Massacre Survivors Cling to Life in Giant Swamp
In a swamp where people fleeing war survive on water lilies, the world’s newest country envisions a World Heritage site.
NYAL, South Sudan — The war came to Leer on a Sunday morning in May 2015. William Dak and Margaret Nyakume spotted government troops approaching the remote South Sudanese town and ran into the tall grass behind their home. From this hiding spot, they watched as soldiers raped Margaret's cousin and set fire to houses with people trapped inside. For six hours, Margaret silently wondered if this was the end of her life.
As night fell, the couple followed what countless generations before them had done in dangerous times: They fled into the swampy expanse of the Sudd, where the Nile River’s tributaries bleed into a vast wetland that holds one of the richest collections of wildlife and biodiversity in the
