The repressed and racially bigoted Speke felt that Burton was a lackadaisical wastrel, more interested in whoring and passing the time with natives and Arab traders than in the enterprise at hand and Burton believed the dyslexic Speke to be stupid and incompetent, unable even to learn how to use simple measuring devices, vital to serious exploration.

Despite these obvious drawbacks however, it is Speke who eventually discovers Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile, due to Burton falling seriously ill with malaria and having to be left behind in an Arab trading camp.

Here their mutual antipathy turns to bitter enmity when Speke, breaking his word to Burton, claims sole credit for the discovery.

Unfortunately for Speke his lack of accurate readings and sloppy map making skills lead the scientific world to doubt his word.

Speke dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly before he and Burton were due to take part in a public debate regarding the controversy.