South Sudan April 6-9, 2023
South Sudan had been home to semi-nomadic cattle-herding peoples for most of its history. Its formal ownership has changed hands from the Egyptians, Ottomans, British and Sudanese. After half a century of ethno-religious conflict and a long war in which over 1 million people were killed, South Sudan legally seceded from Sudan on 9 July 2011. Relations between the two Sudans remain tense. Sudan depends on hard currency obtained from transshipping oil from South Sudan through Port Sudan on the Red Sea, while landlocked South Sudan depends on access to that port, and the two countries have argued about terms for transshipment. There has also been some armed conflict over the oil-rich Abyei District which is ruled by Sudan but borders on South Sudan, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North, which fought alongside the Sudan People’s Liberation Army that now rules South Sudan.
Beautiful country outside of Juba but one of the most corrupt and chaotic in Africa. They are building a good highway system, beautiful 4 lane divided for 70 km outside of Juba (and much construction in progress from there) and 190 km towards Bor
Capital. Juba
Official languages, English, Dinka, Nuer, Murle, Luo (Anyuak, Acholi, Shilluk, Pari, Jur-Luo, others), Ma’di, Otuho, Zande and around 60 other languages.
Religion. 60.5% Christianity, 32.9% Traditional faiths, 6.2% Islam, 0.4% Others / None
Area. 644,329 km2 (248,777 sq mi) (41st)
Population (2002). 11,544,905 (82nd). Density 13.33/km2 (34.5/sq mi) (214th)
GDP (PPP). $13.6 billion (157th). Per Capita $934 (191st)
GDP (nominal).$4.7 billion (164th). Per capita $326 (194th)
Gini. 44.1 medium
HDI. 0.385 low · 191st
Driving side. Right
Calling code. +211
Electrical plug. British 3 prong
Visa: Most visitors require a visa. Two options 1. South Sudan diplomatic missions before departure. The visa is needed to board an aircraft to South Sudan. The embassy in Nairobi is also a popular place to get a visa.
2. E-visa. Apply online – register and fill out the long form. Need a printed version to board plane. Requires a LOI supplied by your tour company. Process only one month ahead as they are valid for one month only. Cost $192. The visa is rather onerous as several documents are needed, all less than 293kb.
Permits. Photo permits even in Juba as police fine you – $100. Luggage is inspected at the airport for cameras, permits to leave Juba.
Registration Once in South Sudan, foreign visitors must register their presence in the country within 72 hours of arrival. Done in Bor ($50) with an additional sticker in your passport. 50$ even if you stay only in Juba or pay fine to exit. Show when exiting the country.
Currency: South Sudanese pound (SSP) – exchange rates not available on xe.com
In Juba, the exchange rate at a restaurant was 1US$ – 850 SSP.
Sudanese Pound (SDG) 1US$ = 592 SDG xe.com March 2023. Everywhere will accept Sudanese pounds, even if prices are quoted in US dollars – and you can change British pounds and Ugandan shillings at the Kenya Commercial Bank in town for rates in line with those in Khartoum (and, oddly, at better rates than those quoted on www.xe.com)
ATMs do not work for international cards so must bring all money as cash.
SIMs. Roaming with foreign phones/SIM cards do not usually work and you will need to purchase a SIM card from Zain or MTN. Probably not necessary as good wifi in hotels.
People. South Sudan has more than 60 indigenous peoples. The Dinka comprise 40% of the population. South Sudanese culture varies by ethnicity. The Dinka must be taller than any other nationality. Everyone, even the women are tall. The Netherlands supposedly has the tallest but I don’t think the South Sudanese have been surveyed.
Zande, a Bantu people, will have a very different language, legend, and dance from the Shilluk, a Nilotic people.
Climate. South Sudan’s climate is similar to an equatorial or tropical climate and has a rainy season from May to November of high humidity and large amounts of rainfall followed by a drier season.
Season for travel. November to April (dry season) only good season to come and see much outside of Juba. Roads can be very bad in the rainy season so travel becomes restricted.
Day 1 Wed April 5
Flight Entebbe Uganda to Addis Ababa Kenya Air
I hired a taxi with Timur, a chess player from Uzbekistan to the airport (my share 50.000US) arriving at 4. The check-in counter didn’t open till 1 am and I had to spend the day in a waiting area. I laid out my mat and sleeping bag and slept fitfully,
Kenya Air ENT-NBO @03:50-05:05. NBO-ADD @07:10-09:50. I decided to get a hotel and transit visa ($50 + $20, free if I had flown on Ethiopia). I stored my binoculars in Baggage Claim (a mess of 100s of unclaimed bags) and got a free shuttle to the Ambassador Hotel. I spent the day reading and sleeping but there was no internet in the room. Meals provided are a buffet lunch, a transit dinner (fish and rice, beef and rice or spaghetti) and a buffet breakfast. For dinner, I got reasonable spaghetti after whining a great deal.
