Walking the Nile

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Heading deep into the Ajai Wildlife Reserve, an impenetrable swamp forces them into remote, barren ground cut off from civilisation.

Apart from being stripped to the waste they begin by washing my shaggy uncut hair in a strong smelling water that turns out to be indoctrinated cow urine.There are warning signs everywhere and the further north we walk we come across representatives of the UN trying to destroy them. Moreover, his engaging personality, while not as apparent in the book, is much in evidence in the video series as he befriends the common people he meets on the way while remaining wary of the officials and secret police who do more to hinder him than provide him with the "security" they purport to provide. Having warned us about local poaching gangs who roam throughout the district, the two porters who we hired to help carry some of the recording equipment for the journey have decided to take flight and disappeared without a word, taking with them some money and equipment we need along the journey. Who was actually doing the shooting is rather confusing as both sides claim the other were responsible. But as his period on the expedition was drawing to a close, the time had come for us to go our separate ways and say goodbye.

Most were extremely dirty from days on the road and as the numbers increased the large numbers of people were almost exclusively women and small children. There are only eight white rhino left in the wild which means extinction before the end of this year. After the violence and instability of the South, entering Sudan has been a welcome change and relief. The former 31-year-old paratrooper from Cheadle Road in Forsbrook was devastated by the events that occurred in northern Uganda and decided to take several days break from his record breaking 4,250 mile walk to consider his own thoughts.His nine-month journey takes him through jungles, savannah, deserts, cities and war zones in some of the continent’s most remote and spectacular locations. I make the resolve that this trip is my risk and mine alone and so with a heavy heart I tell him that he cannot continue with me any further. Wooden huts that intermittently line the rough road that runs alongside the river have been replaced with Adobe mud compounds. I recently read Levison Wood's book, "Walking the Nile", and enjoyed it so much that when I discovered that there was a video series on this amazing walk through six countries in Africa (apparently originally shown on the Animal Planet channel), I had to see it, and was not disappointed. The journey has also had its highlights however and Levison can report that the Vervet baby monkey he rescued and described in his report to the newspaper is doing extremely well and putting on weight.

Sadly like my former colleague Boston, Moez is suffering from the effects of walking in the sand and has some amazing blisters on his feet so we will need to consider limiting the miles we do each day, at least to begin with. With great sadness their time together has come to a close and we share Levison’s thoughts recorded in his diary. Why even after being locked up by the Turkish police as a suspected spy and held in detention by the Russian army in case he was a Chechen rebel could not deter him from going again. He even drove an ambulance once from Blythe Bridge to Malawi with a close friend having raised all the funds to refit and get it there.Finding the Australian outback too tame he crossed into south East Asia through Thailand, Cambodia and on into India before reaching the Himalayas in Nepal. In the meantime the journey has taken Captain Wood and his constant companion Boston into the northern wilds of Uganda, travelling into the ‘Lake District’ where the White Nile meanders through mile after mile of dense reed swamp. But as the numerous skeletons of abandoned vehicles had not yet undergone the usual scavenging that instantly occurs when vehicles are left unattended I half suspect the damage had been caused during the last few days. Robbed twice, hunted by the army and almost no food to be had are just some of the events that have highlighted the second month of former paratrooper Captain Levison Wood’s attempt to become the first recorded person ever to walk the 4250 mile length of the river Nile. The following day wrapped in a blanket and tied to my chest the newly christened ‘Florence’, who is less than a week old, joins our walk northwards.