South Sudan is one of the last true frontiers of travel. At dawn in a Mundari cattle camp, thousands of long-horned Ankole cattle emerge from the smoke of dung fires — one of the most photographed scenes in Africa, in the world’s youngest country. We arrange every permit: government registration, travel permits and the photography permit are all included.
This 5-day private South Sudan tour covers Nile riverside walk, Mundari cattle camp full day, Mundari camp with your own guide, vehicle and security arrangements — no fixed group dates: departures run every day of the year, on your dates and at your pace. You stay in a hotel in Juba and a full-service expedition camp at the cattle camps (tents with cots, mobile showers and toilets, camp cook), moving by 4×4 with local translators.
From $2,870 USD per person — final price confirmed at booking. The tour is fully customizable: extra days, different hotels, or route changes are always possible.
5-day South Sudan itinerary
Met at Juba, capital of the youngest country in the world — South Sudan voted for independence in 2011 and has had a hard decade since. The White Nile runs through the middle of the city, and an evening walk along it is the gentlest possible introduction. Very few travellers come here; those who do come for the cattle camps, and they are right to.
Overnight: hotel in Juba / tented bush camp.
The National Museum is modest and its story matters more than its objects. John Garang led the rebellion for twenty-one years, signed the peace that made independence possible, and died in a helicopter crash three weeks later; his mausoleum is the political centre of the country. Konyo Konyo is the great market. All Saints and St Theresa's are packed on Sundays — the south is Christian and animist, and that was the fault line of the war.
Overnight: hotel in Juba / tented bush camp.
North out of Juba to a Mundari cattle camp on the Nile. The Mundari keep Ankole-Watusi cattle — the ones with horns over a metre long — and they do not keep them for meat. A cow is wealth, dowry, status and love; men sleep beside their favourite animal, sing to it, and will fight and die over it. You arrive at dusk, when the dung fires are lit and the whole camp goes white with smoke, which keeps the mosquitoes off the cattle and off you.
Overnight: hotel in Juba / tented bush camp.
The day starts before dawn. The men wash themselves and the cattle in cow urine — it turns their hair orange and works as an antiseptic — and rub the animals down with white ash from the dung fires, which protects against flies and gives the camp its unearthly look. A cow horn is blown; a man sings to his favourite bull. This is not a performance and it is not put on for you. It is one of the most extraordinary things you will ever be allowed to stand in the middle of, and your guide will tell you when to put the camera down.
Overnight: hotel in Juba / tented bush camp.
A transfer to Juba airport for your flight out. End of our services.
