Kiwi traces the source of Nile

A felucca glides down the Nile near Aswan city in Egypt. File Picture / Alan Gibson

A New Zealander leading a team of Britons through Africa says they want to make the first complete ascent of the Nile River.

"Our goal is to accurately measure the length of the Nile to its longest source," Queenstown-based team co-leader Cam McLeay said.

"There's been a lot of debate over the last several hundred years about the source of the Nile."

Mr McLeay is a white water expert who has led worldwide rafting expeditions for the past 20 years. In 1996 he led the first successful descent of the rapids above the Murchison Falls in Uganda.

The five men and one woman started their journey this week at Rosetta near the city of Alexandria on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, and are on their way to Rwanda, where they believe the ultimate source of the Nile lies, the Egyptian Gazette newspaper reports.

The paper quoted the British Embassy in Cairo as saying that the team has entered the Nile, stretching for 6695 kilometres, at its mouth to the sea and the journey up the river is expected to finish by late December.

The expedition is the first ever ascent of the world's longest river, the embassy said.

The expedition will follow the Nile through Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and possibly Burundi.

The team are using three motorised inflatable boats, and will fly the boats over the most dangerous sections of the Nile by attaching them to a microlight aircraft.

They said wild animals and approval to cross borders were the main challenges they expected on their trip.

"The crocodiles and hippos are the most fearsome and aggressive animals on the Nile," British co-leader Neil McGrigor said.

"You give them a wide berth."

- NZPA