Day 1 Thur Apr 6
I was up early, showered, was down for BF at 5:45 and got the hotel shuttle to the airport at 06:30. It was a total pain getting my binoculars. Entered departures and had to return to the domestic terminal, find someone to open the door, sign a book and get a security guard to escort me to departures and security to keep the binoculars. I met Ammon Watkins, my travel companion from Canada at the boarding gate.
Flight ADD-Juba @08:55-10:10. ET252 Ticket #10082082695
Immigration was easy – we showed our printed visas and got a stamp. I had to go into a room to explain my binoculars. An Australian with a large SLR couldn’t keep it without getting the necessary permit.
David met us and we drove to the Rainbow Restaurant in Juba for lunch, which was surprisingly good. I had carrot/ginger soup and Ammon a huge club sandwich and fries.
We paid with a US$50 and got change back in South Sudanese pounds 1US$=850SSP).
SOUTH SUDAN – BAHR EL GHAZA (Ramciel)
Borders: Central African Republic-South Sudan
We left in a Land Cruiser with a driver, David and a cook to head for a Dinka camp about 110 km away. The first 68 km was a great 2-lane paved road with shoulders. The terrain was bush and grass, still green in the dry season.
At a round about, we turned north and drove for another 60 km on a road under construction. All the base was finished as a very wide (~35m) hard-packed and graded surface. We passed the common cattle cattle, Mundari camp that virtually every tourist coining to S Sudan sees. They were dumping a huge amount of dirt to add another foot of surface.
We eventually turned east onto a foot path and drove basically cross-country 2-3 km to a Dinka camp.
DINKA CATTLE CAMP
On a bare hard-packed piece of ground was a camp with hundreds of white, big-horned cattle, most tied to stakes in the ground. Also many goats, 2 donkeys and one dog.
I walked around taking many photos of the kids who all wanted to pose with their hands up. Most were covered in the grey dirt that they spread on themselves for fly protection. The people are very tall and slim, no obesity here, very proud and curious about us but not intrusive in any way. They loved photos being taken and none shied away from a camera.
Dinner was white rice with the toughest beef heavy with bones (vertebrae?).
I went to bed at 10 but there was so much noise from kids playing that I got up and had. a lot of fun watching them play, sing, dance, jump in the air, run around and laugh. A common “game” was to place 10 or so little kids in a circle with their legs facing in, two would touch one little kid’s head and run around the circle with the first to touch his head again the winner. They love to interact.
Day 2 Fri April 7
I was up at 06:30 before sunrise to see the camp waking up. The night before there were only 5 small reed huts but they had set up tents and small cloth rectangles held up with branches with room only for one person. Everyone wanted to pose with their prize bull often adorned with cloths and tassels. Little kids were collecting dung and rolling it into balls and placing them in piles. Small clumps of grass were put on top and lit to make smudge pots. A few very young girls were pregnant.
Many young men have orange hair dyed with cow’s urine. There was a large cow’s horn made into a deep base trumpet. The young guys bum cigarettes but I ask them not to smoke around the kids. Several older guys smoke pipes. An old lady came by wanting money to buy tobacco.
There are very few people in the camp, most have moved into town. The few here apparently don’t have a family to stay with in town.
Breakfast was an omelette and white bread.
As I write this, I have a crowd of 15 little kids watching me on the computer. The kids are very sweet and cute, covered in grey dirt and intensely curious but not intrusive in any way. I didn’t see any in the river swimming.
We eventually left at 9:30 to return on the same road, unload the goat on the roof and reach Minkaman. They justify the enormous width of the road for safety reasons – you can see cows on the road easily. Many houses had to be moved to build this road. I have a hard time justifying it. It appears to be a cash-cow for some road builders.
Garbage is everywhere.
The car idles constantly whenever we stop or before the trip. “I need to keep the car hot”. Their thinking is not very logical.
At Minkaman, we turned to the river and Sudd Wetland to board a boat to the see the swamp.
SOUTH SUDAN – UPPER NILE (Malakal)
Borders: Ethiopia-South Sudan
SUDD WETLAND. The Sudd wetland, with an estimated area of approximately 57,000 km2 represents one of the largest freshwater ecosystems in the world. The extent of the Sudd wetlands is highly variable; it depends largely on the seasons and years respectively. In the wet season, the size of the wetland increases up to 90,000 km² and gradually decreases to about 42,000 km² depending on high seasonal floods. It is sustained by the flow of the White Nile (or Bahr el Jebel) from Lake Victoria in Uganda, in addition to rainfall runoff from its surrounding areas. The White Nile dissipates northwards from Juba across a shallow depression to produce a network of channels, lagoons and inundated areas, which harness the nutrients of the underlying clay soils. Patterns of flood inundation heavily influence the Sudd’s vegetation, which consists primarily of permanent swamps, river and rain-flooded grasslands, and floodplain woodlands. These habitats exhibit strong environmental gradients with pronounced short and long-term variations in biomass production and distribution.
