Volvo, BMW and Subaru on the Tracks of the Nile – Top Gear 6 Million Viewership

I think I know the source of the world’s longest river, the River Nile, but I am not telling! However, it is interesting to see people come to trace its source and who is to stop a man who loves good adventure? The Nile has fascinated explorers for centuries and if anything can bring joy, fascination and intrigue to the sitting room of many a TV viewers who, I regret to say, still think that Africa is a country, then let them have it. I hear that the TV show hit and went over the 6 million-viewership mark on ITV, even beating Dancing on Ice.

This was a two part series showcasing the hunt for the source of the River Nile and I dare say that they really did a good job. Well, driving through Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda is challenging, but when you have a camera to bring all that raw and unequaled beauty to the world is simply more than amazing. This adventure brings out the true, rugged and beautiful nature of Africa.

Taking up the mantle of earlier explorers who couldn’t find the source of the Nile, you know, Speke, Stanley and Livingstone, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard May made the decision to work on the question of the source of the Nile, a question that has attracted attention for many hundreds of years with people claiming several sources was an ultimate winner with TV viewers in Britain and elsewhere.

It is more than a driving challenge, and if anything is about Africa, well, anything that does not suggest wars, diseases, hunger or corruption, then it sure is set to be an instant hit as Top Gear has shown in this series which premiered on March 18, 2013.

Adventure Adventure! Vehicles on crude rafts to cross rivers in Africa, the dense jungles of Uganda and Rwanda, cars stuck in sand and mud and oh boy, this is a trip that many people only dream about, but never get to make. Luckily, Top Gear brings such action to the sitting room, via the camera.

A Volvo estate, a Subaru Turbocharged and a classic BMW are the cars of the moment, with the first two purchased at £1500. The beginning of the Journey is a village in Africa and their short span in Uganda, the hotels and the traffic jams will make you fascinated. This is a very funny epic look at Africa and to complete the picture, the leopard print armchair gift that Clarkson and May buy Hammond does look very comical on the Subaru.

Missed the Nile’s source

Did they find the source of the River Nile? At the mighty Lake Victoria, shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the old sea salts have a brainwave. They suddenly know that the source of the Nile is not in Africa. No, they didn’t because at some point, they decided that its source is far off, somewhere in Gibraltar and that its destination is the Atlantic Ocean.

This is a must watch 2 part-er show, especially for auto enthusiasts who love to see an old jalopy eating miles of African road. To make the suspense even richer, the cars, a Volvo and BMW seem very unsuitable for the rough African terrain, don’t they? And you still ask why this show still clocked 6 million viewers? It must be the cars!