
Itinerary overview
DAY1: ARRIVAL IN JUBA
You will arrive by air in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, the youngest country on earth. Obtain, visa upon arrival at the airport. The guide will meet you at the airport and transfer to Pyramid Continental Hotel. Arrange travel permits (stamp in passport). The rest of the day is free to relax or explore depending on your arrival time. No cameras to be used, smartphones can be used with utmost caution
Accommodation: Royal Palace Hotel
Meal plan – Breakfast
DAY2: JUBA TO THE MUNDARI CATTLE CAMP
Breakfast and drive to the Mundari tribal territory. Reaching Terekeka, regional capital, walk around the market to meet the first Mundari tribal people. After having checked with the local authorities, drive to a cattle camp to spend the night. Mundari are a small ethnic group related to the Nilotic people. Mundari together with neighboring Dinka people are sometimes noted for their height. With the Tutsi of Rwanda, they are believed to be the tallest people in Africa. The traditional Mundari tribal lands are located roughly 75 kilometers North of Juba, the capital of South Sudan and are centered on the town of Terekeka in the state of Central Equatoria. The land like much of South Sudan is predominantly flat and marked by occasional isolated large hills. The low – lying contains many rivers and lakes and provides fertile basis in support of cattle grazing.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY3: EXPLORE THE MUNDARI TRIBE CATTLE CAMP
You will have a full day exploration in the Mundari cattle camp participating in different activities in the camp.
Accommodation: Tents Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY4: DRIVE TO KWERENIT
You will have breakfast and then drive to Kwerenit a Mundari village. Mundari villages are also interesting because of vernacular architecture: huts, black and white totems, and granaries beautifully built. The Mundari like the other Nilotic tribes are very cattle – oriented: cattle serves as food, a form of currency and a mark of status. Marriages are arranged by the prospective groom offering cattle to the bride’s family and husbands may take as many wives as they can support. The Mundari engage in perennial cattle raiding wars with the neighboring Dinka during the dry season. In order to secure their cattle, Mundari men at night take their weapons and go to the bush. Mundari have kept alive animistic religion while the neighboring Dinka have lost most of these traditional ways due to war and conversion to Christianity. In common with other Nilotic tribes in Sudan, the Mundari practice ritual scarification as a rite of passage into adulthood for young men. The typical Mundari scar pattern consists of two sets of three parallel lines, each on either side of the forehead, extending in a downward slope and unconnected in the middle.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY5: MUNDARI VILLAGES
After breakfast, you will explore the Mundari villages taking amazing portraits and interacting with the Mundari people.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY6: DRIVE TO ILIEU
Breakfast and then drive to Ilieu to visit the Lotuko tribal communities. The Lotuko actually call themselves Otuko, however the name Lotuko has been bestowed by their neighbors. There are approximately 80,000 people spread over 16 traditional villages and in the city of Torit. They are agro-pastoralists of cows, sheep, goats as the main animals and sorghum, peanuts, sesame, and yams are their main crops. They hunt for fresh meat, since the number of domestic animals is a sign of wealth and prestige. Agriculture is communal. Their belief system is based on ancestor worship. Folklore and poems are transmitted verbally. There are many ceremonies: the rain dance once a year, every 16 years a fire is made for the ceremony, funerals, marriages. Every town has a magician. In marriage they practice exogamy, in which they must marry outside their clan. There is a price for the bride that has to be paid to the girl’s father. In the past, war was what marked the lives of men. Elaborate shields and helmets were created. A man was not considered as such, until he killed another in battle and could not marry until then. The Lotuko are famous for their dance and each town has an area created just for dancing. More and more the Lotuko are renouncing their traditional forms of dress and adornment for western clothing. But overall, its economy, religion, and house building remain traditional.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY7: ILIEU TO LOPIT
You will have breakfast, spend last moments with the Lotuko and then leave for the Lopit communities. The Lopit are Eastern Nilotic who inhabit the Lopit hills, they practice agriculture as rearing livestock on the mountain slope and also harvest products such as honey and shea nuts. They practice initiation ceremonies: a naming ceremony for a baby, and a second one as a young adult. Marriage begins with courtship and then the girl elopes with her boyfriend; when they return home the dowry is settled and she goes to her new home. The transfer of power to the younger age-set happens every 25 years in a ceremony called hifira. The village administration and authority over community affairs is handed to the next generation. Their culture is transmitted through songs, poems, dramas and music that express feelings and emotions as well.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY8: LOPIT
