The continental divide between the Congo and Nile basins runs along the spine of Nyungwe forest. On the eastern side, a small spring is now recognised as the most distant source of the Nile — water from here flows into the Kagera River, then into Lake Victoria, then the length of the White Nile to the Mediterranean, a journey of over 6,700 kilometres.
The walk to the source takes about an hour and a half from the trailhead, with a guide. There is little to see at the spring itself beyond a trickle of water emerging from the forest floor, but the symbolism is the point — and the forest along the way, full of orchids and tree ferns, is genuinely beautiful.