If I were ever to pinpoint the time when I first knew I would travel the globe, I would have to focus on early reading of the English explorers in my elementary school library.  In particular, I enjoyed African Traveler by Ronald Syme, a young reader’s biography of Mary Kingsley, a Victorian woman who, alone, at the age of 30, set off for the wilds of Africa.  Her observations and sympathetic views of African people made her one of the most famous women of her day.  I checked out this book so many times that when the school discarded it years later, my mother, a librarian in the district, rescued it from sure destruction and gave it to me.

As a teen-ager, I was captivated by tales of other English explorers – David Livingstone, Henry Morton Stanley, John Hanning Speke, and especially Sir Richard Francis Burton.  Burton’s colorful life read like fiction, and when I became familiar with his experiences with Speke, searching for the source of the Nile, my fate was sealed.  I knew I had to make the trip to the spot so many explorers had sought.

With what turned out to be a fortuitous turn of events several years ago, Erik and I found ourselves in Jinja, Uganda, located on the shores of Lake Victoria.  When Speke first laid eyes on this magnificent body of water, he believed it to be the source of Nile.  He made this claim in London, much to Burton’s consternation, because he did not possess the documentation or facts to prove it.  Stanley would later confirm Speke’s claim when he circumnavigated the Lake years later.    

Erik and I hired a guide and small motor boat to take us around the lake.  It was so beautiful – and mostly deserted - that swimming initially came to mind, until I saw a 6 or 7 foot Monitor lizard crawl out of the water and rest on the bank.  Instead, we sat back, soaked up the verdent hills around us, and watched a small group of fisherman bring in their catch.

The following day, we visited the official site of the Source, marked by a painted sign that read, “This spot marks the place from where the Nile starts its long journey to the Mediterranean Sea through Central and Northern Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt.”  Every once in a while, when traveling, I experience one of those surreal moments where I am seeing something that has spoken to me – unseen – for so many years of my life.  Seeing the headwaters of the Nile was one of those moments.

See other travel photos at Delicious Baby.

This was taken during one of my favorite vacations where we spent two days trekking mountain goriilas in Rwanda.      We were amazed at how much their facial expressions and interactions reminded us of humans.

You may see other great travel photos on DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday.