rating

Pages: 352

ISBN: 978-0802126337

Published: 2017

Walking the Nile

by: Levison Wood

The Nile is the second longest river in the world and Levison Wood walks the entire length, a 6,850 km walk. A task way beyond the abilities of most, so much so that it has never been done before. So for the lazy way hiker it is something we can but enjoy second hand. The book holds your interest the entire way as he navigates the complete journey on foot through a vast diversity of landscapes and cultures. 

The journey starts in 2013 in Rwanda where the Nile is but a trickling stream. The reader is taken with Wood through rainforests, deserts, war zones, swamps and past ancient pyramids. He encounters, hippos, crocodiles and staves off hunger, thirst and exhaustion. Wood's journalist companion dies of heat exhaustion along the way. A sobering emphasis on just how perilous the journey really is. 

He passes through 6 countries over this 9 month trek; Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, The Republic of Sudan and Egypt. He is as much a story teller and writeer as an adventurer, which makes for a fabulous read. 

Its now a TV series on Channel 4 (UK) I enjoyed the book so much that I have since read his recent book on his journey to the Himalayas.