South Sudan to open game park
06/10/2007 20:05 - (SA)


Juba - South Sudan will invite bidders to run its first game park hotel set in the elephant-rich area of Nimule on the border with Uganda, the Wildlife Ministry's director-general for tourism said.

Joseph Oroto said they had almost completed the renovation of a 42-bed lodge set on a hill with views over the White Nile's sweeping entrance from Uganda to Sudan where some 50 herds of elephants drink.

"We will invite bidders from the private sector to run it," said Oroto about the lodge set in the 410 sq km Nimule Park, which was established in colonial Sudan in 1939 because of its rolling landscape and exceptional fauna.

"Phase one, the renovation, is almost completed," Oroto said. "We should see the first clients by next April."

Decades of civil conflict that ended with a 2005 peace deal meant that while tourism in neighbouring Kenya and Uganda has boomed, south Sudan has been a no-go area.

The area has a small airstrip and is three hours by road from south Sudan's capital Juba. A private firm will begin repairing the road next year.

Oroto said his ministry had so far spent half of the $694 000 budget for the project on the renovation work. A conference hall and a water system are next on the list.

His ministry's total budget will be doubled to $30m next year, indicative of the government's commitment to wean the south off its dependency on its share of Sudan's oil revenue towards other sectors, he said.

"We have giant migrations, recent aerial surveys indicate of millions of animals, we have scenery and a very rich variation of cultures," Oroto said.

The civil war, Africa's longest, which killed some 2 million people also preserved animal communities including two otherwise rare gazelles endemic to the south.

Wildlife Minister James Loro Siricio said that while the south's first tourists may be the "adventurous" type, gradual road development would open up 13 game reserves and six national parks, two of which cover 44 000 sq km alone.


News24

Thanks for the report, Kathi. I would sure be happy to hear of changes for the better in that region. My most recent experience with Sudan's policies in that area was south of Sudan in CAR in March on a Lord Derby Eland hunt. Due to the problems caused by Sudan our hunting area experienced invasions by nomads, poachers, herdsmen, grazing cattle from the north, displaced wandering villages and bands of men with AK-47s. Because of invasions from Sudan, the French military sent in Mirage jets to bomb a rebel military base south of Sudan just prior to my trip. As you know, the Khartoum government of Sudan promotes genocide in concert with the Janjueed militia and it is currently obstructing the Internationsl African Police force and peace-keepers. With all this currently going on I guess it is good to see they are trying to look toward a peaceful future too. My guess is that it will take quite a while to attract the public back into this war-torn area.