The White Nile
The White Nile arises from the heart of central Africa, south to the Ruwenzori, the legendary Mountains of the Moon. There a small pyramid has been built on the a hill on which the words ' caput Nili' are written meaning the ' origin of the Nile' From Burundi, the White Nile rushes into Tanzania and Rwanda before entering Lake Victoria, as Victoria Nile and runs to Lake Albert where it takes the name: Albert Nile. Thereafter the river flows towards the South accross Uganda bearing the name of Albert Nile. Crossing the Ugandan Sudanese border deep to the South of Sudan, they call it Bahr el Jebel ÈÍÑ ÇáÌÈá or Mountain River. Four streams join it before it meet the Blue Nile in Khartoum, Bahr el Zeraf ÈÍÑ ÇáÒÑÇÝ the Giraffes River, Bahr el Ghazal ÈÍÑ ÇáÛÒÇá - the Gazelles River, Bahr el Arab ÈÍÑ ÇáÚÑÈ , the Arabs River and Sobat (or Akobo as it is called in Ethiopia) From the confluence of Sobat and Bahr el Ghazal, the river gets its famous name: the White Nile or Bahr Abyadh ÈÍÑ ÃÈíÖ (Arabic word for white sea – river-).Before it takes its long journey towards Khartoum, the river encounters the Sudd ' the obstacle in Arabic' enormous platforms of papyrus and water hyacinth growing out forming a wilderness. An attempt has been done to bypass this sudd by means of digging a canal: the Junglei Canal. The work has been halted because of civil war in the Southern Sudan.
In Khartoum Bahr Abyadh(the white Nile) is known by its calmness. The ‘whiteness’ of the White Nile, is in fact a greyish-brown colour, which contrasts with the dull green of the waters of the Blue Nile.
At the bank of the White Nile at the east lie the remote districts of Khartoum West. Here arises a light industrial zone. At the east lies Omdurman with the Mahdi’s tomb. A silver dome with a crescent and the point of a spear at its top. The Mahdi had led the dervishes against the Turco-British colonial army in a holy war. Today the dervishes are more or less sofi sects who are responsible for one of the most memorable moments that any traveller along the Nile will ever know, as Geoffery Moorhouse put it, namely the dance of the dervishes.
At the White Nile eastern bank of Omdurman, famous buildings arises such as the Radio and Television main studios, the Parliament House, the Youth Palace (which was built by the South Koreans in the seventies).
Links
White Nile
White Nile River
Ancient Egypt Nile
The White Nile (courtesy)
Fishermen in Bahr-al-Arab(courtesy)
HOME
Back to the three town capital
Next Page
