This Mundari South Sudan trip will take to the north east of Juba to Tarekeka to explore one of the unique tribes of South Sudan. The Mundari people are farmers, cattle herding and agriculturalists who live in small scatered villages. They follow a largely traditional lifestyle. They have a strong cultural believes, where the young men and women are marked with a series of parallel “V-shaped scars on their forehead – this tradition is now officially discouraged by the government and is starting to die out but most over the age of around 25 will sport these markings.
Juba the capital of South Sudan
3:00 am from your hotel in Juba
Arrive by air in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Obtain visa upon arrival at the airport, meet your guide and transfer to the hotel Landmark.
The rest of the day is free to relax and explore Konyo-Konyo market.
PM drive further north of Juba to take a glance at the presidential palace. Drive back to juba to visit the mausoleum of Dr. Jhon Garang and Jubek tomb.
Meals: Lunch and dinner
Accommodation: tents
AM 4 hours drive to Mundari tribal territory. Reach Terakeka, the regional capital and 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.
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 land contains many rivers and lakes and provides a very fertile basis in support of cattle grazing.
Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner
Accommodation: tents
We will set the camp on one side of White Nile River and by small canoes cross the river to other side and to the islands. We will also follow the nomads with their cattle.
Visit the camp and small Mundari villages where facial and body scarification are still practiced to this day. Mundari villages are also interesting because of vernacular architecture: huts, black and white totems, and granaries beautifully built.
The Mundari, like other Nilotic tribes, are very cattle-oriented: a cattle serves as food, as form of currency and a mark of status. The prospective groom arranges marriage by 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 this 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.
Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner
Accommodation: tents
After breakfast, farewell to Mundari tribal land and drive to Juba. Last pictures of the landscape: forested savannah and the mighty White Nile river.
PM drive north of Juba to take a glance at the presidential palace. Drive back to juba to visit the mausoleum of Dr. Jhon Garang and Jubek tomb. Further more, drive to Davinci restaurant by the steel bridge for coffee.
At the arranged time transfer to the airport, trying to be at the airport 2 hours before the scheduled departure time. Flight back home.
Meals: breakfast
