The source of the Nile with Grant

John Hanning Speke · 1860 CE – 1863 CE · Earth

The source of the Nile with Grant — John Hanning Speke · 1860 CE – 1863 CE · Earth — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Return to the lake sighted in 1858, find its northern outlet and follow the Nile down to Egypt.

Historical context

The source of the Nile was the great unsolved problem of Victorian geography, and Speke had already claimed to have found it on evidence Burton dismissed as a guess. The Royal Geographical Society sent him back with Grant to prove it on the ground. The journey passed through the powerful kingdoms of Karagwe, Buganda and Bunyoro, which decided how far and how fast the expedition moved.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Zanzibar, October 1860

    October 1860

    Speke and Grant hire porters and guards on the island and cross to the mainland.

  2. Kazeh, the caravan town

    1861 CE

    At the Arab depot of Tabora the expedition waits out desertions and a war on the road.

  3. The court of Rumanika

    1861 CE

    In the highlands west of the lake the king of Karagwe receives them with unusual warmth.

  4. Mutesa’s Buganda

    1862 CE

    The kabaka keeps them at his capital for four months before granting leave to go north.

  5. Ripon Falls, 28 July 1862

    28 July 1862

    He watches the Nile pour out of Lake Victoria over a twelve-foot ledge.

  6. Kamrasi of Bunyoro

    1862 CE

    The Nyoro king holds them for weeks and takes most of what they still own.

  7. Gondokoro, February 1863

    February 1863

    Ragged and out of stores, they walk into the trading post and meet the Bakers coming up.

Outcome

Reached Ripon Falls on 28 July 1862, descended to Gondokoro in February 1863 and announced the Nile question settled.

John Hanning Speke

British army officer who named Lake Victoria and identified its outfall at Ripon Falls as the source of the White Nile.

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Sources

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