NZers to tackle Nile again

Two New Zealand adventurers are preparing to resume their journey to the source of the Nile only months after aborting the trip because a friend helping them was murdered.

Veteran rafting guide Cam McLeay, 43, and Wellington businessman Garth MacIntyre, 40, will again join Scots millionaire Neil McGrigor but plan to take armed guards with them this time, the Glasgow Herald reports.

The team had to temporarily abandon their dream of charting the legendary river from sea to source after a friend who helped them during difficulties on the river was killed in an ambush by Ugandan rebels.

Authorities later said the party made itself vulnerable to the November attack by setting off ahead of a military escort.

The two New Zealanders and another Briton, George Heathcote, 40, fled on foot from the ambush - in which about 20 bullets were fired - leaving Mr McGrigor behind with an injured leg, and their friend Steve Willis, the proprietor of a tourist camp at Paraa in northern Uganda.

Mr Willis, 36, was shot dead at the scene, in Murchison Falls National Park, after leaving behind 22 soldiers and armed rangers with the expedition equipment because he was late for an appointment.

Mr Willis, a former British diplomat, was killed by members of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he made a fatal error by leaving behind the Ugandan soldiers.

Mr McGrigor received a broken leg and burns, Mr MacIntyre a bullet wound to the head, and Mr McLeay spent five hours hiding in the bush before being rescued by Government troops.

Mr McGrigor said the men were aiming to be back in the water early next month.

- NZPA