The Sudd wetland falls within the “Sudd-Sahelian Flooded Grasslands and Savannas” WWF Global 200 eco-region. The Sudd is Africa’s largest wetland and one of the largest tropical wetlands in the world. It is a vast social-ecological and hydrological system driven by the dynamics Nile basin’s water regime, supporting a diverse array of wildlife and various cultural traditions of its indigenous communities.
It is internationally recognized for its unique ecological attributes that include various endangered mammalian species, antelope migrations, millions of Palaearctic migratory birds and large fish populations. Notable wildlife species include the African elephants, Nile lechwe – endemic to South Sudan, tiang migration, white-eared kob migration, buffalo, and bird species including the shoebill.
The Sudd is an important wintering ground for some of the migratory birds such as the Great White Pelican, Black Crowned Crane, White Stork, and Black Tern. It forms part of the East-Asian/East African flyway of Palearctic birds, linking breeding ranges in central-Europe and Asia with winter ranges to the south. A large number of inter-African bird migrants also rely on the Sudd and surrounding habitats as a dry-season refuge.
The Sudd has rich and abundant fish populations, a response to the favourable environmental conditions for recruitment and survival offered by its mosaic of habitat types. Key aquatic habitats range from open water and riverine to lacustrine and palustrine, which offer ideal spawning, rearing, growing, feeding and survival grounds for over a hundred species of fish.
The culture and society of the approximately 1 million people inhabiting the Sudd wetland region are closely linked to its ecological functioning. The dominant cultural affiliations in the Sudd are the tribes of Nuer (Southern Liech State), Dinka (Eastern Lakes state), Shilluk (Upper Nile State) and Anyuak (Akobo State) all of which are Nilotic and pastoralist peoples indigenous to the Nile Valley. These groups have developed traditions that have allowed them to adapt to the inundated and seasonally variable conditions across the Sudd through a combination of nomadic agro-pastoralism, non-timber forest product collection and fishing. Specific practices include the seasonal construction of settlements on small islands in flooded areas and traditional hunting and fishing techniques. The hydrological functions and patterns of the Sudd maintain the livelihoods and cultural practices of the Sudd’s tribes. The cultural groups living within the Sudd region also maintain beliefs and practices that serve to support and conserve the environment they live in. For example, the cultural beliefs of the Shilluk community living within the Sudd region are an important aspect in the preservation of the Nile lechwe (antelope species endemic to South Sudan) as they consider killing of the animal species as taboo, and this of course helps in their conservation and sustainable use. It is therefore valuable to support many of the cultural practices of the communities living in the Sudd as these are closely intertwined with the natural elements and preserving them also creates and maintains an awareness of past and traditional knowledge in the general public.
On the boat, we cruised south on a wide channel and saw a few birds – two fishing eagles, a heron and a kingfisher. Basically, it was extremely underwhelming. “there is an island” pointing to a tiny piece of mud beach, “there is where a hippo was feeding” pointing to a flattened area of grass. We eventually joined a wider channel and turned north, passed through a lake and arrived at Bor.
After lunch, we took another boat trip through the Sudd northward. Again there was nothing to see. What is that plant? “reeds”. What is that, grass? “grass”. After about 1 1/2 hours we arrived at a fish camp. 2 years ago all permanent dwellings had been destroyed in a big flood. Now most of the buildings were semipermanent shacks and reed houses. There were a few women, tons of kids and a few young men. The children had fun taking pictures. I had a great time giving them the “blue-eyed” stare and making funny faces. Most of the men are gone and fighting in the north. Most of these kids will never go to school and are destined to be fishermen like their fathers. Children of other families had been left for care on the island explaining all the excess kids.
BOR (pop 200,000)
Bor’s major economic activity is fish, specifically dried fish. Large freight barges on the river are full of dried fish. Many small vendors are selling dried fish. The smell is very disagreeable. Unloading from a boat is up a steep sand bank, there is no dock or organized unloading location.
We walked to our hotel, got our rooms and had lunch. As this was being paid for (our meals in Juba were not covered), I went overboard, and ordered a coke, spicy chicken wings and chips, milk and curried chicken and rice, hoping to get something I liked. We returned to the Sudd in the afternoon.
Back in Bor, I showed Ammon my pack of contents.
ON Palace Park Hotel. The only hotel in Bor. The food was very mediocre. They had run out of anything I wanted
Day 3 Sat Apr 9
After breakfast, we left at 08:30 for the three-hour, 198 km drive to Juba. The road was initially a very wide, 4-lane divided with a broad central median, beautifully paved with shoulders. The landscape was all palm trees and grass. Eventually, the one side pavement wasn’t done but the other two lanes were great. We passed through many traditional villages with a full range of round adobe houses, most recently replastered, with great thatched roofs. Some houses were painted with symbolic messages. Many goats and cattle were crossing the road.
