Journey to the Source of the Nile

by Christopher Ondaatje

"One hundred and forty years after Speke's visionary prediction that Lake Victoria would prove to be the source of the Nile, I had come to Africa to see for myself. I arrived laden with a great store of knowledge about the Nile - all the lore and learning amassed since Speke's great discovery. I had all the facts, but I was not satisfied."
Christopher Ondaatje Long fascinated with historical exploration, writer Christopher Ondaatje here relives explorer Richard Francis Burton's 1856 expedition to discover the source of Africa's mighty Nile River. In 1996, with a lifetime of world travel behind him and after extensive research, Ondaatje set off to retrace the steps of Burton and other Victorian explorers. Journey to the Source of the Nile brings to life this incredible voyage. Like the early explorers, Ondaatje put together a support team and, following the Victorians' routes, encountered the geography, peoples and nature in all their manifestations. With a constant mind to the words of Burton, Speke, Livingstone and the others, Ondaatje views the journey through their eyes but in the light of modern scientific knowledge. His trek across the Serengeti Plains to Olduvai Gorge provides the most striking revelation of the forces that shaped the Nile may also have triggered the evolution of the human race. In a time of breathlessly fast change, Journey to the Source of the Nile returns us to a slower time, when knowledge was the goal and exploration the means. A fascinating tapestry of history and travel writing, Ondaatje's personal account and his dramatic photographs of this truly extraordinary expedition bring us closer to solving the riddle of the world's most mysterious river. "Between 1902 and the present, [Africa] has evoked the highest despair of any continent in the world. In a way, perhaps I felt that understanding the difficult puzzle of the Nile's source might also give me some insight into a far more challenging the turbulent, complex, paradoxical enigma of Africa itself."

Genres: Africa, Egypt

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje, OC, CBE, FRSL born 22 February 1933) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian–English businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and bob-sledding Olympian for Canada. Ondaatje is the older brother of the author Michael Ondaatje and lives in both Chester, Nova Scotia, and the United Kingdom.




Olympic Victory: The story behind the Canadian Bob-Sled Club's incredible victory at the 1964 Winter Olympic Games (1967)
The Prime Ministers of Canada, 1867–1967 (1968)
Leopard in the Afternoon — An Africa Tenting Safari (1989)
The Man-eater of Punanai — a Journey of Discovery to the Jungles of Old Ceylon (1992)
Sindh Revisited: A Journey in the Footsteps of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton (1996)
Journey to the Source of the Nile (1999)
Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari (2004)
Woolf in Ceylon: An Imperial Journey in the Shadow of Leonard Woolf, 1904–1911 (2005)
The Power of Paper: A History, a Financial Adventure and a Warning (2007)
The Glenthorne Cat and other amazing leopard stories (2008)
The Last Colonial: Curious Adventures & Stories from a Vanishing World (2011)
Ondaatje, Christopher, ed. (2013). Love Duet and Other Curious Stories about Music. Minehead, Somerset: Rare Books and Berry.

Reviews

[Christopher McKee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book in the mid-90s when it was first published since I was - and continue to be - a huge fan of Burton. Essentially a travelogue - and a good one at that - the photos were very impressive since they captured what had only existed in my imagination while reading Burton's descriptions. Kudos.

[Thushara Vithanage · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating journey through Africa and on Nile river. Another fantastic book by Ceylonese writer Christopher Ondaatje.