Also called Southern Sudan, South Sudan is a landlocked country that possesses rich biodiversity and offers every visitor with rich savannas, rainforests, swamplands, and various wildlife species.
Like many other places globally, South Sudan is a country rich in history, heritage, and culture. However, the country has been ravaged by war and political instability for several decades.
This country became an independent nation on July 9, 2011. It has been over six years since the South Sudanese successfully won their independence from North Sudan after a long and strenuous struggle.
For these last six years, they have had to fight to make their nation independent. Today, it stands as the youngest country in the world with over 11 million people, all hoping that the government will progress soon.
The country is backwards in terms of safety for tourists. There is crime, armed conflict, and kidnapping.
As a foreign traveler, you want to take utmost precaution and never travel to places where it is dangerous. It is even better if you travel with a group and never do anything out of your itinerary.
If you don’t want to take a risk, wait for the political instability to settle down. Then, you can visit the fantastic places of the country such as the Boma National Park, Wau, Southern National Park, Kidepo Game Reserve, Juba, Kodok, and more.
Geography
Sudan borders South Sudan to the north, whereas Ethiopia bounds the country to the east, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, and the Central African Republic to the west.
Climate
The country has a tropical climate with dry and wet seasons.
Its lowest mean temperature is on the scale of mid-20s celsius in the north and center of South Sudan. The country’s outlying areas are cooler, with temperatures between the mid-10s to low 20 degrees celsius.
The highest mean temperatures go up to the mid-30s. However, northern areas of the country have temperatures that rise to mid-to-upper 30 degrees celsius.
Rainfall varies across the country, even though it usually occurs during the summer season. It experiences precipitation of about 750-1000 mm annually.
Nature and Wildlife
South Sudan possesses low-rainfall savanna and high-rainfall savanna. Both of these vegetation includes inland floodplains and mountain vegetation regions.
You will find grasses and thorny trees in low-rainfall savannas whereas, the high-rainfall savannas have rich green grasses.
The intermittent woodlands merge with the remnant forests in the southernmost part of the country.
South Sudan houses various wild animals like lions, leopards, elephants, cheetahs, giraffes, buffaloes, hippopotamuses, warthogs, and lots of antelope species.
The forests houses monkeys, chimpanzees, and baboons.
The country also houses various bird species such as ostriches, cranes, storks, pelicans, partridge, plovers, shrikes, and weavers. You can also find reptiles like crocodiles and lizards.
People
The largest ethnic group of South Sudan is the Dinka, constituting about two-fifths of the total population.
The Dinkas are followed by the Nuer, Zande, the Baru, the Shilluk, and the Anywa.
