Pictures in Juba

As readers might notice, I haven’t posted many actual pictures of South Sudan lately.  That’s mostly because, well, I haven’t taken many pictures recently.

Prior to last week’s sojourn to NBG, I hadn’t left Juba (other than for holiday) since a day in the field in August.  When I’m in Juba, I rarely carry my camera around with me anymore.

“Why?” one may ask.  Well… for reasons such as the one which showed up in my security sitrep today:

A UN staff, was arrested by SSPS Police at about 14:15 hrs for taking pictures of the new airport building and other buildings along the airport along OCHA road. UN Security and UN-POL intervened and the staff member was released at 15:15 hrs.

Places I’d rather not end up, even just for an hour?:  The Juba prison.
No thanks.  I have enough fun getting stopped at checkpoints.

That being said, I finally downloaded some of the pictures I’ve taken in the past few months.  And without further ado…

Sunset on drive home from Terekeka

One of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen. The sky looked like it had been painted with a swish of fire.  And to counter, the next morning I awoke to find an equally stunning complement:

Sunrise in Juba

Sometimes being a horrible sleeper is a good thing when it means you wake up and are treated to Mother Nature’s art.

Another day, I tried capturing a picture of a solid Juba storm rolling in.  It’s difficult to capture in a 2D image, but I like the color contrast in this one.

Wicked awesome? Let's say yes. (And not touched up even one small bit)

And then just for fun, here’s a series of two pictures I find amusing which show the stark difference between rainy season and, well, not.  Back in February I traveled to Terekeka on a field visit.  While there, we visited one of our sites, and then in August we returned again.  In February, it was about 45*C, and hadn’t rained in weeks. In August, it was peak rainy season and about 30*C.

February

August

Amazing what a little [months-long deluge of] rain can do.

Now that these have uploaded, I remember another reason why I’ve gravitated this blog towards more and more MS Paint pictures: much faster upload time.  Silly large .jpeg files.