How do Nilots live, whose houses are in the middle of Africa’s largest swamp

Everyone knows that Africa is the endless savannah and desert through which lions, giraffes and herds of gazelles roam. Someone may recall the equatorial forests with monkeys and parrots, where foreign tourists do not go so willingly because of the humid air and the abundance of blood-sucking insects. But in Africa there is an even more humid, hot and inhospitable place, which few people know about. This grand Sudd swamp in South Sudan is an amazing ecosystem where people live happily in the middle of the water on small islands of land.

It seems that a full-flowing swamp on the latitude of the savannah is a seasonal phenomenon that exists only during the rainy season. But the Sudd swamp has been here for several centuries, and possibly millennia, and when European explorers first came to these places, they were extremely unhappy that the swamp blocked their path deep into the continent.

A huge swamp is located in the valley of the Nile River, and during the period of the largest flood of the river, its area exceeds 150 thousand square meters. km This is more than, for example, the area of Bulgaria, which covers an area of 110 thousand square meters. km In the Sudd region, the river is called the White Nile and flows through an area with a very slight slope of the surface. Because of this, the flow of the river slows down, it spreads over a vast area, without a clear channel in the usual sense of the word. The river, as it were, dissolves in the endless thickets of papyrus and wild rice, forming one of the most extensive swamps on our planet.

The swamp, located in a warm climate, is a paradise for moisture-loving vegetation, birds, ungulates and insects, including bloodsucking. At first glance, it might seem that people are not here, because the area is not the most comfortable for living. But actually it is not.

But the ecosystem, unique in its biodiversity, in which over 400 species of birds and 100 species of mammals live, is threatened with extinction. The fact is that in conditions of increased competition for water resources, the existence of such a huge swamp is an inadmissible luxury. The waters of the White Nile, spreading through the swamps of Sudd, form a giant evaporation system. According to scientists, more than 50% of the White Nile river runoff annually evaporates from its surface, which could be directed to irrigate agricultural fields and supply water to the population downstream in Sudan and Egypt. In addition, the soils of this region are very fertile, but high bogging does not allow for full-fledged agriculture. To solve these problems, it was proposed to build a reclamation system that would facilitate the outflow of water from the territory of the swamp. In the case of the construction of the canal, the construction of which has already begun, the Sudd swamp will lose most of its area, and the nilots will lose their home, as well as the thousands of ungulates and birds that inhabit these places. I would like to believe that it will be possible to find a solution acceptable to all parties that will allow us to preserve the Sudd swamp and its unique world.