South Sudan

Juba — the capital of South Sudan (the world’s newest country, independent since 9 July 2011 after a referendum in which 98.83% voted to separate from Sudan — the largest country in Africa until its own partition, now a landlocked nation of 620,000km² on the Nile, population 11 million, which descended into civil war in December 2013 when fighting broke out between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar, with a fragile peace agreement since 2018). Always check current FCO/State Dept advisories before visiting.

💡 South Sudan’s independence (2011) was the result of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 22 years of civil war between the northern Khartoum government and the SPLA/M of John Garang (who died in a helicopter crash weeks after the peace agreement). The 2011 referendum was supervised by international observers; the 98.83% independence vote reflected the accumulated experience of two civil wars in which approximately 2.5 million South Sudanese were killed (1955–1972 and 1983–2005).

Boma National Park (22,800km² — the largest national park in South Sudan and the site of the second-greatest wildlife migration on earth: approximately 1.2 million white-eared kob, Mongalla gazelle and tiang antelope migrating seasonally between the floodplains of the Sudd and the southern grasslands of Boma, a migration comparable in scale to the Serengeti wildebeest migration and virtually unknown to the outside world — accessible only in the dry season with dedicated security and logistics).

💡 The Boma-Bandingilo migration (the annual movement of approximately 1.2 million white-eared kob (Kobus kob leucotis), Mongalla gazelle (Nanger albonotatus) and tiang antelope (Damaliscus lunatus tiang) across the Sudd floodplain and southern South Sudan savanna — first documented from the air in the 1980s, virtually unwitnessed on the ground due to the civil war, and only beginning to be studied by researchers since 2010) is considered the second-largest land mammal migration on earth after the Serengeti.

The Sudd (the world’s largest freshwater wetland — a permanent swamp covering 30,000–130,000km² depending on flood levels, formed by the White Nile backing up across the flat plains of South Sudan — with shoebill storks (the rarest and most sought-after bird in Africa), Nile lechwe, swamp buffalo, Nile crocodiles and the most important freshwater ecosystem in the Nile basin, accessible by boat from Malakal or Shambe in the dry season).

💡 The shoebill stork (Balaeniceps rex — a massive grey bird with a shoe-shaped bill, standing 1.2m tall, found only in the papyrus swamps of East and Central Africa — with a world population of approximately 3,300–5,300 individuals, the Sudd contains the largest single population. The shoebill is the most sought-after bird in Africa for serious birders; the South Sudan Sudd access provides the most productive shoebill encounter in the world during the dry season.

Nimule National Park (335km² on the Uganda border — the most accessible national park in South Sudan, 200km from Juba on a paved road, with the largest concentration of Nile elephants (a local population of the African savanna elephant that crosses between Murchison Falls NP in Uganda and Nimule), hippopotamuses in the Nile, buffalos, oribi and the extraordinary birdwatching of the Nile floodplain — the easiest wildlife experience accessible from Juba).

💡 Nimule National Park is the most visited national park in South Sudan due to its proximity to Juba (200km, paved road) and the Uganda border — making a combined Murchison Falls (Uganda) + Nimule circuit one of the most practical wildlife itineraries for visitors to South Sudan. The Nile elephant crossing between Murchison and Nimule (monitored by GPS collar research) is one of the longest regular elephant migrations documented in East Africa.

A Mundari cattle camp (the Mundari people of the Central Equatoria region — one of the most photographed communities in Africa, the young men living with their cattle herds in dry-season camps on the Nile banks, covering themselves and their cattle in ash to repel insects, performing elaborate cattle-grooming rituals and naming their animals with great affection — the most visually distinctive pastoral community in East Africa, accessible from Juba with a local guide and interpreter).

💡 The Mundari cattle culture (the young men of the Mundari community spend the dry season in cattle camps on the White Nile banks with their herds, sleeping alongside the animals, covering themselves in ash, dueling with cattle horns as a form of social display — the cattle representing wealth, social status and bridewealth — is the most photogenic and culturally distinctive pastoral tradition in the Horn of Africa and has been featured in National Geographic, BBC and other international media since 2010.

Juba’s emerging cultural scene (the John Garang Mausoleum — the tomb of the South Sudan independence movement’s founding leader, killed in a helicopter crash in 2005 weeks after signing the peace agreement — the National Museum of South Sudan (covering 10,000 years of Nilotic history), the traditional Dinka and Nuer communities on the outskirts of Juba, and the remarkable cultural mosaic of a capital city that has grown from 50,000 people in 2005 to 500,000+ today).

💡 South Sudan’s cultural diversity (62+ ethnic groups speaking 60+ languages, with the Dinka (the largest group at 35% of the population), the Nuer (the second largest), the Zande, Bari, Shilluk and dozens of smaller groups — each with distinct cattle culture, music, dance, body scarification traditions and mythology — represents the most ethnically diverse nation in the Horn of Africa, with a cultural complexity that has been one of the primary sources of post-independence political conflict.

A final morning in Juba: the White Nile waterfront (where the river that will flow for 6,500km to the Mediterranean begins its journey north through the Sudd, through Sudan, through Egypt — the view from the Juba bridge at dawn, with fishing pirogues on the wide river and the palms of the far bank) and the Juba market with traditional Dinka beadwork, Nuer cattle bells and local honey before flying from Juba International Airport (JUB).

💡 South Sudan’s oil (approximately 3.5 billion barrels of proven reserves, the third-largest in sub-Saharan Africa — 75% of the former united Sudan’s oil production was in the South, making the oil revenue question one of the central issues of the independence process and the subsequent civil war, as the Juba and Malakal government and the SPLA opposition competed for control of the oil fields. Oil now provides approximately 60% of South Sudan’s government revenue, but the civil war infrastructure damage means production is far below its 2011 potential.