Security by the Nile

This week I've been doing some security training - this is important so that I know how to hibernate/relocate/evacuate from a field site effectively, assess a safe and secure compound and know what to put in my 'quick-run bag' should the unthinkable happen and I need to trek through the wilderness for 4 days to find safety. Better to be safe than sorry, as the saying goes.

So, I sit down for our tea and cake break yesterday morning and say to the Irish guy next to me, "hey, I didn't know there was a river in Juba", "yes Gemma," he replies "its the Nile!" He smiles as an embarrassed look crosses my face. I left uni less than a month ago and it seems I've already forgotten basic geography. Shameful. Needless to say, struck with geography-style, celebrity-ism, awe, I took my camera out and captured a few snaps. The real life Nile, ladies and gents:

The Nile framed by the fairly unsightly barriers and barbed wire that keep people from falling in and undesirables climbing on-land. 

A slightly wonky photo of a man fishing on the Nile with a building in the background that I apparently shouldn't have been taking a picture of - they're fairly touchy about you taking pictures of things in S. Sudan.

In my defence, Google maps doesn't have rivers on it*, so I hadn't noticed the course of the Nile when looking up Juba before I came. I realised that I need to get a proper map of the area detailing all the important geographical features - I wonder if they've made any yet?!

* Doh! I just realised Google maps does have rivers on it. Ok, ok, I just didn't do my homework!