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- Shoebill stork habitat. This is what most serious visitors come for. The shoebill stands motionless in papyrus margins and shallow lagoons, hunting lungfish, and its huge clog-shaped bill makes it unmistakable. Patience in a drifting canoe is the only method that works.
- Papyrus channels by dugout. Narrow lanes cut through walls of papyrus several meters high, with the stems closing overhead in places. The silence is broken only by paddles, frogs and wings, and it is the clearest way to understand how the swamp once stopped explorers cold.
- Floating vegetation islands. Mats of papyrus, reeds and grass break loose and drift as islands, and these were what choked the river for earlier navigators. Seeing them up close shows why the name “sudd” comes from an Arabic word for barrier.
- Nile lechwe and
- Shoebill stork habitat. This is what most serious visitors come for. The shoebill stands motionless in papyrus margins and shallow lagoons, hunting lungfish, and its huge clog-shaped bill makes it unmistakable. Patience in a drifting canoe is the only method that works.
- Papyrus channels by dugout. Narrow lanes cut through walls of papyrus several meters high, with the stems closing overhead in places. The silence is broken only by paddles, frogs and wings, and it is the clearest way to understand how the swamp once stopped explorers cold.
- Floating vegetation islands. Mats of papyrus, reeds and grass break loose and drift as islands, and these were what choked the river for earlier navigators. Seeing them up close shows why the name “sudd” comes from an Arabic word for barrier.
- Nile lechwe and kob on the floodplain edges. Lechwe wade through shallow water with a distinctive bounding gait, and white-eared kob gather in large herds on the drier grassland. Scanning the horizon at the margins gives you some of the biggest antelope numbers in the region.
- Hippos and crocodiles in the main channels. The river arms hold big hippo groups that grunt and surface around your boat, and crocodiles line the banks. Keeping a respectful distance is part of the thrill, and your boatman will read their moods better than you can.
- Dinka and Nuer cattle camps. On raised ground around the wetland, herders keep long-horned cattle, burn dung fires for smoke against insects and rub the animals with ash. Visiting with a local guide and an invitation gives you a window into pastoral life that has barely changed in generations.
- Fishing communities along the Bahr el Jebel. Villagers fish from canoes and dry their catch on racks, mostly Nile perch and tilapia. Eating freshly grilled fish on the bank is the best meal you will have in the swamp.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.