Did the Top Gear presenters really find the source of the river Nile?
In Season 19's Africa Special, the Top Gear presenters go on to find the true source of the River Nile, theorizing that Lake Victoria isn't the actual source as experts suggest, but even farther east somewhere in Tanzania.
Is this true? Did they really find the Nile's true source?
Best Answer
There are many discussions of this on the web (Google: "Top Gear" source Nile), but I think the one on Reddit covers the main points solidly. In short, the "Top Gear" team redefined the phrase "source of the Nile" by first redefining "Nile" to include the Mediterranean Sea, thus moving the mouth of the Nile from Egypt to the Strait of Gibraltar. That resulted in the new source being in a location one could drive to (unlike the source recognized by everyone else).
So, no, they didn't, unless you want to use some very non-standard geographical definitions.
(By the way, most people agree Lake Victoria isn't the source since it has many feeders; the question is which of those starts furthest from the Nile's mouth.)
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Did they actually find the source of the Nile on Top Gear?
So, no, they didn't, unless you want to use some very non-standard geographical definitions.Who actually discovered the source of the Nile?
What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. The British explorer John Hanning Speke (1827-64) is famed for being the first European to visit Lake Victoria and to identify it as the source of the Nile.Is the source of the Nile river still unknown?
The ancient Egyptians were probably familiar with the Nile as far as Khartoum, Sudan, and with the Blue Nile as far as its source in Lake Tana, Ethiopia, but they showed little or no interest in exploring the White Nile. The source of the Nile was unknown to them.What river did Top Gear find?
The most popular show on BBC iPlayer last year was the Top Gear team's geographically illiterate search for the source of the river Nile, with a staggering 3.4m requests. Oh, they are cheeky chaps on Top Gear.Race to the source of the Nile | Top Gear Africa Special
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