2024-08, Bob Baigrie, The Rwenzores: Mountains of the Moon and Fountain of the Nile

Bob Baigrie, will speak to us under the title The Rwenzores: Mountains of the Moon and Fountain of the Nile, about an expedition he and three mountaineer friends undertook in July 2023. They climbed the 5,109m Margherita Peak, which has the largest of Africa’s remaining glaciers.

He has provided the following further information.

In AD150, Claudius Ptolemy of ancient Alexandria produced a map of the world that was centered on the river Nile and its source, which he described as a great lake on the Equator, fed by the Mountains of the Moon. The quest to find these mountains is a tale centuries of exploration, including the 19th century’s intrigue and heroism of Burton, Speke,Livingstone and Stanley. However, the real hero is the extraordinary Duke of Abruzzi, an Italian. 

The 72-mile long Rwenzori Mountains form a natural border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Boulderous and boggy, covered in mist and clouds, the Rwenzori remain challenging to access and tough to climb. 

Prof Baigrie retired in 2022, after a professional and academic career in endoscopic surgery that spanned the dramatic transition from open surgery to laparoscopic/keyhole surgery. He has been President of the South African Society of Endoscopic Surgeons (SASES), Chair of the Federation of South African Surgeons (FoSAS) and in 2013 was elected President of The Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA). He is a qualified Antarctica guide and doctor, and has made two voyages Antarctica on the 105-year old tall ship, Bark Europa, about which he addressed us in 2020.