The palms disappeared and were replaced with well treed bush, all green and well-watered even at the end of the dry season. The good 4-lane divided and paved reappeared. Contrary to the statement that South Sudan has terrible roads, the road system is becoming one of the best in Africa.
SOUTH SUDAN – EQUATORIA (Juba)
Borders: Central African Republic-South Sudan, Congo Democratic Republic-South, Sudan, Ethiopia-South Sudan, Kenya-South Sudan, South Sudan-Uganda
Juba Nile Bridge. On the NM Roads and bridges series, it is uncertain which Juba Nile Bridge is meant. We went over the “new” bridge over the Nile, a blue steel girder bridge with 5 piers, 2 lanes. The “old” bridge is just north, a steel girder bridge with 4 trestle-type piers. Also 2-lane.
JUBA. Juba is a sprawling, fast-growing city and capital of the newly formed country of South Sudan. Juba is on the White Nile river. The town is quite spread out into 3 distinct areas – Juba Town, Government ministries, and the Nile camps – and it’s a long, hot, dusty walk between the three. Boda bodas (motorbike taxis) run during the day. Traffic is chaotic and it is recommended to stay clear of boda bodas as the accident rate is very high.
Travelling by foot is OK during the daytime but after dark, you must use a car. There are very few street lights and even fewer street signs and footpaths are non-existent, making travel by foot a risky proposition.
Always drive with all doors locked. The roads are mostly unsealed, but you can get by in a saloon – although after heavy rain it’s 4×4 only. However, the roads are improving rapidly with much grading and tarring going on.
A really great map of Juba town is available in Jit Supermarket. Google maps on your smartphone gives excellent coverage of streets in Juba.
Other than flying, it is quite difficult to get out of Juba without your own transport (hired vehicles come with a driver who is instructed not to leave Juba). Even walking out of town into the countryside is difficult – the semi-rural sprawl of Juba extends for miles of shacks and squatter housing (even on the eastern side of the Nile). Lots of paths out of town end up at one of the many army camps – who are not keen on trespassers! And of course, landmines are still a risk.
Radio broadcasts are available from BBC World Service in English on 88.2MHz and Arabic on 90.0MHz.
Premium Taxi, Airport Road, ☎ +211 956 100 000. The safest way to travel.
Wiltins Transporters, MTC Centre, ☎ +211 955 104 240. 4-Wheel drives to get you through the muddy roads. Rates are attractive: Drivers are experienced and friendly.
Do. Plan to entertain yourself. There’s not much going on in town. Expat overload with Kenyans, Ugandans, and hundreds of westerners supporting many bars, restaurants, and nightspots. Something is going on most weekends. You can also take a boat trip on the Nile, go fishing, go jogging, and there’s a Hash House Harriers in Juba.
Buy. Everything is trucked in from Uganda, hence things are expensive – 30% – 100% more than in Kampala. The Customs Market is the prime shopping area. The air-conditioned JIT supermarket sells alcohol. Roots Project, Nimra Talata (behind the basketball court) is a new coop for women to make and sell traditional handicrafts, including beading.
Eat.
Da Vinci – This is a restaurant with views of the Nile River catering to ex-pats. There is a friendly monkey and lots of lizards zooming through. They also serve crocodile meat.
Lily’s – They serve oriental food and you can even buy a shake. This is just adjacent to their grocery. You can use USD to buy groceries and they will give you SSP as change, black market rate.
Nimule – Restaurant by the swimming pool
The Village – pizza.
Rock City for the views over Juba.
Spice ‘n Herbs – Indian & Chinese Cuisine
Notos Lounge Bar & Grill – A smart restaurant with outdoor seating
Logali House, Hai Amarat. Serves good food 7 days a week. BBQ on Friday nights. The menu changes daily and includes burgers, excellent curries, steaks, salads, etc. Great internet
Home and Away, Value Thai and Asian US$20.
Juba Bridge Hotel. Excellent Eritrean food on the Nile. Food was delectable.
Kator, Excellent South Sudanese food – Nile tilapia, foul (beans mixed with tomatoes and white/feta cheese), spicy beef liver, and fresh tomatoes in a peanut oil sauce.
Drink. A cold beer is easy to find in Juba, in strong contrast to the North. Fresh Freddies – is the best bar. In the towns of South Sudan such as Rumbek and Juba, Kenyan and Ugandan beers are starting to appear in bars at inflated cross-border prices. In Renk, you can even buy Red Horse, a Filipino beer!
Fresh fruit juices are available throughout Sudan. One of the local juices is “aradeab” (tamarind) .
