Sudd
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The Sudd (' or ',
Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Gh ...
: Toc) is a vast
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
in
South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
, formed by the
White Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...
's '' Baḥr al-Jabal'' section. The
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
word ' is derived from ' (), meaning "barrier" or "obstruction". The term "the sudd" has come to refer to any large solid floating vegetation island or mat. The area which the swamp covers is one of the world's largest
wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s and the largest freshwater wetland in the
Nile Basin The Nile Basin is the part of Africa drained by the Nile River and its tributaries. Besides being the second largest hydrographic basin in Africa, the Nile Basin is effectively the most notable drainage basin on the continent. It covers approxim ...
. For many years the swamp, and especially its thicket of vegetation, proved an impenetrable barrier to navigation along the Nile. The ancient Egyptians failed to penetrate the Sudd and reach the areas south of it. In AD 61, a party of Roman soldiers sent by the Emperor
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
proceeded up the White Nile but were not able to get beyond the Sudd, which marked the limit of Roman penetration into
equatorial Africa Equatorial Africa is an ambiguous term that sometimes is used to refer either to the equatorial region of Sub-Saharan Africa traversed by the Equator, more broadly to tropical Africa or in a biological and geo-environmental sense to the intra-tr ...
. For the same reasons in later times, the search for the source of the Nile was particularly difficult; it eventually involved overland expeditions from the central African coast, so as to avoid having to travel through the Sudd. In 2019, a study suggested that increased water flows into the Sudd may be partly causing up to a third of the whole
West African West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Ma ...
rise in
atmospheric methane Atmospheric methane is the methane present in Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric methane concentrations are of interest because it is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric methane is rising. The 20-year glob ...
levels over the previous decade.


Location

The Sudd stretches from Mongalla to just outside the
Sobat River The Sobat River is a river of the Greater Upper Nile region in northeastern South Sudan, Africa. It is the most southerly of the great eastern tributaries of the White Nile, before the confluence with the Blue Nile. Geography The Sobat River is ...
confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
with the White Nile just upstream of
Malakal Malakal is a city in South Sudan. It is the capital of Upper Nile State, South Sudan, along the White Nile River. It also serves as the headquarter of Malakal county and it used to be the headquarter of Upper Nile Region from 1970s to late 1990s. ...
as well as westwards along the
Bahr el Ghazal Bahr el-Ghazal (Arabic بحر الغزال , also transliterated ''Bahr al-Ghazal'', ''Baḩr al-Ghazāl'', ''Bahr el-Gazel'', or versions of these without the hyphen) may refer to two distinct places, both named after ephemeral or dry rivers. Chad ...
. The shallow and flat
inland delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rare ...
lies between 5.5 and 9.5 degrees latitude North and covers an area of south to north and east to west between Mongalla in the south and Malakal in the north. Its size is highly variable, averaging over . During the
wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...
it may extend to over comprising 21% of the country, depending on the inflowing waters, with the discharge from
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
being the main control factor of flood levels and area inundation. Since the Sudd area consists of various
meandering A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank w ...
channels,
lagoons A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
, reed and
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...
fields and loses half of its inflowing water through
evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpi ...
in the permanent and seasonal floodplains, the complex hydrology has many primary and secondary effects. A major feature of the area, even if not completed and not functional, is the
Jonglei Canal The Jonglei Canal was a canal project started, but never completed, to divert water from the vast Sudd wetlands of South Sudan so as to deliver more water downstream to Sudan and Egypt for use in agriculture. Sir William Garstin proposed the ide ...
, planned to bypass waters from the Sudd to avoid evaporation losses and increase the amount of water discharged at the outlet of the Sudd. From 1961 to 1963, a great increase in the inundated area occurred when the level of Lake Victoria rose, and the outflow increased. The total area of the Sudd is related to the amount of water reaching Bor from the Albert Nile and from torrents or seasonal watercourses that can add substantial amounts to the flow in the upstream end of the Sudd. During the 1960s increase in Lake Victoria discharge, where flows at Mongalla roughly doubled, the flows at Malakal at the northern end of the swamps increased by 1.5 times the previous average flow. As a consequence of these high flows, the areas of permanent swamp and seasonal floodplains have, taken together, increased to 2.5 times their former size. The swamps have increased the most, and the seasonal floodplain is 1.5 times its previous size. From the southern inflow of the Bahr al Jabal ("Sea of the Mountain") at Mongalla, the defined riverbed successively widens into a floodplain, where the waters flow in meandering river stretches and various channels and lagoons throughout the dry season. With rising water levels it expands over the semi-flooded grasslands during the flood season. Slightly downstream of Bor, the Bahr el Zeraf ("Sea of the
Giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...
s") river branches off the Bahr al Jabal to the east, diverting part of the flow, and again joins the Bahr al Jabal just before reaching Malakal. During the course of its flow, the Bahr al Jabal passes
Lake No Lake No is a lake in South Sudan. It is located just north of the vast swamp of the Sudd, at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal rivers, and marks the transition between the Bahr al Jabal and White Nile proper. Lake No is loc ...
, where the
Bahr el Ghazal Bahr el-Ghazal (Arabic بحر الغزال , also transliterated ''Bahr al-Ghazal'', ''Baḩr al-Ghazāl'', ''Bahr el-Gazel'', or versions of these without the hyphen) may refer to two distinct places, both named after ephemeral or dry rivers. Chad ...
("Sea of the
Gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...
s") connects to the Bahr al Jabal, contributing an inflow with seasonal variation. At Malakal, the Sobat River joins into the system. The combined flows then stream to the north as the White Nile in a defined bed, joining with the Blue Nile waters at Khartoum to form the main Nile. Sudd was designated as a
Ramsar Wetland of International Importance This is the list of Wetlands of International Importance as defined by the Ramsar Convention for the conservation movement, conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their econom ...
in 2006. An area of was designated.