You will have breakfast and then head out to explore the different Lopit communities enjoying their intense welcome dances. Accommodation: Tents Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY9: LOPIT TO LARIM
After breakfast, you will bid farewell to the Lopit and drive to Boya Hills to meet the Larim (Boya) tribal minority. The Larim speak Murle and are excellent architects. They also pierce their nose and lips and scarify their bodies. Larim keep cattle and grow seasonal crops such as sorghum, maize and beans. Widowed women wrap vegetable cords around their legs and head. Larim is considered one of South Sudan’s most traditional groups.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY10: LARIM
You will have breakfast and then spend the day in the different Boya communities watching and engaging in their daily life activities and cultural practices and norms.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY11: LARIM TO KAPOETA (TO RIWOTO)
In the morning after breakfast, you will bid farewell to the Larim and then drive to Kapoeta. You will proceed to Riwoto and visit the Itaian priest. Accommodation: Tents Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY12: KAPOETA TO JIE
You will have breakfast and then leave Kapoeta for the Jie communities. The Jie people live in the arid flat lowlands of the South East corner of South Sudan in Eastern EquatoriaState. They are agri-pastoralists they grow sorghum and raise cattle, sheep, and goats. They are very closely related to the Toposa of South Sudan and speak the same language. The Jie pierce and scar their bodies as marks of beauty. The women wear beaded head bands in colors which represent the clan of their husband. They believe in a supreme being named Apayok, who resides in a crater in Mt Kesegor. They believe if you commit an offense against him, Apayok will not give you water when you visit him there. They believe Apayok sent a sorcerer named Natidiita to protect and guide them. They also believe in the spirits of their ancestors, with whom they communicate through a medium.
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY13: JIE TO KAPOETA
You will have breakfast and then bid farewell to the Jie people and then drive back to Kapoeta for an overnight. Accommodation: Kuleu Hotel Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY14: VISIT THE TOPOSA
The Toposa are Turkana speaking cattle rearing people that have resisted western influence to this date. Toposa have traditionally lived by herding cattle, sheep and goats, and in the past were involved in the ivory trade. The Toposa belong to what has been called the “Karamojong cluster”, which also includes the Karamojong people of Uganda, the Ntangatom people in South Western Ethiopia and the Turkana people of Kenya. The Toposa economy and social life revolves around herding livestock including cattle, camels, donkeys, goats and sheep. Boys are first given goats and sheep to care for, then they later graduate to looking after cattle when they come of age. Possession of cattle, along with possession of a loaded gun are the main measures of status and wealth. Cattle are central to Toposa culture. The Toposa have always competed for water and pasturage with their neighbors and have always engaged in cattle rustling. The Toposa also pan for gold and other precious minerals in the stream beds and dress in their traditional clothes (leather – beaded
skirts) and pierce their lips and scarify their arms, chests and faces. Each scarification is a work of art. Visit different communities and enjoy the intense welcome dances
Accommodation: Tents
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY15: KAPOETA TO CHUKUDUM
You will have breakfast and then drive Chukudum to meet the Didinga community. The Didinga live in the Didinga hills in the valleys, on the plateaus and slopes, and on the adjacent plains of the region. Their neighbors include the Boya, Toposa, Dodoth, Dongotono and Lopit. The Didinga are pastoralists by inclination and farmers by necessity. The herding of cattle is very important to them. They live in homesteads by clans, in round houses with coneshaped roofs. They also enjoy making music and various crafts. Although there is a paramount chief, which is a hereditary position, decisions are made by the community, and younger people have the right to question the older, they desire education. Like their neighbors, the Didinga accept the existence of a supreme being, and the sphere of spirits interacting with the living. They worship and sacrifice to spirits and gods and place great importance on the worship of dead ancestors. The rainmaker is an important person in the community, who performs certain rituals and is seen to carry great influence and power. Accommodation: Tents Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY16: CHUKUDUM TO JUBA
Breakfast, bid farewell to the Didinga people and then drive back to Juba for an overnight.