The cloves-flavoured tea (chai) is very good. Outside the capital, you’ll pay usually 10 SSP for one cup. Also, the ginger-flavoured coffee is to be tried. In Renk, one cup of this is 100SSP. Both are very sweet.
Airports: Juba (JUB)
Went for lunch at the Rainbow in Juba. Ordered a cheese burger and fries and got a “cheese” burger with no meat! They only charged for the milk, and the fries and small salad were enough. So funny.
All Saints Cathedral. This is a single-nave church with internal buttresses and and a small cross. Not very interesting. It was the first RC church I have been in where most of the Ways of the Cross were missing (eight are gone) and the ones present are totally out of order. They are lovely coloured bas-reliefs with a painted background.
After seeing the church, we had to go down to meet the priest, an enormous tall man in a flowing white gown. He suggested that I pray for South Sudan, I said that I don’t pray as I am an athiest. “If you can’t prove to me there is a god, I don’t have to prove to you that isn’t one”. I thought he might be interested in hearing another perspective on how to live one’s life. I really “aspied” him. I love getting reactions to things. I don’t think I was rude.
Equatoria Tower. In the NM Architecture Delights series, this is the tallest building in Juba with 12 stories and a tan/white/black glass exterior. Costing $16.9m, it is the first commercial office building in the country. It is a development of UAP Properties Limited (UAPL), a newly created South Sudan real estate company owned 70% by UAP Insurance South Sudan Limited and 30% by Central Equatoria Investment Company (CEIC).
It is also the first modern serviced building of any kind in South Sudan, offering reliable amenities like water, power, sewage disposal, three high-speed elevators, and air conditioning.
South Sudan has put in place 19 laws, which directly impact on doing business in the country in order to establish a robust commercial legal environment.
Juba markets. There are many markets in Juba. We went first to the small Maasai market, mostly with handicrafts and souvenirs. Then we went to Konyo (“chaos”) Market. With a series of blue corrugated metal shops lining dirt streets, this huge market has all local products but no eateries I saw. Ammon searched for the small 10 and 50SSP bills he needed to complete his collection of S Sudanese money.
Da Vinci’s restaurant. This upscale restaurant is a favourite expat hangout. On the river, it had a band.
David gave us Boma Hills t-shirts but they came without South Sudan on them and were an ugly turquoise so I gave it back. I didn’t need another top.
ON Fire Tree Hotel. This high-end hotel has a compound for lodging separate from the restaurant. The rooms a lovely with a fridge, stove, good AC and TV but no remote to turn is on. It is quite a distance from the commercial area of Juba.
We ate at the restaurant here – burger and fries, coke for $18. Overly thick meat with not enough condiments.
At dinner was a table of 8 Italians all working for NGOs in SS for 6 months to 3 years (agriculture, hospitals). Curfews at 8 pm in their rural towns. Things are pretty dysfunctional. All go home every 8-16 weeks depending on their NGO. They were all at Fire Tree for one night as a treat.
Day 4 Sun April 9
We had the included breakfast and left at 8:45 for the airport. David exchanged our remaining SP for US$ and paid me back the $15 I had paid for the WU transfer sent to Kenya instead of SS.
Flight Ethiopian @11:00-14:00 ET358 Ticket #071 2137626565
To board, I showed my vaccination record, Kenya visa, and arrival flight and then, for the first time, had to show an onward flight out of Kenya. He refused to budge as it was a firm requirement. David supplied his hot spot and I booked a fake ticket through onwardflights.com. Unfortunately, it had an Ethiopian Air connection and would not show up on his computer. I then booked a direct flight for April 20 on Expedia.com (Tanzania Airlines) for $150 that could be cancelled within 24 hours. He could not confirm that, asked for my yellow fever card (that I have not shown for 4 months) and finally issued my two boarding passes JUB-ADD and ADD to NBO@22:55.
OTHER DESTINATIONS
BOMA-BADINGILO MIGRATORY LANDSCAPE Tentative WHS: (Contiguous site) is a savannah ecosystem in South Sudan best known for animal migrations there. The area includes Boma National Park and Badingilo National Park.
The Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape ranges from the White Nile in the west to the border with Ethiopia in the east. However, the migratory herds of white-eared kobs leave the area for a while during their migration to cross the Ethiopian border into the area of the local Gambela National Park.
Flora. The flora is dominated by grasslands and tree savannas, there are floodplains along rivers. Common grass genera include Hyparrhenia , Sporobolus , Pennisetum , and Echinochloa . Acacia and long threads are common on trees . Fires that occur during the dry season prevent grasslands from becoming bushy and are therefore essential for the ecosystem.
