Hiker: Julian Monroe Fisher, explorer, filmmaker, and anthropologist
Executive summary by darmansjah
I am about to make one trail on my bucket list become a reality. In
January-February 2013 we trekked into the bush country of Eastern Equatoria in
the new nation of South Sudan. Starting in June 2013, we are establishing trail
markers for a new trail that will run from Gondokora near Juba, South Sudan, to
Baker’s View, overlooking Lake Albert, Uganda. The trail will follow the route
Sir Samuel Baker and Lady Florence Baker followed during their expedition to
Lake Albert in the 1860s. In 2014, we will launch a walking and mountain bike
trail from Juba, South Sudan, to Baker’s View, Uganda. The fourteen stops will
encompass spots along the route where the Bakers camped as they used
exploration to abolish slavery. —Julian Monroe Fisher
Length: 360 miles
The Details: South Sudan was born in 2011, breaking away
from Sudan in a nearly unanimous referendum. Independence has not solved all of
the fledgling nation’s ills, however; the aftereffects of decades of civil war
and military atrocities and ongoing fighting between the government and rebel
groups make it one of the most dangerous and needy spots on the globe.
The hope is that the trail can play some small part in stabilizing the
region, much as the Bakers hoped their 19th-century expedition could play a
part in helping to end the horrors of the slave trade. Most of the trail goes
through Uganda, which is relatively safe for hikers. A bit of danger is
inherent in the history of the walk; Sir Samuel Baker himself was kidnapped on
one of his expeditions.
Meticulously researched for historical accuracy, the trail begins in South
Sudan’s current capital city of Juba and follows the Bakers’ routes along the
White Nile into Uganda, ending at Baker’s View, the spot Fisher determined to
be where Sir Samuel Baker first gazed out on Lake Albert and named it after
Queen Victoria’s consort in 1864. Along the way, the trail follows the shores
of Lake Albert and takes in wonders like the Victoria Nile’s Murchison Falls, a
thunderous gush through a 20-foot-wide gap in a gorge with a 131-foot drop.
Fisher is in the process of establishing the trail now so that it can
officially open to thru-hikers in January 2014, the 150th anniversary of when
the Bakers first made the trek. Right now, Fisher’s markers show where
current-day hikers can camp along the route in the same spots as the Bakers,
though the trip requires expert logistical planning since it traverses spots
that rarely see foreign visitors. The trail will also be open to
adventure-hungry mountain bikers.
When to Go: Winter months will be best. You can be one of
the first to make the trek in January 2014.
About Fisher: A TED Talks speaker and a flag-carrying
member of the famed Explorers Club, Julian Monroe Fisher undertook a
345,000-mile trek from 1996 to 2003 that crossed Central America from Mexico to
South America, Southeast Asia, Nepal, India, Africa, Australia, and the Middle
East to Russia. He even summited Kilimanjaro on a seldom-used route.
Fisher’s expeditions across the planet have done far more than tick off
feats of mega-trekking prowess, however—they are essential aspects of his
ethnological and geographic research. His 2007 Colorado African expedition
traced the 1928 to 1929 route of Hollywood cinematographer Paul Louis Hoefler.
His 2009 to 2010 Katanga Province expeditions in the Democratic Republic of
Congo will help establish the Bunkeya Cultural Village that will celebrate and
share the culture of the Garanganze with the world and provide economic
sustainability for the people. In 2011, Fisher walked coast-to-coast across
Africa from Mozambique to Angola, and his 2012-16 RailRiders Great African
Expedition will trace the long routes of Victorian explorers on the continent,
comparing their documentation of native cultures with the current state of the
African world.
I'm seriously considering going this route in February 2014. and looking for a partner in crime! If you're interested get in touch
ReplyDeleteHi, did you hike this trail? Do you know where to get a GPS route of it?
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