NOLS Grad's Expedition on the Blue Nile Featured in National Geographic

by Tom Reed

Gunfire woke Kate Dernocouer one night this past autumn and she remembered that she wasn't home safe and sound in Michigan. Instead, she was only a few days into a lengthy expedition in the middle of Ethopia and an attempt by bandits to steal some of the team's pack animals was being met by firepower.

As the expedition's sole medical technician, Kate remembers thinking, "Please God, don't let anybody get shot." Some of the team members started running over the rough, broken ground in the moonless night, and Kate's concern changed to, "Please God, don't let anybody break a leg."

After a few moments, everything calmed down and a quick inventory turned up a missing donkey and that was all. No one had been shot.

© Nevada Weir, photographer.

Dernocouer was something of an unlikely, late addition to a team that included photographers and journalists from National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Explorer television. A paramedic with little boating experience, she had been chosen because of her medical training, but the additional experience as an alumnus of the National Outdoor Leadership School didn't hurt her either. When the team's original doctor cancelled out of the trip, Dernocouer entered the picture after being recommended by a friend.

"It was one of those things that just came together," remembers Dernocouer. "I checked my schedule thinking, 'There's no way I'm going to have that much time available.' But I did and so I asked my husband and my daughter and they gave me total support."

In a few months, she was off on the expedition with a team of Americans, Canadians and Ethopians traveling down the river by foot and boat.

"It was a totally exploratory route and there were plenty of things to worry about," remembers Dernocouer, naming off such hazards as drowning, wild animals and bandits with firearms.

© Nevada Weir, photographer.

The expedition clicked on all levels and Dernocouer remembers thinking how important her NOLS training was to her success. "Expedition behavior was so much a part of it. There was never a cross word that I can remember and everybody was world class. I walked away with seven or eight new friends."

Dernocouer had taken several courses with NOLS back in the '70s, and found the training coming back to her in the form of not only expedition behavior, but leadership and outdoor skills.

The route was extremely remote, with only occasional encounters with people. During one leg of the journey while traveling through an area known as the Black Gorge, they didn't see any people for a week, says Dernocouer. As they neared the border with Sudan, there were more and more encounters with people, particularly villagers and farmers along the river.

While the expedition had a lot of potential for emergencies, Dernocouer's medical duties mostly focused on giving out antibiotics. "The most frustrating thing for me to deal with was the chronic illnesses that many of the villagers had that I couldn't treat," she says.

The trip was planned by an experienced and seasoned veteran, 65-year-old Kelly Shannon and also included a host of National Geographic journalists, videographers, and photographers, as well as expert boatmen to man the three oar rigs.

The Blue Nile Expedition is featured in the December, 2000 issue of National Geographic magazine. A special about the expedition will also air December 24 at 8PM EST on CNBC as part of National Geographic Explorer Television. For more information on National Geographic visit their web site, www.nationalgeographic.com.