Geography in Sudan
Sudan is located in northeastern Africa and as the third largest country with an area of almost 2 million km², it covers more than six percent of the African continent. Its immediate neighbors are Egypt in the north, Libya and Chad in the north-west and west, and the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the south-west, south and south-east of the country. In the northeast, Sudan has an 853 km long coastline on the Red Sea and thus a waterway connection to the Indian Ocean.
Geomorphologically, Sudan is shaped by the basin landscape of the Nile and its peripheral mountains. In the northeast of the Red Sea rises the mountains of the Jibal al-Bahr al-Ahmar, which reaches a height of 2259 m. The south-western edges of the basin are formed by the North Equatorial and Central African Sill, which act as a watershed between the Nile and Congo systems. In the west, a basalt mountain rises on the Marra plateau, which forms the geographical border with the Chad basin and culminates in the 3,088 meter high mountain Marra, which is also the highest mountain in Sudan. In the center of the country are the Nuba Mountains, between 500 and 1325 meters high. In the north, the country turns west of the Nile into the Libyan Desert and east of the Nile into the Nubian Desert, which already belong to the Sahara.
Most of the precipitation falling on the land reaches the Mediterranean via the Nile, only a few, mostly dry coastal rivers also transport the rainfalls falling in the eastern part of the country to the Red Sea.
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Flora and fauna in Sudan
Depending on the climatic conditions, the vegetation in Sudan is also different. While the deserts and semi-deserts in the north of the country are at best covered with sparse vegetation of acacias and tamarisks, the thorn-bush savannas predominate in the Sahel to the south. With the transition to the Republic of South Sudan, extensive dry and moist savannahs with tall grass and acacia vegetation followed, in which baobab trees can also be found here and there. Firewood felling and overgrazing represent a major environmental hazard here, which promotes soil erosion. The forest stock in Sudan decreased by 1.4 percent between 1990 and 2000.
In the beginning of the savannah region, in addition to large predators such as lions, leopards and hyenas, giraffes, gazelles, buffaloes, ostriches and elephants as well as some birds of prey and carrion can be found. The rivers of the Nile are populated with crocodiles and hippos as well as numerous water birds. The Nile swamp area of the Sudd is inhabited by a number of fish species which, among other things, represent the livelihood of the local population.
National parks and nature conservation in Sudan
In Sudan, 16 protected areas have been designated for the protection of various ecosystems and for the preservation and reconstruction of woody plants, flora and fauna, four of which have national park status.
The best known is the Dinder National Park, which was set up in 1935 and now extends over an area of 10,000 km² , in the east of Sudan and on the border with Ethiopia. Other national parks in Sudan are the Mountain Hassania National Park, the Radom National Park and the Suakin Archipelago National Park. An important marine reserve is the coral reef of the Sanganeb Atoll on the Red Sea.
Appropriate sanctuaries have been set up at various lakes and in wetlands to protect the birds that live there.