Fauna. The most common animals of the region are the white-eared kob, the tiang and the Mongalla gazelle, which can form herds of thousands of animals in search of water and fresh greenery. The trek begins with the onset of the dry season in the savannahs of Badingilo National Park. The herds of the Tiang are now moving north to the swamps and flood plains of the Sudd, while the White-eared Kob migrate from Badingilo National Park to Boma National Park, crossing the Ethiopian border into the territory of the latter to get to Gambela National Parks. During the rainy season, both species migrate back to the savannas of Badingilo National Park.
The animal population is estimated at around 800,000 white-eared kobs, 160,000 tiang and 250,000 Mongalla gazelles. In addition to the migratory species, there are also a large number of herbivores that are loyal to the site and undertake no or less pronounced migrations. These include gemsbok, Lewel’s hartebeest, eland, reedbuck, cape buffalo, elephants, hippos and giraffes. It is not yet known whether the Mongalla gazelle is migratory or sedentary.
Predators are represented by lion, leopard, cheetah, and wild dog.
However, the populations of many animal species have drastically decreased due to hunting. While 29,460 zebras were counted in Boma National Park during the dry season in 1980, this species is now believed to be extinct with the last confirmed sighting in 2009 and an unconfirmed sighting in 2013.
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GENERAL
SAFETY. The civil war lasted in Juba from 2013 to March 2020, and although there have been no clashes between the warring factions in Juba since, there is a lot of tension. The number of ex-pats, the prevalence of weapons and the willingness to use violence cause a high risk to visitors. There are frequent armed robberies, car-jackings, and armed break-ins affecting foreign nationals. The South Sudanese security forces are often tense, some are very young and/or under the influence of alcohol.
The UN maintains a curfew and all travel during darkness should be avoided. Some areas of the city are distinctly unsafe, e.g. Rock City. Traffic is chaotic and boda-bodas are often involved in accidents. Stay away from official convoys. The South Sudanese military (SPLA) drives not only aggressively but offensively. They believe they have the right of way, drive extremely fast, and do not care about any traffic regulations.
Outside of Juba, South Sudan remains dangerous for travel as ceasefire violations and boundary disputes have continued. Travelling near the Sudan or Central African Republic borders is extremely dangerous. Violent crime remains problematic; unexploded ordnance from years of civil war also poses hazards to civilians.
Western governments continue to advise citizens to avoid all travel (or leave South Sudan if already in the country) due to ongoing armed conflicts, inter-ethnic violence, and widespread violent crime. As of April 29th, 2020, South Sudanese leaders have negotiated a peace deal, which was agreed on. However, all travellers visiting South Sudan should still be extremely cautious as kidnappings, shootings, and carjackings can happen at any time, including in Juba. In addition, the peace deal can be broken at any time by the involved warring factions and fighting could resume at any moment.
Health
Prepare for malarial, yellow fever, polio, and hepatitis A and B. Be sure to sleep under a mosquito net and use mosquito repellent. Most of the South Sudanese drink water from the rivers, which exposes them to diarrhea and cholera. If bottled water is not available, boil/chlorinate the river water before drinking it.
HISTORY. The Europeans (especially the British) came to Africa at the same time as Islam. The British made South Sudan a closed district as early as the 1930s and a special permit to enter South Sudan was needed and Muslims couldn’t enter. Greeks were here even earlier. Only a few missionaries were allowed and only Juba saw foreigners.
This means that South Sudan is not impacted by modern culture, schooling etc. 80% of the people are involved in cattle herding. People are still naked and don’t care who is looking at them. The culture is unique and you can still find more authenticity in S Sudan than probably anywhere else. Can see a camp where they use cow urine to dye their hair. I don’t think there is another country that is so unique, with very different tribes.
The Masaai in Kenya – for tourists, it is all acting – the people are very clean, after the ‘show’ they put on their trousers, etc.
NATIONAL PARKS. Seven but need to be developed properly. Can see all the so-called ‘Big 5’ though the most common are different types of antelopes. Only Nimule National Park, near the border with Uganda, is operational in a formal way.
Things are quite basic. There is usually no hotel, and use tents.
TOURS. Government tariff/travel permit of $150 per day, Permits cost $150 a day, but there is no development or good game parks. The tour companies are the ones promoting the tribes.
Donations to the Chief of the cattle camp. As of November 2019, tourists were being asked to pay $100-150 per person as a compulsory donation to the chief. Previously visitors brought medicines for the cattle, rice, medical supplies, and other similar items. It varies with the camp and will determine which camps are visited. It is anticipated the price will rise until visitors stop coming. They look at tourists as though we all have unlimited funds.
a. Metro Tours is the main tour company with 2 owners/guides Fedrick Pitia and Mayom Bul.