Climate

Hydrologically the Sudd plays an important role in storing floodwaters and trapping
sediments Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand a ...
from the Bahr al Jabal. Roughly 55% of water entering the area is lost to evaporation. Water levels fluctuate by up to 1.5 metres, depending on the intensity of seasonal flooding. The region receives less rainfall (typically between 55 and 65 centimetres per year) than neighbouring areas at the same latitude.
Orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...
ing on the eastern and western sides of the Sudd contribute to that condition.


Geomorphology

The morphology of the area is defined by the channel and lagoon system of the permanent Sudd swamps, the adjacent flood plains, and the surrounding flat terrain. The Bahr al Jabal runs to the north-northwest and therefore in an angle to the gradient of the
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
, which slopes down to the north, while north of
Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...
the river flows in an incised trough. The banks of this trough decrease in height from south to north with the Bahr al Jabal approaching Bor and ending in the Sudd flood plain just north of Bor on the eastern bank and towards Shambe on the western bank. In the southern part, the river meanders from side to side in the restraining trough in one or more channels, but further north the swamp is not limited by higher ground and the system of river channels becomes increasingly complex. The characteristics of the river with its network of channels and lagoons are distinguishable in satellite imagery and digital elevation models. The geology of the area is defined by heavy clay soils, highly impermeable with a top layer of "black cotton"
vertisol A vertisol, or vertosol, is a soil type in which there is a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them known as montmorillonite, that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, alternat ...
of approximately 500 mm on average. Sandy soils are found only at depths of approximately and below, as determined by well drilling profiles. This indicates a very limited groundwater influence on the area's hydrology.


Population

Nuer Nuer may refer to: * Nuer people * Nuer language The Nuer language (Thok Naath) ("people's language") is a Nilotic language of the Western Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Nuer people of South Sudan and in western Ethiopia (region of Gamb ...
and
Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Gh ...
pastoralists use the Sudd and the surrounding areas extensively. Livestock and rain-fed agriculture are the dominant means of support for the largely rural population for which the seasonal flooded grasslands along the Sudd provides valuable grazing lands.


