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 th ...
near the
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
n border. It was established in 1977 and covers of grasslands and floodplains.
Wildlife
The park is an important refuge for
white-eared kob
The kob (''Kobus kob'') is an antelope found across Central Africa and parts of West Africa and East Africa. Together with the closely related reedbucks, waterbucks, lechwe, Nile lechwe, and puku, it forms the Reduncinae tribe. Found along the n ...
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 ...
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...
,
African leopard
The African leopard (''Panthera pardus pardus'') is the nominate subspecies of the leopard, native to many countries in Africa. It is widely distributed in most of sub-Saharan Africa, but the historical range has been fragmented in the course of ...
,
Nubian giraffe
The Nubian giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis'') is the nominate subspecies of giraffe. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan. It is currently extinct in the wild of the Democratic Republic of Congo, ...
,
oryx
''Oryx'' is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight. The exception is the scimitar oryx, which ...
,
hartebeest
The hartebeest (; ''Alcelaphus buselaphus''), also known as kongoni or kaama, is an African antelope. It is the only member of the genus ''Alcelaphus''. Eight subspecies have been described, including two sometimes considered to be independ ...
,
Northeast African cheetah
The Northeast African cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii'') is a cheetah subspecies occurring in Northeast Africa. Contemporary records are known in South Sudan and Ethiopia, but population status in Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan is ...
,
common eland
The common eland (''Taurotragus oryx''), also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus '' Taurotragus''. An adult male is ...
,
Lelwel hartebeest
The Lelwel hartebeest (''Alcelaphus buselaphus lelwel''), also known as Jackson's hartebeest, is an antelope native to Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda
}), i ...
waterbuck
The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies a ...
,
Grant's gazelle
Grant's gazelle (''Nanger granti'') is a species of gazelle distributed from northern Tanzania to South Sudan and Ethiopia, and from the Kenyan coast to Lake Victoria. Its Swahili name is ''swala granti''.Lesser kudu, bongo,
Giant eland
The giant eland (''Taurotragus derbianus''), also known as the Lord Derby eland and greater eland, is an open-forest and savanna antelope. A species of the family Bovidae and genus ''Taurotragus'', it was described in 1847 by John Edward Gray. T ...
, and
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 , w ...
. It is also an important bird area; avifauna includes Ruppell's vulture and the
black-chested snake eagle
The black-chested snake eagle or black-breasted snake eagle (''Circaetus pectoralis'') is a large African bird of prey of the family Accipitridae. It resembles other snake eagles and was formerly considered conspecific with the short-toed and B ...
. The neighboring
Gambela National Park
Gambella National Park, also spelled Gambela National Park, is a large national park in Ethiopia. It is the nation's largest national park and is located several hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa. It was established in 1974, but is not fully pr ...
in Ethiopia protects similar species.
Since 2005, the protected area is considered a
lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...
conservation unit together with Gambella National Park.
; White-eared kob
The most prominent species of the Boma National Park is the white-eared kob ''(Kobus kob leucotis)'' antelope. A UNEP study reports that the white-eared kob is found mostly to the east of Nile River in South Sudan within the clay plains and wetlands; though occurring in substantial numbers in the Boma National Park, it is reported to be found more outside the protected area. Its migration route and population during the summer and monsoon seasons have been recorded. Its migration route over the dry and wet seasons, which is dictated by the variation in rainfall and flooding from year to year, extends over ; it encompasses different ecoregions in various tribal belts, and exposes the species to hunting threats. In comparison to the wet season count of 680,716 in 1980 (849,365 in dry season), the UNEP survey of 2001 reported only 176,120 during the wet season (although the two studies are not directly comparable).
The wildlife in this park has provided bush meat, which is not only a dominant food need for many people of Southern Sudan, but also an avenue of illegal trading supported by wildlife hunting that has caused biodiversity damage. The park accounts for the greatest concentration of wildlife in the country, particularly of mammals.