'Mystery of the Nile' nice follow-up to Lewis and Clark

When “Mystery of the Nile” opened at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center on February 18, the film started out at a disadvantage. In 2002 the Fleet Science Center had premiered “Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West,” and the Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration (the Corps of Discovery left St. Louis in May 2004) is even fresher in many people’s minds. The film about the first expedition of the entire Nile River by boat had to present something not encountered by Lewis and Clark.

The expedition led by Pasquale Scaturro in 2004 had many amenities the Corps of Discovery did not have. Lewis and Clark had no guarantee as to what was on the other side at any given time and had to guess which forks actually led to the Pacific Ocean. The Corps of Discovery not only encountered natives but did not know the Indian languages. Scaturro and his group had radio communication as well as the ability to send e-mail messages.

On the other hand, Lewis and Clark avoided several falls by making part of the journey by land while Scaturro and Gordon Brown rode every inch of the 3,260-mile Nile River by boat. “We wanted an expedition that was a pure expedition,” Scaturro said.

Scaturro and Brown, who handled the safety kayak, were joined by a handful of others who traveled by land part of the way.

While the convergence of the Missouri River and the Bad River where Lewis and Clark first met the Sioux is now in Fort Pierre, SD, and in 2004 one could walk a couple of blocks from that site to dine at Duffy’s Chateau or for lodging at the Fort Pierre Motel, the Nile travel party didn’t have nearby dining or lodging for most of the 3,260 miles on the river.

Also, the Corps of Discovery used longer and more rigid boats than Scaturro’s raft, which was subject to overturning and likely to capsize if it encountered sharp rocks along the banks.

Scaturro himself considers his journey somewhat comparable to that of Lewis and Clark. “It is real similar,” he said. “When I did that trip I thought a lot about Lewis and Clark.”

After returning to the United States (Scaturro lives in Colorado) from his Nile journey, Scaturro spent part of 2004 re-creating the Missouri River trip as part of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial, although due to time constraints he did not traverse the entire Corps of Discovery voyage.

“The Missouri’s shorter than the Nile,” Scaturro said. “It doesn’t have near as many rapids.”

Scaturro acknowledges other differences. Lewis and Clark went upstream until they reached the Rocky Mountains, while the Nile expedition began at the river’s source approximately 9,900 feet above sea level and traveled down the river until it ended at the Mediterranean.

Another difference is that Lewis and Clark were sponsored by the United States government while Scaturro was sponsored by MacGillivray Freeman Films. “They had a lot of soldiers with them,” Scaturro said of Lewis and Clark.

Scaturro had some armed guards in Ethiopia, but he also had an IMAX camera, which weighs about 100 pounds with its protective case and other peripherals. He also brought a video camera and a digital camera.

Scaturro also had a ceramic filter and a pump so that the expedition could drink water from the Nile, which in 2004 was not as pristine as the Missouri River was in 1804. As for weapons, Brown had to fend off crocodiles up to 14 feet in length with his paddle.

“There are crocodiles everywhere,” Scaturro said of the Nile.

There are also snakes, hippos (who have been known to attack vessels and can inflict significant damage), bandits, and malaria-carrying insects. The expedition also dealt with less harmful animals.

“The flies were terrible,” Scaturro said.

The expedition spent 114 days on the actual journey, arriving at the Mediterranean on April 28, 2004. The party spent a total of 180 days on the River, commencing on November 10, 2003, near the river’s source at Sakala Springs in Ethiopia.

That source above Lake Tana is just north of the Equator, so while Lewis and Clark halted their journey for the Winter of 1804-05, Scaturro’s expedition faced 115-degree temperatures. As they approached the Mediterranean during the European Winter, the temperature became colder.

Lewis and Clark were fortunate enough to encounter and borrow the wife of a French fur trader who allowed translation from Hidatsa to French to English and on some parts from Shoshone to Hidatsa. The presence of an Egyptian hydrologist, an archeologist, and a journalist-sociologist on the Nile journey (the party also included an adventure photographer) allowed for more direct communication with the locals. The fact that “Mystery of the Nile” used mostly live footage (when Scaturro and Brown encountered an unexpected windstorm they could not divert their efforts to the camera, so that part was re-created) allowed for that interaction with the native populace. That added some humor, especially when members of the party had to carry a raft above their heads. Humor was also added when the urban hydrologist had to rappel down a waterfall which was too treacherous to descend by raft.

The members of the party were arrested (and subsequently released) in both Egypt and Ethiopia, and they entered Sudan without permission before capturing a general’s photograph on digital camera and showing it to him resulted in a signed letter of permission shortly after that meeting a few miles into the country. The party found the Sudanese people to be friendly, although they had some problems due to the use of a 1908 British military map which was the most comprehensive document available. “The maps weren’t real accurate,” Scaturro said.

Thus, although the journey down the Nile was basically the same concept as the Lewis and Clark expedition and some portions were actually easier (while others were more difficult), the first-hand footage, the interaction, the humor, and the different risks make “Mystery of the Nile” a good complement to “Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West” and other Lewis and Clark material.

“It was like a dream come true when I did the Nile,” Scaturro said.

The 2004 expedition down the Nile was a suitable follow-up in the Lewis and Clark bicentennial year. And “Mystery of the Nile” is a nice follow-up to the Lewis and Clark movies and literature.