Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the Royal Geographical Society and declared that he - and he alone - had discovered the
source of the Nile. Thus began a rivalry that was to continue for the next five years.
To Burton's chagrin, the eminent fellows of the RGS hailed Speke a hero and granted
him more funds to return to the Nile and prove the theory by reaching the point at which
the river actually exits the lake. So, in 1862, Speke - this time choosing a rather less ar-
gumentative walking partner in the form of James Augustus Grant - set off, while Bur-
ton wrote books and bitter letters from England. Burton contended that the Nile actually
flowed from a number of sources and that Speke was a speculative opportunist, a bad
friend - and, worse, a terrible geographer. In many ways, Burton was right. Up to that
point, Speke had never actually laid eyes upon the Nile and, until he reached Jinja and saw
it for himself, his theory that Lake Victoria was its headwater was pure conjecture.
Nowadays, an ugly red obelisk about fifteen feet tall, made of chipped marble and bear-
ing a grubby plaque, marks the point at which Speke reached Jinja and uttered his famous
words - relayed back to London and the eager ears of the RGS by telegraph - 'The Nile is
settled.'
As I glanced out across the bay, I felt, like that rogue Speke must have done, a sense of
wondrous magic - and, I must admit, a little pride.
The lake, and the emergent river, didn't give itself up until the very last moment. This
was exactly how I wanted it to be revealed, like a secret being finally uncovered. The view,
I knew, had changed since Speke stood here, the landscape redesigned by a great hydro-
electric power station and dam, built in the early 1950s to harness the power of the river.
Ripon Falls, over which he had looked, had been swallowed up by the dam, but the evid-
ence of a wide, low cascade was still here in outcrops of drowned rocks and a small island
on which a single tree flourished. Some iron girders still jutted from rock on the shore -
I imagined them to be the detritus left behind by an early attempt to build a jetty. To the
south, Lake Victoria opened up, a singular, glistening expanse. The southern horizon was
obscured by rows of jagged islands sitting in the lake.
On this western side of the river Boston and I stood alone, but from the other side came
distant voices. In the heat haze I could just make out the east bank full of vendors selling
trinkets to the tourists.
The news that Speke had indeed 'confirmed' Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile in-
furiated Burton, who had been watching his progress with envy, so much so that he made
a public declaration that, since Speke hadn't actually bothered following the river North
to a point at which it had already been explored, then nothing had been proven at all. To
settle matters once and for all, a debate was arranged, to be held in Bath on September
15th, 1864, where all the great names in geography and exploration would be assembled
and, finally, the rivals could slog it out over maps and oratory.
