The Southern National Park is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

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 ...

. It was established in 1939. This site has an area of 23,000 km².World Database on Protected Areas
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History

A.B. Anderson, a former Assistant Game Warden, reported that in 1950 that the Southern National Park was spread over an area of . It was drained by three rivers: the

Sue River The Jur River (also Sue River) is a river in western South Sudan, flowing through the Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions. About long, it flows north and northeast, joining the Bahr el Ghazal River on the western side of the Sudd wetlands. The ...

to the west, a well-defined channel that joined 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 riv ...

; the Gel River to the east; and the Ibba River in the centre of the park. The Gel and Ibba Rivers, after flowing through the park, formed a flood plain which made the habitat swampy.

Flora & fauna

Flora

Bushveld The Bushveld (from af, bosveld, af, bos 'bush' and af, veld) is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. It encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of the North West Province of South Africa, the Central and Nort ...

, true

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

vegetation, forests in laterite soils and

gallery forests A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

were found in the park. During the monsoon season, the park had extensive grassland that grew up to about . The soil was generally of whitish clay and there were sandy valleys. The park was thinly populated and visited by very few tourists. Hunting, fishing and honey collection were the common vocations of the people living in the park area.

Fauna

He identified aquafauna in the rivers flowing through the park as '' aba'', an eel-like fish,

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

, Nile bichir, lung fish,

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

, and a few

crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant me ...

s. Mammals reported to have been present in the park during Anderson's time in Southern Sudan were

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 ...

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 ...

, kob,

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 ...

korrigum The korrigum (''Damaliscus lunatus korrigum''), also known as Senegal hartebeest, is a subspecies of the topi, a large African antelope. Taxonomy An 1822–1824 British expedition across the Sahara to the ancient kingdom of Bornu, returned with ...

, African buffalo,

Kordofan giraffe The Kordofan giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum'') is a subspecies of giraffe found in northern Cameroon, southern Chad, the Central African Republic, and possibly western Sudan. Historically some confusion has existed over the exact ...

oribi The oribi (; ''Ourebia ourebi'') is a small antelope found in eastern, southern and western Africa. The sole member of its genus, it was described by the German zoologist Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann in 1783. While this is the only ...

northern white rhino The northern white rhinoceros or northern white rhino (''Ceratotherium simum cottoni'') is one of two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the southern white rhinoceros). Formerly found in several countries in East and Central Afr ...

reedbuck Reedbuck is a common name for Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it ...

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 ...

colobus monkey Black-and-white colobuses (or colobi) are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Colobus'', native to Africa. They are closely related to the red colobus monkeys of genus '' Piliocolobus''. There are five species of this monkey, and at least eight subs ...

, various

galago Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are ...

s including the

Senegal bushbaby The Senegal bushbaby (''Galago senegalensis''), also known as the Senegal galago, the lesser galago or the lesser bush baby, is a small, nocturnal primate, a member of the galago family Galagidae. The name "bush baby" may come either from the a ...

, and

giant forest hog The giant forest hog (''Hylochoerus meinertzhageni''), the only member of its genus (''Hylochoerus''), is native to wooded habitats in Africa and is generally considered the largest wild member of the pig family, Suidae; however, a few subspecie ...

. Anderson also reported that

marabou stork The marabou stork (''Leptoptilos crumenifer'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae native to sub-Saharan Africa. It breeds in both wet and arid habitats, often near human habitation, especially landfill sites. It is someti ...

s and

pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

were present in some regions of the park.

References

External links

* National parks of South Sudan Protected areas established in 1939 1939 establishments in Sudan Northern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic {{Africa-protected-area-stub