A picturesque village in a swamp in South Sudan

The bank of the White Nile River can hardly be called a bank. Impassable swamps spill hundreds of kilometers from the riverbed, forming a huge swamp Sudd, famous for the diversity of its flora and fauna. And, surprisingly enough, a person is among the inhabitants of this picturesque place.

Today, a small village of the Nuer tribe is located on the swamp. The inhabitants of the marshes catch fish and raise cattle. Among other things, Sudd is a place of growth of many useful crops in everyday life, such as rice, papyrus, cane.

Nuer settlement is located closer to the riverbed, along its course. If you go deep into the thickets, you can easily get lost among the monotonous landscape stretching over an immense area comparable to the size of England.

It is just as difficult to move on land here as on water. Dense vegetation: grass and reeds form small green icebergs. They drift through the swamp and periodically clog the few water channels through which a boat could still somehow sail.

During the rainy season, the water level in the swamp increases significantly. However, due to the slow flow of the river, the water also evaporates quickly and under the influence of the scorching rays of the African sun.

In the late 70s, Egypt and Sudan started building a canal here, which would help solve problems with water supply. However, such construction would entail irreparable changes in the climate. The Sudd swamp risked becoming a desert. The amount of precipitation in the region would have sharply decreased, which would have led to the death of thousands of animals and plant crops.

The canal was almost completed, but the project was still temporarily stopped due to the outbreak of the civil war. Subsequently, the Ramsar Convention added the reservoir to the list of international importance. So now the villagers in the Sudd swamp can continue to rebuild their huts here, farm and worship their gods.