The juxtaposition on the Nile was that we had a source of cooling, calming water to one side, yet oppressive, suffocating heat in every other direction


saw him begin a 3,750-mile, nine-month trip down through Africa, covering between 15-20 miles each day as he passed through six countries. He began his incredible adventure in December 2013 in the lush, misty rainforests of Rwanda where the source of the Nile is found. After trekking through some of the most remote and lawless regions of Tanzania he made his way past the shores of tropical Lake Victoria in Uganda before heading on to wild, war-torn South Sudan and then the vast deserts of North Sudan. The journey was completed in September 2014 on the turquoise shores of the Mediterranean in Egypt.


Supported in limited parts by a film cameraman and wily, sun-battered non- English speaking desert guides on camel- back, the documentary depicted perfectly our relationship with water and man’s ability to work and flourish alongside it… as well as to survive rat stew, the terror of being robbed at gunpoint, and being evacuated out of a war zone! Levison also narrowly escaped being eaten by crocodiles and had to cut off part of his toe after it became infected by a sand fly bite.


“The juxtaposition on the Nile was that we had a source of cooling, calming water to one side, yet oppressive, suffocating heat in every other direction. The Nile trip really hit home the fact that you can never prepare for anything in any really effective way, because all your planning is at home, or in a hotel. It’s so difficult to think about what an expedition actually entails, and it’s not until you step off the plane and


62 | WINTER 2022 | ONBOARD


realise, ‘Hang on, this is what I’m about to do now’. That’s when reality kicks in.”


That ‘reality’ claimed the life of accompanying journalist Matthew Power, who died of severe heatstroke. It put the explorer as close as he ever had been to quitting midway through a journey.


“Obviously what happened with Matt was an enormous loss and a huge tragedy. I’d only known him for a few days, but that doesn’t diminish the loss and the shock,” he explains. “It was a difficult decision whether to decide to continue the expedition and it raises into question the ethics of the expedition and whether it was right to carry on, but we stayed put for a few days and thought about it and made the decision that if we give up now then the whole thing would be a waste. I think for the sake of Matt’s memory we had to carry on.”


Levison’s achievements on the Nile may have been a world away from the regimented, reclusive nature of solo and team journeys across wide ocean seascapes, and the fact he covered the distance in hiking sandals rather than flippers, won’t detract from the relationship he built with the river. “It was a land adventure determined entirely by water. The demands of the river were the guiding force in much the same way as if we had set out across the South Pacific on a raft.


“For long parts of the trip there was the feeling that land was a barrier because turning to walk across meant almost certain


death within a few days. And at the same time, I was flanked by a river that would similarly consume anyone who set foot in it.”


Levison was drawn to the Nile through a fascination with rivers and water. During his time in the army, he led the parachute regiment’s kayak team and on previous trips to Africa he kayaked along the rapids in Jinja, the Ugandan source of the Nile, and he was also part of a white-water rafting expedition in South Sudan. And as a journalist and photographer, he spent 10 years covering conflicts around the world in remote and dangerous locations.


“What I’ve learned through all my experiences is that rivers are lifelines to people, to communities, and they bring people together,” he says. “The Nile is the longest river in north Africa so it draws people together and it’s where civilisation was born, so it’s importance can’t be overestimated really; the Nile is the lifeblood of Africa.”


He reflects that the experience has left him with a sense of gratitude for all the good things in his life. “Across the Sahara desert you’re running out of water, and you see death at first hand,” he says, “and you come out of that with a more philosophical view on life, more of a fatalist view as well, that you just have to accept things for what they are.


“What I know to be true is that whatever the challenge, wherever the challenge, when you push away from the harbour, be sure to look forward, and forward only.”


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