by BADINGILO and BOMA NATIONAL PARKS, South Sudan (AP) – Seen from the air, they slither across the landscape – a river of antelope racing across South Sudan’s vast grasslands in what conservationists say is the world’s largest land mammal migration.
The first comprehensive aerial wildlife survey, released Tuesday, found about 6 million antelope. The survey over a two-week period last year in two national parks and nearby areas relied on observers in airplanes, nearly 60,000 photographs and the tracking of more than a hundred collared animals over about 46,000 square miles (120,000 square kilometers).
The estimate from the non-profit African Parks, which carried out the work together with the government, exceeds other large migratory herds such as the estimated 1.36 million wildebeests surveyed last year in the Serengeti across Tanzania and Kenya. But they warned that the animals face a growing threat from commercial poaching in a nation heavily armed and without strong law enforcement.
“Saving the last great wildlife migration on the planet is incredibly important,” said Mike Fay, a conservation scientist who led the survey. it’s causing massive disruption to the planet.”
The east African nation is still recovering from five years of fighting that erupted in 2013 and killed nearly 400,000 people. The elections scheduled for last year were postponed until last December, but little preparation is underway for those. Violence continues in some areas, with around 2 million people displaced and 9 million – 75% of the population – dependent on humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.
Migration is already being talked about as a point of national pride by a country that wants to move beyond its conflict-ridden history. Migration billboards have recently gone up in the capital Juba, and the government has high hopes that the animals could one day become a tourist magnet.
South Sudan has six national parks and a dozen game reserves that cover more than 13% of the terrain. The migration extends from east of the Nile in the Badingilo and Boma parks to neighboring Ethiopia – an area roughly the size of the US state of Georgia. It includes four main antelopes, the white-eared kobe — of which there are approximately 5 million — the tiang, the Mongalla gazelle and the buccaneer.
The survey said some animals have increased from more limited numbers in 2010. But it described a “catastrophic” decline in most non-migratory species over the past 40 years, such as the hippopotamus, elephant and warthog. Associated Press journalists flying over the spectacular migration of thousands of antelope last week saw a few giraffes and no elephants, lions or cheetahs.
Trying to protect the animals over such a large terrain is challenging.
In recent years, people have increased access to markets on new roads, which increases poaching. Years of flooding caused crop failure which left people with little choice but to hunt for food. Approximately 30,000 animals were killed every month between March and May this year, according to African Parks.
Protecting wildlife is not a government priority. Less than 1% of its budget is allocated to the wildlife ministry, which said it does not have enough cars to move rangers around to protect animals. Those supervisors say they have not been paid a salary since October and poachers are out of the picture.
The President of South Sudan, HE Salva Kiir Mayardit, said the country is committed to turning its wealth of wildlife into sustainable tourism. He asked the Ministry of Wildlife to prioritize training and equipping rangers to fight poaching.
Matthew Kauffman, an associate professor of zoology at the University of Wyoming who specializes in migration and ecosystem research, said the work fits into a growing global effort “to map those migrations.” One advantage is being smarter when landscapes are developed to make way. for these seasonal movements, he said.
Villagers near the fields told AP they hunted mostly to feed their families or to barter for goods.
A new paved road between Juba and Bor – the heart of the illegal bushmeat trade – has made it easier for lorries to transport large numbers of animals. Bor sits along the Nile, about 27 miles (45 kilometers) from Badingilo Park. In the dry season, animals that come closer to home to drink are at risk of being killed.
Officials at the wildlife ministry in Bor told AP that animal killings had doubled in the past two years.
Even when those involved in the industry are caught, the consequences can be small. A few years ago, when wildlife rangers came to arrest Lina Garang for selling animals, she said they let her go, instead telling her to do business more discreetly. Garang, 38, said his competition has only grown, with 15 new shops opening along his strip to buy and sell animals.
Part of the challenge is that there is no national land management plan, so roads and infrastructure are built without first discussing the best place. The government also allocated an oil concession to a South African company in the center of Badingilo which covers almost 90% of the field.
African Parks wants to modernize the country and preserve the wildlife. The organization has been criticized in the past for not engaging enough with communities and for taking an overly militaristic approach in some of the nearly two dozen areas it manages in Africa.
The group says its strategy in South Sudan is focused on community relations and aligning the benefits of wildlife and economic development. One plan is to create land reserves that would be managed by local communities, with input from national authorities.
African Parks has set up small hubs in some remote villages and is spreading messages about sustainable practices, such as not killing female animals or children.
Peter Alberto, Undersecretary for the Ministry of wildlife, conservation and tourism, said that the government hopes that the migration can be a matter of pride, and that it will reshape the world’s perception of South Sudan.
For tourism, that may take some time. There are no hotels or roads to host people near the parks, and the only option is high-end tours that a tour company official calls only “high-risk” audiences. There is fighting between tribes and attacks by gunmen in the area, and pilots told AP that they were shot while flying.
Will Jones, chief exploration officer of Journeys by Design, a UK-based tour company, charges about $150,000 per person for a weeklong tour of South Sudan. He said there is no strong demand.
Locals who want to protect the wildlife say it is difficult to change people’s attitudes.
In the remote village of Otallo on the border with Ethiopia, young men have started buying motorbikes. It only takes a five-hour day trip on foot to cross the border to sell animals, allowing them to double the number of animals they take and make multiple trips.
One of them, Charo Ochogi, said he would rather be doing something else but there are few options, and he is not worried about the animals being gone.
“The kob is not finished. They will reproduce,” he said.
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