A groundbreaking tagging operation has just been completed in South Sudan. Marcus Westberg joins the team on the ground and in the air.
Photos by MARCUS WESTBERG
PORTFOLIO
The big picture
While conflict continues in the capital of its northern neighbour, South Sudan is making history for more positive reasons. An epic GPS collaring operation has just concluded in Boma and Badingilo National Parks, both of which recently came under the stewardship of African Parks, in partnership with the Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism. Until now, little has been known about South Sudan’s wildlife, a result of decades of civil unrest that only ended in 2020. The data from the collars and from aerial surveys will reveal how animals move through the landscape, and in turn, inform conservation.
Eye in the sky
A spotter plane locates a herd of tiang antelope. South Sudan hosts a spectaclar seasonal antelope migration, with four species (white-eared kob, tiang, mongalla gazelle and bohor reedbuck) travelling across the landscape in their hundreds of thousands. It’s long been considered the second-largest land migration in Africa after the Serengeti wildebeest, but could actually be the largest.
Purple haze
A storm darkens the skies over Boma National Park. Both Boma and Badingilo support not only wildlife, but also significant human populations. Conservation will thus involve close work with local communities alongside ranger training and improvements to infrastructure – currently, much of the region is only accessible on foot or by air.
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Marcus is an award-winning photojournalist from Sweden whose work focuses primarily on conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. See more of his images at: marcuswestberg.photo
Out in the open
A leopard patrols open ground in Badingilo. This area was once renowned for large mammals, but decades of war have taken their toll. Yet, while species such as zebra and black rhino have been hunted to local extinction, many others have clung on. Alongside large herds of antelope, leopards, elephants and Nubian giraffes still roam, and the team even discovered a healthy cheetah population, a species not sighted in this landscape for years.
Cooling off
Elephant populations in South Sudan have plummeted from an estimated 80,000 in the 1980s to fewer than 5,000 today, a result of poaching for the ivory trade. This bull is one of five elephants collared in Boma-Badingilo, in the capable hands of wildlife vets Richard Harvey and Sara Ferguson. With temperatures exceeding 30˚C, heat stress is a serious risk. The vets work quickly, k
