8-Day Mundari Cattle Camps Expedition in South Sudan from Juba

Arrive in Juba, capital of the world's youngest country, on the banks of the White Nile. Meet your expedition leader, complete the registrations South Sudan still requires of every traveller, and take a first guided turn through the city - the river, the pace, the feel of a capital barely a decade and a half old - before an evening briefing over dinner on the days ahead.

Drive north out of Juba along the Nile road to Terekeka and out onto the floodplain, into Mundari country. Camp will be ready by the time the light lowers, and the day ends with the event the whole journey is built around: the herds returning across the plain at sunset, thousands of animals walking out of their own dust with ten-foot horns against the sky. The 4-day Express follows the same road, compressing the expedition to two nights here in the camps.

Wake in the dark to stand among the cattle as the first light comes through the dung-smoke, the hour photographers cross continents for. The whole day belongs to camp life: the milking, horns polished with ash, portraits and conversations over tea, boys leading calves, and the fires rebuilt at dusk. On the 4-day Express as on the 8-day route, this day is the heart of the expedition.

Spend a day outward from camp along the river, visiting neighbouring settlements and riverside communities, with fishing canoes on the White Nile and introductions made properly through our Mundari guides. Return to the herds for the evening fires and a night under more stars than most travellers have ever seen, one of the days the 4-day Express, with its two nights in the camps, has to leave out.

This is a deliberately flexible day, shaped by what the previous days have opened up: walking out to pasture with the herders, photography at an unhurried pace, a second dawn in the smoke, or simply the slow rhythm of the plains. Express travellers have already turned for Juba; this unhurried middle day belongs to the 8-day route, and it is when the camps stop being a spectacle and become a place.

Take in a last sunrise with the herds, then drive south at an easy pace with rural stops along the Nile road - villages, markets, whatever the morning offers. Reach Juba by late afternoon for a hot shower, a comfortable hotel, and a good dinner in the capital, with the smoke of the camps still on your gear.

Spend a full day in the young capital with our local guide, exploring the din and colour of Konyo Konyo market, workshops and artisans, the cathedral, and the cultural sites of a city assembling its own story, before reaching the bridge over the White Nile at golden hour. A farewell dinner by the river closes the expedition proper.

Have breakfast in Juba and transfer to the airport for onward flights, heading out over the White Nile and the floodplain where, somewhere below, the herds are already walking out to pasture.