Mayom Bul. E-mail:mayom.bul@gmail.com
b. Bola Hills Tour
c. South Sudan Tours. Mikias Yacob Padia
E-mail: visitethiopiatours@gmail.com. Phone:+251 911 681 100. Website: www.southsudantours.com
4. Native Eyes. Britain/EU
Itinerary 1. Bola Hills Tours. Visit 3 Nomadmania regions – Bor, crossing Sudd swamps and driving 26km west from Minkamman to visit the Dinka cattle camp.
Day 1 – Afex hotel next to the Nile.
Day 2 – drive to Bor. The road is 75% asphalt. Stopped for 30 min for local wrestling (we were lucky). In Bor, we took a boat to the other side. Local governor wanted to see us to check our permits and gave us 2 soldiers for protection. Arrived at Dinka camp 1h before sunset. Spectacular time at the cattle camp. This tribe didn’t see travellers at all, so this was purely once in a lifetime experience.
Day 3 – spent morning with Dinkas. Then drive to Minkamman and took a boat to Bor. Afternoon went by boat to islanders/fishermen who live on the islands in Sudd swamps. They have seen few travellers in the past.
Day 4 – drove back to Juba and visited city. Nothing really interesting to see. Lots of fences and is very chaotic. Visiting only Juba would really be a miss.
Day 5 – departure. Issues with our tickets, but no issue at immigration
No corruption at all, maybe because our fixer took care of everything
Price very much depends on the itinerary, number of days and people
Itinerary 2. Metro Safaris Mayom Bul. This is a rather disappointing trip and basically only sees Juba which is not very interesting. The only real purpose is getting a passport stamp.
$650 + visa on arrival ($100 eu/$160 us). Price includes photo permits, breakfasts, entry and other necessary permits, all transfers and guides, hotels, water.
Dinka comes closer to Juba around this time making day tours available. Mundari is too far and requires overnights etc costing $$. Spending one full day with Mundari will require 4 days
Day 1: Arrival in Juba and visit Konyo Konyo market to see scarification tribes, Shirikat for Dinka cultural activities such as wrestling and traditional dancing. Juba Bridge and the Nile.
Day 2: Visit a cattle camp outside Juba before lunch. Although predominantly Dinka, it also has people from different tribes – Toposa and Mundari. The camp does not portray the pure culture seen with the tribes due to its proximity with the city and is just a glance at tribal culture. It is however the closest thing related to tribal cultures one can see in the city. To see Mundari or Dinka in their camps for in-depth culture, there is a different 4-day itinerary that is definitely more expensive.
Sightseeing in Juba: Presidential Palace’s (J1), Dr. John Garand de Mabior Mausoleum, Jubek’s Tomb in old Juba Town. All Saints Cathedral and Equatoria Tower.
Day 3: Climbing (hiking) Jebel Kujur (Mountain of witchcraft) and a local craft market. Depart.
Itinerary 3. Metro Tours. Mundayi Cattle Camp Tours. In addition to the $150/day permit fee, $100 per day goes to the vehicle, fuel, the driver who cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner and did everything else. Hotel costs depend on if bush camping.
4-day Tour $1500 + $100 visa + gifts for my Mundari hosts + tips for guide and driver (2-day/1 night Mundari tour for 950$).
Day 1: Quick City Tour and 3-hr Drive to Terekeka (approx. 75 miles north).Taken to Da Vinci’s for lunch but mainly caters for ex-pats and foreign visitors, views of the White Nile River. Ask to be taken to a local restaurant or at the city market where can also shop for gifts (cooking oil, sugar, coffee beans, dried ginger, rice) for Mundari hosts. Crashed a Lotuko tribal wedding party. In Terekeka, stayed overnight at Fedrick’s beht (family compound) where meet his mother, uncle, siblings, nieces, nephews, and the rest of his extended family.
Day 2: Tour of Terekeka on the Nile River and Drive to Tukoro Village. After hanging with his family during breakfast, Fedrick gave me a tour of his hometown where he knew everyone. At the market, I met his uncle Sallah Modi, a tailor, who quickly sewed a Mundari outfit for me, a gift. While in Terekeka, we spent a couple of hours at the admin offices to obtain a special visitors permit for Terekeka county. I met the mayor, a few government officials, and officers of the S Sudan Police, National Security, and the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) who greeted me with such warmth. After getting the permit, we drove about 30 miles further north to Tukoro village where we attended a Mundari church event and bush camped with a Mundari clan. At sunset, we visited a cattle camp owned by one of Fedrick’s friends Mabil.
Day 3: Drive Back to Terekeka. At sunrise, return to the same cattle camp with Mabil to do various activities with Mundari women. Mundari wrestling event in another village where wrestlers from different clans competed. We stayed another night at Fedrick’s beht and his family.
Day 4: Drive Back to Juba and Airport. Early start. We made a quick stop at another cattle camp along the way close to Juba where tourists usually go. More tour of Juba. Airport a long, slow queue to check-in. Buy wifi access $2 for 1 hour.