Vegetation and ecosystem

Vegetation cover of the area can generally be classified in five categories which depend on the elevation of the area above river flood level: the lakes and rivers, the floating plant life of the swamp, river-flooded grasslands (Toic), rain-flooded grasslands, and wooded grasslands on the fringes. Grassland and woodland areas have been cultivated by local populations. The density of the grasslands along the Sudd changes with the season, with tall grass in the rainy season and short dry grass in the dry season, when frequent fires also occur. The fluvial area is mostly overgrown with vegetation, with some main and side channels as well as lagoons of open water. The vegetation distribution is described in further detail in Sutcliffe (1974) and Petersen (2007). The main species are: * ''
Phragmites communis ''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall. Description ''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may ...
'' (shallow flooded, buried roots) * ''
Echinochloa pyramidalis ''Echinochloa pyramidalis'' is a species of large grass, occurring naturally in flooded regions and beside lakes in tropical Africa and America, and introduced to various other countries. It is commonly known as antelope grass. Description ''Ec ...
'' (shallow flooded, buried roots) * ''
Oryza barthii ''Oryza barthii'', also called Barth's rice, wild rice, or African wild rice, is a grass in the rice genus ''Oryza''. It is an annual, erect to semierect grass. It has leaves with a short ligule (<), and panicles that are compact to open, rarely ...
'' (shallow flooded, buried roots) * ''
Echinochloa stagnina ''Echinochloa stagnina'' (Burgu millet, bourgou, hippo grass) is a species of ''Echinochloa'' widespread in tropical Africa and Asia, with an invasive status in many Pacific islands. It was once one of the major grasses cultivated in the Inner N ...
'' (deep flooded, superficial/floating roots) * ''
Vossia cuspidata ''Vossia'' is a monotypic genus in the grass family, found in Asia and Africa. The only known species is ''Vossia cuspidata'', an aquatic grass native to Africa (from Senegal to Egypt, Somalia, south to Namibia), and to Assam, Bangladesh, and ...
'' (deep flooded, superficial/floating roots) * ''
Cyperus papyrus ''Cyperus papyrus'', better known by the common names papyrus, papyrus sedge, paper reed, Indian matting plant, or Nile grass, is a species of aquatic flowering plant belonging to the sedge family Cyperaceae. It is a tender herbaceous perenn ...
'' (deep flooded, superficial/floating roots) * ''
Typha domingensis ''Typha domingensis'', known commonly as southern cattail or cumbungi, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus '' Typha''. Distribution and habitat It is found throughout temperate and tropical regions worldwide. It is sometimes found as a ...
'' The first three species are anchored so their distribution is limited to the depth of flooding. For the last species their root system needs to be permanently in water or saturated soil, which is a good indicator of flood patterns. ''P. communis'', ''E. pyramidalis'' and ''O. barthii'' for example dominate only in areas where the depth of flooding does not exceed 130 cm over a period of ten years or 118 cm for one month in the year. Floating vegetation of ''C. papyrus'' had caused blockages in the Sudd swamps on a number of occasions between 1879 and 1900, when the plants were torn out by increased flooding. ''C. papyrus'' needs saturated conditions and can tolerate flooding that is not more than 150 cm deep. When the matted vegetation breaks free of its moorings, it forms floating islands of vegetation up to 30 km in length. Such islands, in varying stages of decomposition, eventually break up. Historically, the fully floating Nile cabbage (''Pistia stratiotes'') was an important plant in the Sudd, but it has largely been replaced by the invasive
water hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range.mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
es and
parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
s that cause
waterborne diseases Waterborne diseases are conditions (meaning adverse effects on human health, such as death, disability, illness or disorders) caused by pathogenic micro-organisms that are transmitted in water. These diseases can be spread while bathing, washing ...
.


