Bor

Bor occupies the eastern bank of the White Nile at the southern edge of the Sudd, the vast wetland at the centre of South Sudan. The river, called Bahr al Jabal here, forms the essential route through a landscape of seasonal water, grazing land and floodplain. It is the homeland of the Bor Dinka, one of the large Dinka sections of the Nilotic cattle peoples.

Life here rests on cultivation, fishing and livestock; cattle, goats and sheep are especially important, while access to the river supports fishing. Herders move between riverside pastures in the dry season and higher ground when the floods spread, and families grow sorghum on the better-drained soil. The broad wetlands make movement vary with water levels, and the river is the natural link northward along the Nile. Bor sits where river, floodplain and cattle country meet at the southern threshold of the Sudd.