Nile River cruise

The Nile boat cruise on Sunday was nice. Great to get out of camp. We booked it for an hour, but the guy took us for two, no extra charge. There are in fact two Nile Rivers - the White and the Blue Nile. Juba is on the White Nile, and the two meet far north in Khartoum (not at all an exciting view where they meet).

We saw lots of Kingfishers, plenty of other really colourful birds I’d never seen before also. Mango trees like weeds by the river. Lots with fruit hanging over the water. We brought the boat right up under them and picked lots of fruit. Massive trees. The only wildlife we saw was one tiny crocodile on the bank. It quickly went into the water. Lots of people bathing in the river. Went by an island that was across the river from a village, and kids were swimming across (see picture), floating their cloths on banana leaves ahead of them. All going over to eat fruit.

Remember Bogart and Hepburn in "The African Queen"? Well, that's NOT Bogart in the silly hat at the front of the boat...

The other picture is all the water tanker trucks loading up from the Nile (yes, it looks like some sort of post-apocalyptic vision of hell) to deliver around town as there is no city water system. Obviously, given all the bacteria, microbes and parasites in the water, living in a camp that filters their water is a good idea… Still wouldn’t drink it from the tap.

So, yet one more thing to worry about here… We had been warned NOT to go swimming in the Nile as there are parasites that can enter through the skin. Turns out south Sudan has 50% of the world’s reported cases of Guinea Worm Disease. I had heard of it before, and it’s apparently been eradicated in some Saharan countries. I did a quick Google check and here’s what I found: “Inside the human body, the larvae mature, growing as long as 3 feet. After a year, the worm emerges through a painful blister in the skin, causing long-term suffering and sometimes crippling after-effects.” YIKES!.