Sunday Feature

Nile Lands

Sunday 12 September 2004 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)

1. Ethiopia

The Nile is the world's longest river, the lifeblood of one of the first great civilisations and the route which brought Europeans into the heart of Africa. Over four programmes, Zeinab Badawi visits the countries through which the Nile flows to explore how the river has shaped their different cultural identities and helped to form perceptions of Africa in the Western imagination.

Zeinab's journey starts at the source of the Blue Nile where the river seeps out of Ethiopia's Mount Gish at the Sekala Spring. Ethiopian tradition connects the river to the country's ancient Christian heritage: it is a river in the Garden of Eden, which gave refuge to the Virgin Mary on her flight from Egypt and brought the Ark of the Covenant to Axum.

Duration:

45 minutes

Sunday Feature

Episode and Playlist Information

• 24 October 2004
• 17 October 2004
• 10 October 2004
• 3 October 2004
• 26 September 2004
• 19 September 2004
• 12 September 2004
• 15 August 2004
• 3 August 2004
• 1 August 2004

Sunday Feature pages