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From the lush Ethiopian highlands, a gentle spring flows.  It is not long before the trickle becomes a thundering torrent, surging its way through the mighty Blue Nile Gorge before reaching the sun-beaten savannas of Eastern Sudan.  The course continues in a northerly direction, cutting a serpentine passage through the Sahara Desert before spilling out from Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea. It is the River Nile, the world’s longest and most enchanting river, the cradle of civilization that has captivated the world with romance and mystery for many millennia. In September 2004, when the river is most enraged, a team of paddlers from 5-continents will descend on a perilous 5,000 kilometre journey from source to sea.  The expedition will encompass areas of staggering natural beauty, intriguing cultures and majestic ancient architecture in some of the most remote and inhospitable areas on the planet. For many months, amongst the rapids and through the desert, the river will be our home.  On rafts and then kayaks we will paddle, only stopping for the occasional squat and dodgy kebab until we reach the salt water in the north. As a youngster, like a lot of kiwi kids, I was mesmerized by the pharaonic pyramids and temples that flanked the River Nile.  Having grown up on the banks of the mighty Hutt River, I was no stranger to rivers, spending summer afternoons floating with her current clinging to an old car tyre and doing bombs off the railway bridge.  Subconsciously, it all must have contributed to the longing for the Nile trip.  In 2000, after conceiving the idea, Canadian Les Jickling and I started planning and preparations for the trip of a lifetime.  Having read, browsed, talked to and watched everything remotely related to the expedition, and then sweating for 6-months in temperatures up to 50º Celsius in the Sudan the time has come to paddle. Once we start the paddle, there will be no wake up calls of Champagne and strawberries, just the occasional visit from wild animals and savage locals who live along the banks.  After we’ve passed through some of the world’s wildest rapids, we’ll plunge deep into the wilds of Ethiopia where Shifta bandits are rife and crocodiles aplenty.  If the hippos and snakes don’t get us and we elude the malaria, it will be the unrelenting heat of the desert that will keep things interesting.  It is difficult to know what the surprises the river holds, but for now, I'll just go with the flow. Stay tuned for updates from the river.

Click here for the official Colours of the Nile expedition website:

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