana throughout the night. With no other course of action I decided to rescue the monkey and try and locate its family, after sitting quietly and trying to induce the troop of Vervets to reappear and claim their offspring it became clear that the interference by the children and the nearby fires had scared them from the area. Tomorrow however is going to be much harder as we can manage without food for a day or two but no clean bottled water presents a much bigger problem.

Day in, day out we had never been further than a few metres apart – something which I can’t say about any other person in my life. Following the recent traumatic events endured by Captain Levison Wood, aged 32, of Cheadle Road, Forsbrook, that forced him to abandon part of his walk along the river Nile in South Sudan, he overcame his great disappointment by continuing his journey northwards to become the first ever recorded person to walk the entire 4,250 mile length of the river from source to sea. Michelin star restaurants are not abundant in this part of Africa even though this is the largest town we have stopped in since Kampala. Most of the money however would be taken by the ghost like ‘middle’ men who deal in this vile trade rather than the local poachers who commit these heinous crimes primarily to make ends meet. After the violence and instability of the South, entering Sudan has been a welcome change and relief.

For hundreds of years the tribes of South Sudan have treasured cattle as their primary form of wealth- often being used for trade, barter and as a marriage dowry. With over 700 miles of his epic journey already under his belt to walk the entire 4250 miles of the River Nile, Captain Levison Wood, aged 31, of Cheadle Road, Forsbrook, felt it was a good time to take a few days off and take advantage of a generous offer made by the Ugandan Government to visit the Mountain gorilla sanctuary in the western part of the country.Levison is walking with his local interpreter Boston during this initial stage of his journey through central Africa.