Fauna

Including several diverse aquatic habitats like swamps, lakes, channels and floodplains, the Sudd is rich in fish. Some 70 species have been recorded, and this mostly involves fish that are found in much of the Nile system such as
marbled lungfish The marbled lungfish (''Protopterus aethiopicus'') is a lungfish of the family Protopteridae. Also known as the leopard lungfish, it is found in Eastern and Central Africa, as well as the Nile region. At 133 billion base pairs, it has the large ...
,
Senegal bichir ''Polypterus senegalus'', the Senegal bichir, gray bichir or Cuvier's bichir, and sometimes called the "dinosaur eel" (a misnomer, as the creature is neither an eel nor a dinosaur), "dinosaur bichir", or "dragon fish" is in the pet trade due to i ...
,
African arowana The African arowana or Nile arowana (''Heterotis niloticus'') is a species of bonytongue. Despite being called an "arowana", the African arowana is more closely related to arapaimas, the only other members in the subfamily Arapaiminae, than the ...
, ''
Mormyrus caschive ''Mormyrus caschive'', the eastern bottlenose or elephant snout, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Mormyridae. It is found in the Nile basin, including both the main river and some of its tributaries and lakes, in Egypt, Ethiopia, Sou ...
'', Nile carp,
Nile tilapia The Nile tilapia (''Oreochromis niloticus'') is a species of tilapia, a cichlid fish native to the northern half of Africa and the Levante area, including Israel, and Lebanon. Numerous introduced populations exist outside its natural range. It i ...
,
mango tilapia The mango tilapia (''Sarotherodon galilaeus'') is a species of fish from the cichlid family that is native to fresh and brackish waters in Africa and the Levant. Other common names include Galilaea tilapia, Galilean comb, Galilee St. Peter's fis ...
,
redbelly tilapia The redbelly tilapia (''Coptodon zillii'', syn. ''Tilapia zillii''), also known as the Zille's redbreast tilapia or St. Peter's fish (a name also used for other tilapia in Israel), is a species of fish in the cichlid family. This fish is found ...
,
Nile perch The Nile perch (''Lates niloticus''), also known as the African snook, Goliath perch, African barramundi , Goliath barramundi, Giant lates or the Victoria perch, is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is wid ...
, ''
Distichodus ''Distichodus'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Distichodontidae found in Africa. Species There are currently 23 recognized species in this genus: *'' Distichodus affinis'' Günther, 1873 (Silver distichodus) *'' Distichodus altus' ...
rostratus'', elongate tigerfish, African tetras,
African sharptooth catfish ''Clarias gariepinus'' or African sharptooth catfish is a species of catfish of the family Clariidae, the airbreathing catfishes. Distribution They are found throughout Africa and the Middle East, and live in freshwater lakes, rivers, and sw ...
, '' Synodontis frontosus'', '' S. schall'' and others. Among the few
endemics Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
of the Sudd system are ''
Clarias ''Clarias'' is a genus of catfishes (order Siluriformes) of the family Clariidae, the airbreathing catfishes. The name is derived from the Greek ''chlaros'', which means lively, in reference to the ability of the fish to live for a long time out ...
engelseni'', ''
Enteromius yeiensis ''Enteromius yeiensis'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Enteromius ''Enteromius'' is a genus of small to medium-sized cyprinid fish native to tropical Africa. Most species were placed in the genus ''Barbus ''Barbus'' is a ge ...
'', ''
