Aerial view of the Badingilo National Park. (Photo: Courtesy).

The Minister of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism has announced plans to transition Jonglei landscape, Boma and Badingilo national parks from simple conservation areas to income generating tourists destinations.

Gen. Rizik Zachariah Hassan said he will lead a delegation to the areas later in February – to assess possible development of infrastructure facilities including road networks.

Gen Hassan Hassan was speaking in a meeting on Thursday with Peter Gozulu Maze, Chief Administrator of Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), and Deputy Minister of Information, Communication Technology, and Postal Services, Jacob Maiju Korok.

The officials discussed cooperation strategies between the ministry and the GPAA to achieve national tourism development goals.

In the meeting, Minister Hassan highlighted the importance of transitioning the wildlife management from mere conservation to utilizing wildlife resources for tourism development.

He later told the media that the plan aims to boost eco-tourism, create economic opportunities for local communities, and further develop South Sudan’s tourism sector.

“We have a joint interest which oscillates along the migrations and the areas is very attractive and has a lot of opportunities when it comes to wildlife aspects,” he said.

“We have discussed the second aspect which is transition. All along, we have been managing the resources there on the ground without efficiently utilizing it. But today, we have started planning for transition it from conservation into utilizing it in terms of tourism.”

In January 2025, a World Bank assessment on South Sudan’s renewable resources, found that the country’s fisheries, forestry, and wildlife can generate more than billions of U.S. dollars annually from investments if properly managed.

The report highlighted that the restoration and management of wildlife in South Sudan could benefit the country by tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

The report added with a well-managed harvesting of migratory antelope populations in the Boma-Badingilo-Jonglei landscape (BBJL) alone, the country could reap could a sustainable annual offtake valued at round 61 million US dollars.