More recent tours did not have that “custom experience”. Sleep in tents with foam mattresses by the camp. Three hot meals served a day by our own cook, buy our food in advance.
The Mundari are busy at dusk and dawn with the cattle in the camp and this is the best time to take photos. In the morning the heavily weaponed shepherds are swimming with all the cattle through the big river to reach the pastures while the women collect the cows’ shit of the night, people are washing their hair with cows‘ pee, boys are blowing air into cows‘ asses to give more milk, later boys are scratching the scrotums of the elders (probably to clean them from insects). They are out grazing the cattle (and sheep and goats) between 11 am to 5 pm.
The livestock can be randomly noisy at night, so earplugs may be good for light sleepers. No power so bring battery chargers. No toilets for the three days but the bush.
Itinerary 4. 28-day Tour. Visit 8 tribes and several national parks.
• Mundari tribe near Juba, and spend a night or two at the camp near Tereketa.
• Bor Dinka cattle camps – this is Mayom’s tribe. Stay in Bor hotel with showers.
• Sudd. A large area of wetlands and waterways north of Bor, with a large variety of fish, hippos, crocodiles, antelopes, and unique birds. Visit the unique fishermen in the waterways, sleep near the fisherman villages by the marshland.
Return to Juba and head east towards the Ethiopian and Kenyan borders.
• Torit. The first civil war started there in 1955 and ended in 1972 with the Addis Ababa agreement. There are some barracks and cemeteries to see.
• Latuko tribe, who live on the hills for their own security
• Boya/Larim tribe two hours away. Interesting hut architecture, drawings on their bodies, and wear unique beads.
• Toposa tribe near the Kenyan border who wear animal skins, own dances, very good marksmen and reputation as being rather lawless.
• Boma National Park and Murle tribe – farmers and interestingly socialize based on age groups, not family groups, with every age group given a certain colour of beads. Those born at the same time are ‘family’. They remove a tooth as a sign of initiation into adulthood. Known for child abduction from other tribes.
• There are some areas where we still don’t go for many reasons, mainly as they are still not entirely safe. The Malakal area and Shilluk tribe, one of two tribes that are kingdoms. There is no road to get there and it would be expensive to charter a plane. Also the Nuer tribe is near.
REGIONS & Cities
Since South Sudan is located near the Equator in the tropics, much of its landscape consists of tropical rainforest. South Sudan also has extensive swamp and grassland regions. The White Nile, a main tributary of the Nile River, passes through the country. The highest point in South Sudan is Kinyeti at 10,456 feet (3,187 m).
Equatoria. Entire south half of country containing Juba. Borders CAR, DRC, Uganda Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Juba – the capital (see below).
Nimule. Angels of East Africa orphanage (as featured in the film Machine Gun Preacher), located in Nimule.
Nimule National Park. Near the border with Uganda. Wildlife safaris. Only national park that is operational in a formal way.
Bandinglio National Park
Bahr el Ghazal. The northwest area bordering Sudan and CAR.
Aweil
Wau
Rumbek. Freedom Square
Southern National Park
Greater Upper Nile. Northeast province bordering Sudan and Ethiopia.
Bentiu
Malakal. It has the country’s second international airport with flights from Addis Ababa, Khartoum, and Juba. Cheap and easy on a motorboat from Juba for 6 days and nights of very remote and uncomfortable travel; highly advisable to bring a mosquito net, something to sleep on, bottled water, food, and medical supplies.
Boma National Park. Safaris wildlife.
GET IN
By plane. Most airlines flying into Juba depart from Cairo (Egypt), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Entebbe (Uganda), or Nairobi (Kenya) Khartoum (Sudan) to/from where you should be able to manage fights to Europe, Asia, or the Americas. Flydubai has regular flights from Dubai to Juba.
Bus. It is possible to arrive at Juba overland from Kampala or northern Uganda. I didn’t know that this was possible and would have saved $1200 instead of flying form Entebbe to Addis and then Juba.
GET AROUND
The roads in South Sudan range are good with a great 2-lane divided highway 67 km east to a round about. The road north is under construction with a tremendously wide road being built. In April 2023 the road was smooth hard packed with another layer of dirt being added.
During the rainy season, most roads to Malakal become unusable for ordinary vehicles. However, they are slowly being repaired, especially the one towards the Ethiopian border. Need helicopters to offer really good tours, for example of herd migrations, but there are no commercial helicopters available in South Sudan.
By car. South Sudan has a rainy season that lasts from May to November. The rainy season massively limits roads and other transportation due to South Sudan’s roads being dirt tracks and in the rainy season, they turn into mud tracks. The only paved roads in South Sudan have been in major cities like Juba and Rumbek. The 190 km from Nimule on the Ugandan Border to Juba has recently been paved. Work is underway to upgrade the road from Juba to Bor.
