We’ve finally made it to the World’s newest, officially recognised country - South Sudan! South Sudan was created in 2011 following a referendum where 98.83% reportedly voted for independence. South Sudan is arguably also one of the world’s most elusive countries. It has so far proved very hard to research.
Since independence, South Sudan has been engulfed in the South Sudanese Civil war that raged for seven years from 2013 until 2020. An estimated 400,000 people are thought to have been killed before a peace deal was signed. Since the civil war very little has been done to improve the lives of South Sudanese people. For example, only 1.9% of children complete primary school. Unsurprisingly, South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world.
As I said, South Sudan is one of those countries that it’s really hard to research - there are very few pictures on the internet, even of its national parks and wildlife reserves. One thing that is pretty well documented though is that South Sudan is the setting for one of the worlds greatest wildlife migrations. Each year roughly two million kobs, gazelle and other antelope species move from the Sudds and Bandingilo National Park to Boma National Park and then to Ethiopia.
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