Five Weeks in a Balloon the need to release gas or throw ballast overboard to control his altitude, allows very long trips to be taken. This voyage is meant to link together the voyages of Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke in East Africa with those of Heinrich Barth in the regions of the Sahara and Chad. The trip begins in Zanzibar on the east coast, and passes across Lake Victoria, Lake Chad, Agadez, Timbuktu, Djenné and Ségou to St Louis in modern-day Senegal on the west coast. The book describes the unknown interior of Africa near modern-day Central African Republic as a desert,
Lake Burigi Lake Burigi Lake Burigi (originally Lueor-lo-Urigi, meaning "White Lake of Urigi") is an endorheic lake in the Karagwe district, Kagera Region of Tanzania. Parts of the lake and its shore are situated within the Burigi Game Reserve. Visited by Dr. Hans Meyer's East African expedition, its name on maps of the time was Urigi. The lake's discovery is attributed to Capt. John Hanning Speke, who name it Lueor-lo-Urigi ("White Lake of Urigi"). The lake is long and wide. It has an elongated shape, the greatest distance between the two extremities being about . It is so narrow that from one