Nothobranchius ''Nothobranchius'' is a genus of small, freshwater killifish, classified in either the family Nothobranchiidaevan der Laan, R., Eschmeyer, W.N. & Fricke, R. (2014)Family-group names of Recent fishes.''Zootaxa, 3882 (2): 1–230.'' or a more inc ...
nubaensis'', ''N. virgatus'' and two apparently
undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...
of ''
Enteromius ''Enteromius'' is a genus of small to medium-sized cyprinid fish native to tropical Africa. Most species were placed in the genus ''Barbus ''Barbus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. The type species of ''Barbus'' is ...
'', and the fish fauna in significant sections still has not been properly studied. Over 400 species of bird are found in the Sudd, including
shoebill The shoebill (''Balaeniceps rex'') also known as the whalebill, whale-headed stork or shoe-billed stork, is a very large long-legged wading bird. It derives its name from its enormous shoe-shaped bill. It has a somewhat stork-like overall form ...
s (a stronghold for the species with several thousand individuals),
great white pelican The great white pelican (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or white pelican is a bird in the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow lakes. ...
s, and
black crowned crane The black crowned crane (''Balearica pavonina'') is a part of the family Gruidae, along with its sister species, the grey crowned crane. It is topped with its characteristic bristle-feathered golden crown. It is usually found in the shallow we ...
s. The Sudd provides food and water to large populations of
migrating birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...
. As the surrounding landscape is a large swath of dry
Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
across Africa, the swamp is also a haven for migrating mammals, especially
antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...
s, such as the
bohor reedbuck The bohor reedbuck (''Redunca redunca'') is an antelope native to central Africa. The animal is placed under the genus '' Redunca'' and in the family Bovidae. It was first described by German zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas in 1767. T ...
,
sitatunga The sitatunga or marshbuck (''Tragelaphus spekii'') is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, ...
(the most aquatic antelope of the Sudd, mostly inhabiting permanent swampland), the endangered
Nile lechwe The Nile lechwe or Mrs Gray's lechwe (''Kobus megaceros'') is an endangered species of antelope found in swamps and grasslands in Sudan and Ethiopia. Description Males are an average of long and tall at the shoulders, and weigh between , whil ...
(not in permanent swampland, but generally near the water's edge and often walking in shallow water), and the white-eared kob (further away from the permanent swampland). White-eared kob, tiang and
Mongalla gazelle The Mongalla gazelle (''Eudorcas albonotata'') is a species of gazelle found in the floodplain and savanna of South Sudan. It was first described by British zoologist Walter Rothschild in 1903. The taxonomic status of the Mongalla gazelle is wid ...
take part in one of the largest mammal migrations on Earth, numbering about 1.2 million individuals in total.Furniss, C. (2010) Geographical, April 2010. The shallow water is frequented by
Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...
s and
hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...
es. In more upland areas the Sudd was known as an historic habitat for the endangered
painted hunting dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyc ...
, which however may have been exterminated in the region.