Accommodation: Royal Palace Hotel
Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch
DAY17: JUBA – ITALY
You will after breakfast head to Juba international airport for your flight back home. Passengers are advised to be at the airport for check in 3 hours to their departure time. This will bring your amazing South Sudan cultural expedition to an end.
End of your great journey
NOTE: The order of visits and excursions can be modified according to local conditions (i.e. state of roads, market days among others). If some of these visits and / or tours could not be done due to external conditions, they will be replaced when possible
The participant of expedition to South Sudan must be motivated to be respectful to the culture of local tribes, be aware of the objectives of the trip and possible program changes depending on weather conditions, security conditions and any other reasons, be in a good shape, as well as be able to adapt to the new environment and culture.
Availability: Safari itinerary bookings and availability can only be guaranteed once the full invoiced deposit payment has reached our account.
Safari Price: We try to make our prices as all-inclusive as possible so that our clients do not need to reach for their wallets. Where there are overland sectors, the 4×4 Safari Vehicles and safari guide will be at the clients’ exclusive use which provides great flexibility. The guide will accompany clients on all overland sectors, assist with check-in at accommodation and share his knowledge on the different cultures of South Sudan
Price Includes
• Accommodation in hotels, based on TWIN/DBL accommodation
• Accommodation in tents based on SINGLE accommodation (or DBL accommodation for couples)
• Meals (Meals in hotels in Juba are not included)
• Drinking water along the whole route
• All transfers to and from the airport
• All transportation by 4WD SUV vehicles and/or safari Land Cruisers in good condition with working air conditioner, with experienced driver and fuel (maximum 3 people per vehicle, each person has a window access)
• Camping gear (including tents, mattresses, 1 bed sheet and a pillow)
• Experienced English speaking guide
• All permissions and police papers (alien registration for 72 hours), obtaining and payment for entry permit, check points payments and security guard if needed
• Visiting tribes and excursions, all payments to the tribes
Price Excludes:
• Visa fees (190$ for American citizens and 120$ for other nationals)
• Drinks where not stipulated in itinerary
• COVID – 19 Testing if applicable
• Items of a personal nature: fax, telephone, etc.
• Gratuities for guide/driver/hotel staff
• Any extras and additional activities not mentioned in the itinerary
• Travel/medical insurance
• Trip cancellation, travel delay or baggage insurance.
• Charges incurred as a result of delays beyond our control.
• All statutory increases beyond our control.
To take with you:
• sets of clothes suitable for the weather conditions, including lightweight clothes (shorts, T-shorts), and warm clothes (hoody, light jacket), long sleeve clothes
• sun hat/panama
• swimwear
• raincoat
• comfortable trekking footwear, light footwear (sneakers)
• sleeping bag for warm weather
• mosquito net
• personal hygiene items
• individual medical kit (analgetics, antiseptic, antibiotic, antiviral, intestinal, multivitamins, rehydration, court plaster, your personal medications)
• Yellow fever vaccination certificate (is a must!)
• EITHER a negative result of PCR COVID tests taken at most 72 hours before arrival (the test result must be in English), OR a COVID-19 vaccination certificate showing that they were fully vaccinated (Vaccines accepted are: AstraZeneca (SK Bioscience), AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), CanSinoBIO (Convidecia), Covaxin, Covishield, Covovax, Janssen, Moderna (Spikevax), Nuvaxovid (Novavax), Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty), Sinopharm (BIBP) and Sinovac) (is a must! requirement may change)
• anti malaria prevention pills (up to you, but recommended)
• sunblock set (cream, spray)
• repellents
• sunglasses
• big backpack for stuff
• some favorite meals (chocolate, nuts)
• photo and video camera, extra batteries
• optional donations for tribal people: anti malaria drugs, anti-septic spirit, cotton wool, eye drops, traditional tobacco (can be bought in Juba), plastic or ceramic beads for body decoration & stringall backpack for radial walks (25 – 30 l)
• headlamp