Sudd

Sudd, also as-Sudd, swampy lowland, southern Republic of Sudan, in eastern central Africa. The region is about 320 km (200 mi) long and about 360 km (225 mi) wide. It is fed by major tributaries of the White Nile, including the Bahr al-Arab. Because the gradient of the land is so low, the rivers' waters spread to form many slow-moving watercourses. The region is densely grown with papyrus and floating water plants, known in Arabic as sudd, and is unnavigable by anything but shallow-draft, small boats.

The Dinka and Nuer peoples traditionally lived with their cattle, sheep, and goats on the grassy plains between the watercourses until the return of civil war to Sudan in the 1980s forced them to flee their homes.