Threats and preservation

The long-running civil war in Southern Sudan seriously disrupted conservation efforts in the Sudd, especially as the widespread availability of weapons has encouraged wildlife poaching, including of elephants. There are three game reserves: Zeraf Island between the Zeraf River and the Nile, Shambe Reserve, and
Mongalla Game Reserve The Mongalla Game Reserve is found in South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Cen ...
.


Jonglei diversion canal

The early explorers searching for the
source of the Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
experienced considerable difficulties, sometimes taking months to get through the Sudd. In his 1972 book '' The White Nile'',
Alan Moorehead Alan McCrae Moorehead, (22 July 1910 – 29 September 1983) was a war correspondent and author of popular histories, most notably two books on the nineteenth-century exploration of the Nile, ''The White Nile'' (1960) and ''The Blue Nile'' (196 ...
says of the Sudd, "there is no more formidable swamp in the world". The Sudd swamp is sustained by the water from the southwestern tributaries (the Bahr el Ghazal system) and consumes a proportion of the main river through evaporation and transpiration. Sir William Garstin, Undersecretary of State of Public Works of Egypt, created the first detailed proposal for digging a canal east of the Sudd in 1907. By bypassing the swamps, evaporation of the Nile's water would vastly decrease, allowing an increase in the area of cultivatable land in Egypt by . The Egyptian government in the 1930s proposed digging a
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
east of the Sudd to divert water from the Bahr al Jabal above the Sudd to a point farther down the White Nile, bypassing the swamps and carrying the White Nile's water directly to the main channel of the river. The Jonglei Canal scheme was studied by the government of Egypt in 1946, and plans were developed in 1954–59. Construction work on the canal began in 1978, but the outbreak of political instability in Sudan has held up work for many years. By 1984 when the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army brought the works to a halt, 240 km of the canal of a total of 360 km had been excavated. The rusting remains of the giant German-built excavation machine—variously nicknamed either "Sarah" or "Lucy"—are visible on a
Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
image at the south end of the canal, where it has been located since it was destroyed by a missile. When peace was restored in 2000, speculation grew about a restart of the project. However, on 21 February 2008, the Sudanese government said the revival of the project was not a priority. Nevertheless, in 2008, Sudan and Egypt agreed to restart the project and finish the canal in 24 years.Ahmad, A.M. (2008
Post-Jonglei planning in southern Sudan: combining environment with development
''
Environment and Urbanization ''Environment & Urbanization'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering urban and environmental studies. It is published by SAGE Publications and was established in 1989. Each issue of the journal focuses on a particular theme. Abst ...
'', October 2008
South Sudan gained independence in 2011. It is estimated that the Jonglei canal project would produce 3.5–4.8 x 109 m3 of water per year (equal to a mean annual discharge of 110–152 m3/s (3 883–5 368 ft3/s), an increase of around 5-7% of Egypt's current water supply. The canal's benefits would be shared by Egypt and Sudan, with the expected damage falling on South Sudan. The complex environmental and social issues involved, including the collapse of fisheries, drying of grazing lands, a drop of groundwater levels, and a reduction of rainfall in the region,
De Villiers, Marq Marq de Villiers, is a South African-Canadian writer and journalist. He now chiefly writes non-fiction books on scientific topics. In the past he also worked as a magazine editor and foreign correspondent. Biography Marq de Villiers was born in ...
, 2001. ''Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource''. Mariner Books.
limits the practicality of the project. The draining of the Sudd is likely to have environmental effects comparable to the drying of
Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
or the draining of the
Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
.


See also

*
Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Grassland; formerly spelled "Okovango" or "Okovanggo") in Botswana is a swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an altitude of 930–1,000 m in the central part of the en ...
*
Draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes The Mesopotamian Marshes were drained in Iraq and to a smaller degree in Iran between the 1950s and 1990s to clear large areas of the marshes in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Formerly covering an area of around , the main sub-marshes, the H ...


References

;Bibliography *Petersen, G., Abya, J. A., Fohrer, N. (2007
Spatio-temporal water body and vegetation changes in the Nile swamps of southern Sudan
''Advanced Geoscience 11'', 113-116 *Petersen, G., Sutcliffe, J. V., Fohrer, N. (2008
Morphological analysis of the Sudd region using land survey and remote sensing data
''
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms ''Earth Surface Processes and Landforms'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the British Society for Geomorphology. It covers geomorphology and more in general all aspects of Earth sciences dealing wi ...
'', 33 *Petersen, G. (2008
''The Hydrology of the Sudd – Hydrologic Investigation and Evaluation of Water Balances in the Sudd Swamps of Southern Sudan''
University of Kiel, Germany *Sutcliffe, J.V., Parks, Y.P. (1999) ''The Hydrology of the Nile'', IAHS Special Publication No 5. Wallingford. UK


Further reading

* * *


External links

*
Elephant herds found on isolated south Sudan island


* ttps://maps.google.com/?ll=9.400291,30.500793&spn=1.287076,1.873169&t=k Sudd – on Google Maps {{Authority control Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of South Sudan Flooded grasslands and savannas Grasslands of South Sudan Nile Swamps of Africa Wetlands of South Sudan Ramsar sites in South Sudan Important Bird Areas of South Sudan