Ethiopia: Settle Aksum on spot, move second settler to Gondokoro which is on the hill chokepoint next to the Upper (southern) Nile. Later found Muqdisho next to the river in southern Ethiopia.
I move my capital 1E to the coast, and usually wait for Egypt to collapse or be taken by Rome/Greece so I can settle Gallabat in the desert tile that's almost entirely encircled by the Nile. Hits the gold, the cotton, the ivory, and two incense if you can pop the culture hard enough which obviously really helps for the 2nd UHV. A coastal capital means you can culture-flip Sana'a too, so you don't need to bother with a Galley to ferry troops over the Red Sea. Then spread South as usual, although I usually go straight to Mombasa.