Ben Wilhelmi

South Sudan, people

 

Are they really soldiers or just guys with weapons. Discipline and proper training seem a strange concept here… I have seen many times these soldiers refusing to obey their commanders, which implied some fighting to get them straight. In one case I was involved in the fighting. 50 soldiers, yes 50, had boarded my 13 seater and wouldn’t budge! So when the commander and some abiding soldiers invited me to help to remove the mutineers, I enjoyed the game, happily enjoyed a few kicks to relieve some piled up frustration..

 

Authentic  piercing.

 

Juba, the capital is dirty and not everybody has access to water. Those faucets are available here and there.

 

 

 

After a public appearance for women’s rights somewhere in the bush. Not sure the men were convinced…

 

 

Fashion in any situation. What a hat!

Aviation pictures, South Sudan

 

A slow Mi 8 is so easy to overtake.

 

A huge Mi 26 on take off.

 

A Il 76 taking off on a wet runway.

 

A An 12 getting loaded. The truck won’t board.

 

View from my hotel. Some planes like the Il 76 just fill up the frame, they are so big…and so low!

This picture hasn’t been cropped. The lens is a 28mm…

 

The Il 76 which can carry 34 tons, legally…I've heard of 41 tons.

Juba, street photography

 

Convenient earphones when the passenger screams.

 

 

 

A rare Land Rover in South Sudan. Bloody Land Cruisers everywhere.

 

 

 

Random pictures in South Sudan

 

The classic scam about witchcraft to recover lost love, job promotion, penis enlargement…

 

Indian contingent in Pibor. They are always fully geared up with weapons and bulletproof jackets to welcome aircraft and their supplies….

 

A mechanic working on a Mi 26 main rotor. One could build a nice little house in such a helicopter, like on a Boeing 727.

 

Surprise a Russian Mi 8 poorly parked on Yirol airstrip.

 

 

Juba, a Mi 8 hovering, faffing around before finally landing between parked Mi 8’s. Why not use the runway and taxi as usual…?

 

 

Swampy area alongside the Nile.

 

Tiny rapids on the Nile, Ugandan border.

 

Bush fire, Congolese border towards Yambio.

South Sudan, random pictures

 

 

A Mi 8 over the Nile, slow beasts, they are so easy to overtake.

 

A Belgian project in Bor. Some spelling mistakes on top of “Delgique”…Belgique would have looked nicer.

 

This kid and friends wait for passengers and carry their luggage.

 

A wheelbarrow will do too.

 

 

 

 

Middle of nowhere, Pibor. And nice manners have arrived here I have no clue how. Pilots? UN peacekeepers?

 

I always feel safer whenever I see a weapon to honor my arrival.

 

Juba, an Antonov 26 taking off after the rain.

Street photography, Juba, South Sudan

 

I’ve found many similarities with the Tanzanian streets where I have lived for 15 years.

 

A lady starts her business, a food stall,  in the morning, at the foot of an abandoned building.

 

South Sudanese men wear their suits the proper size, not 3 sizes too big.

 

Car accessories.

 

Those death traps have arrived en masse in this country too.

 

Some main streets in Juba and their attractive road businesses.

 

Ok to be honest a few roads are tarmacked. Here is a Japanese peace keeper vehicle.  The Japanese group here is for instance rebuilding the airport. But if need be they seem to have a defensive mission, providing they received a timely authorization from New York UN headquarters that is. In any case, like other nationalities of Blue Helmets I’ve seen, they don’t relax too much, weapons and other gear are never too far.  Well look at this vehicle, the alertness of the soldier on top…and that is just to cross Juba, quite peaceful nowadays.

Some pictures in South Sudan

 

A tourist(?) market, well NGO people fall in that category somewhat.

I’ve been warned, Sudanese people can be cagey about pictures, especially the thousands of men sitting and doing nothing, well apparently. They are called security men. If true they made a special effort to look poor and craggy. So they’d be happy to jump on an unsuspecting photographer under the pretense of security. Secuwhat? The place is just a big dump behind rebuilt…but any way, any excuse to make some money is good enough.  So street photography is not as easy as in Tanzania…

 

I can see many similarities though.

