Kidepo Valley

Kidepo Valley National Park is at 1,442km sq. at an altitude between 914m and 2,750m above sea level. The park lies in the rugged, semi-arid valleys between Uganda’s borders with Sudan and Kenya. Due to its 700km distance from Kampala (Uganda’s capital), it comes across as the least-explored wildlife estate, but the few who make the long journey north through the wild frontier region of Karamoja would agree that it is also the most magnificent, for Kidepo ranks among Africa’s finest wildernesses and that’s the beauty about visiting it as it has a profusion of big game and hosts over 77 mammal and 475 bird species.

 Its open Savannah plains are extensive and you are guaranteed to spot a wide variety of animals on both the day and night game drives such as bat-eared-fox, side-striped jackal, Leopard, and black-backed jackals, Lions, Jackson’s hartebeest, Oribi, klipspringer, Uganda kob, Elephants, Cheetahs and Giraffes that were translocated from Murchison Falls National Park. You can also get to see at least five primate species such as the Patas monkeys and Baboon among others

For birdwatchers they get a chance to see many species inclusive of the biggest bird species on earth, Ostriches. Kidepo’s popular species include Abyssinian roller, Rufous chatterer, Jackson’s hornbill, Northern carmine bee-eater, Abyssinian scimitar bill, Purple grenadier, Chestnut weaver, Golden pipit, Pygmy falcon, D’Arnaud’s barbet.  You can also get a chance of spotting raptors, with 56 species so far recorded. The best time to see migratory birds is from November to April

The local communities around the par such as; the pastoral Karamojong people that are similar to the Masai of Kenya. These are cattle keeping people who are slowly transitioning from their traditional nomadic way of life. Their homesteads comprise of exquisitely built huts called “manyattas”. Also, if you have time you can hike to the IK tribe, a hunter-gatherer tribe whose survival is threatened. Visiting this tribe is challenging as they stay up on Mount murongole (2,749m. The trail is 8km long and therefore one has to be very fit to hike to the villages but this is worth it as this gives you an off beaten track and authentic African experience.

Activities that you can do in the park; Day and Night game drives, bird watching, nature walks, community visits.