The Nile is pretty much heard about from every angle and from everyone. I have been cycling via the Nile pretty much everywhere I have been in the last few months. The Blue Nile or the White Nile, I have cycled it through. The river Nile is a vital part of many countries in Africa and is source of community identity and pride. The river is like a vein in our body providing many people in the continent with drinking water, fish and wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, economic benefits for local communities and the nations.

The Blue Nile apparently has the most water and more fertile soil, starts from Lake Tana in Ethiopia. And the White Nile rises from the Great Lakes regions of central Africa. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and these rivers are said to be the longest river in the world, covering some 6,650 kilometers of total distance and run through 10 countries including Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and my next country, Rwanda and finally the river ends at a large delta near the Mediterranean Sea.

Having had travelled through all these countries where the river flows through, I have understood that the Nile is one thing everyone in the country is proud to be part of. In an era of global warming, there must be effective long-term protection for river Nile and other rivers around the world.

In my own country Nepal, the growth in urban population, the demand of sands, gravels for unregulated building construction, dumping residential and industrial wastes has caused a heavy toll in the country’s river systems. In the country side, the illegal logging and mining has also heavily polluted the river. We must ensure that water environment is respected and protected by everyone by educating and engaging people in the campaigns to protect our rivers, ponds, lakes and other water bodies. Government must do its part by enacting and enforcing laws to prevent harmful logging, damming and other short-sighted, destructive developments.I look forward to cycling via for my tour to Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo in the early months of 2012.