 

I thought I had been spotted by Mr Darkglasses here but no action followed.

“Keep Juba clean”, yes please, the place is the dirtiest town I have seen so far.

 

I suppose one has to cope with the hurdles of a country being under reconstruction. Not everybody can afford a modern steel and glass office .

 

Cool name for a bank? Well is there any elephant in this country?

 

Happy ladies in Agok.

 

Unfazed kids: my gesture to shoo them away from the airstrip were ignored. They were still there when I took off…

some flying tools, South Sudan

 

That speck on the left is my aircraft, a Caravan 208 containing 13 passengers or a good ton of cargo. Imagine what this monster of an helicopter can carry! Yes, a Caravan for instance. This is a Mi 26.

 

An Antonov 12, eco friendly in appearance….

 

2 views of the Ilyushin 76. Ex military aircraft. Seen from close, the gunner posts and the bomb master glass nose are visible.

 

A Hawker Siddeley 748.

 

2 legends: above the Hercules C 130. Below the Boeing 707. I still have to go and sniff around that one!

Especially the small tail on the left, Mig 19?

 

Antonov 26. Notice the propeller tips creating vapor vortices in the humid morning.

I brought my new 2nd hand Leica M8 here, and to avoid any jealousy between girls, I brought my old M6 (film camera). Fancy team.

South Sudan, random pictures

 

Red Cross, World Food Program, Médecins Sans Frontières…quite a few humanitarian organisations are operating from Juba airport. This is a Caravan 208, the same model I fly on here in Juba.

 

The White Nile and its smaller meanders, ponds and various waterways. I wonder how fishermen find their way in there. I learnt that the Blue Nile from Ethiopia provides 95% of water and sediments to the Nile. No wonder the Egyptians squeal when they hear the word "dam" in Ethiopia. I had been wondering what kind of river this White Nile was. It never looks great in tern of water flow.

 

Some Russian mechanics used our airplane to salvage spare parts from an Antonov 26 in Lokichoggio. Here is a turbine exhaust pipe. The scary part was that the airplane and the dismounted engines had been exposed to the elements for years and these guys were planning to reuse the engines…

 

Some stickers need replacements…

 

The White Nile, this picture sums up pretty well the South Sudanese landscape along the Nile…

 

 

Rubkona, a HS 748 crashed on landing, pretty badly. One crew died, another one hasn’t fully recovered.

Nobody bothered to clean up the scattered bits.

 

Juba airport, some Ilyushin 76’s, noisy overloaded monsters.

South Sudan, random pictures

 

Juba International airport, my new base. A Caravan is dwarfed by the huge Ilyushin 76s.

 

A nicely decorated airfield, Rubkona. A bigger plane crashed on landing and rammed into these jeeps. I initially thought they had been blown up in fighting. An easy mistake to do since there were some skirmishes in the village the very morning I landed there.

 

The legendary Mi 8 Russian helicopter, a workhorse. Notice the UN peacekeepers.

 

Juba suburb.

 

Another famous craft, the Ilyushin 76, or Il 76. At least 7 of them are based in Juba, packing up the apron.

 

The Nile in Juba.

 

After the flood.

 

The famous Dinka cows with huge horns. I need to see them from close and bring a better picture.

Arrival in South Sudan

 

So the company I fly for in Arusha has sent the Caravan 208 in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. I flew from Mwanza to Juba over Uganda. Did you know the Nile has different names over its course? Blue or white, that’s famous, but Victoria Nile, Albert Nile, Aswa…? I learnt something anyway. I noticed all of this on the 20 year old maps (the latest version! I’m not sloppy).

20 years of war, 3 years only since independence and currently the worst humanitarian crisis according to the UN. The rebuilding of this new country is in full swing nevertheless. So mishaps and various peculiarities are to be expected.

Like a twisted visa printer (100$ for a one month visa)

 

Like a soldier with flipflops, thought the rest of his fatigue was crisp.

 

Like a serious need in marketing for these 2 companies.

I know children who would have done a better painted job.

 

Many offices have no choices but to occupy these modified containers. Fine but the dirty surroundings…? My new company has a neat place though.