Long-horned Sanga cattle swarm a dry season Dinka camp along the banks of the Nile near Bor, South Sudan, where the traditional pastoralists bring their beloved animals to graze. Few cultures are as passionate about their cows as the Dinka, for whom they provide milk, money for school, a dowry to marry, prestige in their community, even a connection to God. The cattle graze grasslands by day, and by night are brought into the traditional cattle camps where their keepers—young Dinka men and boys—learn how to milk and care for them, coating them and themselves with ashes from dung fires to keep biting insects at bay. Drought, flooding, and years of civil conflict left some 7.7 million South Sudanese—70 percent of the population—facing severe food insecurity in 2023. The Dinka have always faced food shortages between harvests, Dinka herders told Steinmetz, but the easy availability of automatic weapons in recent years has turned traditional conflicts like cattle raids into deadly encounters.
