Kidepo National Park

Kidepo Valley National Park

The park is 1,442km with an altitude ranging from 914m and 2,750m above sea level. The park contains two rivers; Kidepo and Narus that disappear during the dry season leaving pools for wildlife. The national park lies in the rocky, semi valleys between Uganda’s borders with Kenya and Sudan. It was gazette as a national park in 1962 and hosts 77 mammal species as well as 475 bird species. It’s the most isolated park but those who have managed to visit it, have enjoyed the adventure beneath this national park.

Activities carried out in Kidepo National Park

Game drives

These are tracks where you can meet the wild of Africa without any crowds. You get a chance of see best of Africa while on a game drive. The game drives in the park depend mainly on where you stay, for apoka lodge rate; you have two activities included in the total price. With Kidepo game drives, you hire a vehicle from the park with a ranger guide on board. The many wildlife species to be seen include; leopards, lions, kobs, antelopes, waterbuck, giraffes, and many bird species.

Nature walks/ Hiking

The park has got many beautiful places for nature and bush walks. There are many other places outside the park area where you can go for a hike like an all day hike up the Morungole Mountains to be able to visit the IK people, one of the smallest ethnic groups in Uganda. Within the park, you can hike or climb including the Idi Amin’s dream lodge that was never completed. All the nature walks and hikes are guided by Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers.

Bird watching

This is a birding paradise to those who are bird lovers. There are 463 species of birds recorded, 14 including Egyptian vulture, pygmy falcon, verreaux’x eagle and many more. These are endemic to Kidepo and Karamoja region. This national park is the only where you can find the common ostrich , their eggs are harvested for breeding purposes by Uganda Wildlife Authority in order to double their numbers in the park. You can have a great bird walk with variety of birds to be seen. The other common species include; kori bustard, ostrich, yellow billed and Jackson’s hornbills, secretary bird and the Abyssinian ground hornbill.

Karamoong Village visit ( Manyattas)

The Karamojong people are known to be warriors and normally referred to as the wild west of Uganda. Their pride is mainly in their cattle and in the past cattle raids were the rule of the day. Things have changed then since these people have become more passive in nature; these engage in cattle keeping and carry out subsistence farming. It’s an arid region and people have to walk miles to find water. This is a cultural visit that you will find very interesting and will give you insights into the genuine Africa as well as the views of the karamojong people who live and are related to the maasai people.

A visit to the IK people

You also need an early morning start to hike up the Monrungole mountains for a visit with the IK tribe. It’s one of the original tribes in the Northeast of Uganda. These were her for a long time and the Karamajong entered their land. These total to 10,000 and the first university student from the IK community as enrolled at Kampala international university. Get to learn about their culture and ways. The activity adds one day to your safari to Kidepo Valley Park. The hike is not so easy and it takes 8 hours. Its climb is so steep; part of the adventure includes giving gifts to the Ike people since it’s the custom.