| GEOGRAPHY |
Sudan is bordered by
Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast,
Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east, Kenya,
Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo to the south, the Central African
Republic and Chad to the west, and Libya
to the northwest. There is a marked difference
between the climate, culture and geography
of northern and southern Sudan. The far
north consists of the contiguous Libyan
and Nubian Deserts which extend as far south
as the capital, Khartoum, and are barren
except for small areas beside the Nile River
and a few scattered oases. This gives way
to the central steppes which cover the country
between 15°N and 10°N, a region
of short, coarse grass and bushes, turning
to open savannah towards the south, largely
flat to the east but rising to two large
plateaux in the west and south, the Janub
Darfur (3088m/10,131ft) and Janub Kordofan
(500m/1640ft) respectively. Most of Sudan's
agriculture occurs in these latitudes in
a fertile pocket between the Blue and White
Niles which meet at Khartoum. South of the
steppes is a vast shallow basin traversed
by the White Nile and its tributaries, with
the Sudd, a 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles)
marshland, in the centre. This gives way
to equatorial forest towards the south,
rising to jungle-clad mountains on the Ugandan
border, the highest being Mount Kinyeti,
at 3187m (10,456ft). |
