At Kenya’s Western frontier lies the great expanse of Lake Victoria.
This massive (67,493 sq kms) lake, commonly known as Nyanza, is twice the size of Wales, and forms a natural boundary between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The lake is the heart of the African continent, the source of its mightiest river, the Nile. In the 19th century the riddle of the Nile was one of the great enigmas of African exploration. After many expeditions failed, John Hanning Speke finally reached these shores in 1858.
The Nile flows northwards, carrying the waters of Nyanza to Egypt and beyond into the Mediterranean. This mighty body of water is rich in fish life, with shimmering shoals of colourful cichlids and large Nile Perch. Nyanza province is the heartland of the Luo, a tribe known as formidable fisherman.
".. that exquisite corridor of tinted mountains and radiant water... her and nowhere else, is the vestibule between the Levant and the Tropics."E.M.Forster describing the Gulf of Suez, 1923.
Egypt's Red Sea coast runs from the Gulf of Suez to the Sudanese border. Its mineral-rich red mountain ranges inspired the mariners of antiquity to name the sea Mare Rostrum, or the Red Sea.
Hermits seeking seclusion founded early Christian monasteries here, sharing the wilderness with camel-trading Bedouin tribes.
Today, the crags and limestone wadis of the Eastern Desert remain relatively unexplored, home to herds of ibex and gazelle with coral reefs, fringed by ancient ports, teeming with underwater life, has a rich maritime history which stretches back to Pharaonic times.
Ships have sailed, and sunk, in the Red Sea since it was the main route to the Indies for Phoenician and Ancient Egyptian traders. In those times, ship loaded with copper, cooking pots and clothing departed from Al-Quseir and Berenice and returned bearing elephants, ebony, gems and spices. For centuries, the Red Sea remained a scene of shipwreck and adventure for smugglers, merchants, pirates and pilgrims. After the opening of the Suez Canal, in 1869, it continued its role as an international trade route and "Passage to India" for European travelers.
The wrecks of some 130 seafaring craft – yachts, Spanish galleons, Dutch East Indiamen, the legendary Birkenhead, even modern-day fishing trawlers – have found a watery grave around the notorious Cape of Storms.
Some have been immortalised in the names of Overberg towns like Arniston, while others are remembered only by the furniture, artefacts, figureheads or cannon given up by the capricious sea and preserved in South Africa’s only shipwreck museum at Bredasdorp.
Gale-force winds still batter this stretch of coast that has been home to humans for more than 300 years,.
But these days it’s a lot safer exploring the Overberg, sandwiched between the sea and the mountains and dotted with quaint towns rich in history.
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At Kenya’s Western frontier lies the great expanse of Lake Victoria. 
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".. that exquisite corridor of tinted mountains and radiant water... her and nowhere else, is the vestibule between the Levant and the Tropics." E.M.Forster describing the Gulf of Suez, 1923.
The wrecks of some 130 seafaring craft – yachts, Spanish galleons, Dutch East Indiamen, the legendary Birkenhead, even modern-day fishing trawlers – have found a watery grave around the notorious Cape of Storms.
good boy
- Written By pisangwae
on 13/06/08 23:03
- Full Comment ....
