UPCOMING TRAVELS - SOUTH SUDAN : THE WHITE-EARED KOB MIGRATION

The White Eared Kob Migration – Boma National Park – South Sudan

It all started around June 2010 when a friend suggested that we go to Sudan (now referred to as South Sudan since the independent elections in July 2011) and photograph the White Eared Kob Migration (an antelope).  The Moonstone Pictures team of my husband and I thought what a great idea and started planning our trip.  Our departure date from South Africa Johannesburg was 1 December 2010.  We would be flying to Nairobi en-route to Juba in South Sudan.

However due to some “unrest” experienced in the new country, South Sudan, we did not manage to obtain travel documentation and thus had to postpone the trip to the following year. It also appears that the person delegated with the money and responsibility to actually get the visas decided that he needed more money!

What is the White Eared Kob Migration one may ask?   The White Eared Kob Migration occurs in South Sudan around the Boma National Park (North-East of South Sudan) and is one of the largest mammal migration that currently occur. It was featured in a recent national Geographic documentary as one of the great migrations. The reason as to why so little is known about this particular migration has been due to the situation in Sudan for some time now. The National Geographic team only got in to the area in 2006, and were surprised to find that the animals had survived the many years of unrest in Sudan. 

As the water sources dry up after the seasonal rains (around November) some 1,8 Million White Eared Kobs migrate around the Boma National Park all in search of the rains and greener pastures.  It is said that the White Eared Kob numbers are bigger than those of the Wildebeest Migration in Masai Mara, Kenya.

Boma National Park is some 5,631,000 acres in size.  One also needs to understand that this immense Park that has basically no roads, but has numerous streams and swamps.

If one looks at the past weather patterns the animals would normally migrate from North to South in March or April from the Sudd flood plains and back into Boma National Park due to the start of the rainy season. In November or December the animals move from South to North in search of green pastures as the dry season is now experienced. Also during this season it is the calving time for the White Eared Kob. In addition to the migration of the White Eared Kob, other antelopes that can be seen are Mongalla Gazelle and Tiang Antelope.

The color of the White Eared Kob is generally reddish brown (males are darker than females) and has a white throat patch and black fronted legs.  Males average a height of around 90-100 centimeters and females 80-90 centimeters.

After having to postpone our December 2010 trip, we re-scheduled for departure date on 31 October 2011 which once again would be during the migration period.  We obtained our visas and all sorts of injections against many unknown potential conditions.  However some two weeks prior to our departure date we were advised by our travel agent, whom organizes such trips in South Sudan, that the rains were extreme and it would be impossible to drive or fly (Cessna Caravan) from Juba to Boma National Park.  As mentioned above, the Park has no roads and is covered with numerous streams and swamps which at that time were more like torrential rivers!.  

So once again we postponed our trip from 31 October 2011 to now depart on 22 November 2011.  The rainy season is supposed to cease in October, so our travel agent thinks late November will be good.  We again re-obtain visas (the visas are only valid for 1 month!).   Finally  on Monday 21 the time has come and both my husband and myself are basically packed and ready to go the following day.  I check my e-mails one last time and low and behold there is an e-mail from our travel agent saying that the truck with the supplies that was going ahead of us had to turn back to Juba, as it was impossible to drive due to the horrific “road” conditions.  The rains had not yet ceased and were still falling heavily.  Our agent said we could still fly to Juba as planned and he could drive us around the South to photograph Elephants & Villages, but we decided against such as the purpose of this trip is to capture the White Eared Kob Migration!.

So once again we had to postpone our trip -  this is now the third time.   Whenever I walk into the agency where I bought the flight tickets, the sales person looks at me and has that sort of look as if to say “she is changing travel dates…. AGAIN!”.   Needless to say that the costs of changing our flights and having to obtain new visas each time has now accumulated to quite an amount!.

We debated whether to go in January 2012 or February 2012.  January seems good and the rains should have ceased by then and the migration would have started.  February may be too late and we may miss the migration!.  However January is not good for my husband so we have to settle for February.  Our departure date is now set for 18 February 2012.   Also we can no longer change the flights from Johannesburg to Juba, so if we cannot make 18 February we loose our flights. This is something one should consider when travelling to areas such as the South Sudan where there is potential for unrest.

As at last week all was looking good.  The rains have ceased and the temperatures in Juba are in the region of 35 to 40 degrees centigrade!.  Our travel agent said the migration had not started as per normal pattern due to the heavy rains and therefore there was lots of grazing still available for the animals.  However the migration will now start as the rains have finally ceased.

So we now wait for 18 February (still need to obtain visas).  However it was reported in the news on the week-end (7 January 2012) that unrest is starting again in the Juba region and there were many fatalities (around 3000 people) – This is a very high number!.  So we are now really unsure what is happening and what will happen.

Today is 14 February 2012, Valentines Day which was greeted with a e-mail from our guide in South Sudan advising that our trip to South Sudan on 18 February has to once again be postponed due to Yellow Fever been present in Boma (this is the game region we are going to).   We are trying to find out more information on this issue and will keep the Blog posted...


In the meantime we will now be re-organising our trip for December this year as if we go between March and October we will be missing the White-Eared Kob Migration.

Watch this space for further updates......