Whereas as travellers have our desire and expectations, Kidepo is another wonder, since it makes you think you could have booked the park for yourself, here you will more or less find a few safari vehicles in the game drive, Being the true African wilderness, Kidepo is one of the untouched true paradises for the nature lovers, this park offers the best possibilities of viewing wildlife and is a heaven for anyone who likes to be in places that feels the true breath of wildlife, being the most isolated park in Uganda Kidepo has a few tourists, and this is what makes the adventure to this national park a dream for many.
After a very long wait, when you arrive in Kidepo, the place you smell adventure, nothing less, breath-taking sunrise views, myriad wildlife numbers, and landscape is unbelievable, you will realise that amazement has no boundaries and after being overwhelmed by the vibrancy, variety and vastness of this land, this place of transition will leave you changed forever and you want to stay forever
Whether you are looking for big cats, birds or even smaller creatures: Kidepo valley national park delivers. Even understanding and experiencing just a small part of this ecosystem will change your vision of our world and the environment.
The park boasts two rivers – Kidepo and Narus – which disappear in the dry season, leaving just pools for the wildlife.
The local communities around the park include pastoral Karamojong people, similar to the Maasai of Kenya, and the IK, a hunter-gatherer tribe whose survival is threatened.
Gazetted in 1962 as a national park, Kidepo Valley National Park lies in the rugged, semi-arid valleys between Uganda’s borders with South Sudan in the northwest and is 5km from the eastern border of Kenya, about a 700km distance from Kampala. This ecosystem has a profusion of big game and hosts over 77 mammal species and 476 bird species including the secretary bird
Kidepo is Uganda’s most isolated national park, 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. From Apoka, in the heart of the park, a savannah landscape extends far beyond the gazetted area, towards horizons outlined by distant mountain ranges. Which makes the relief rhythm a dream
During the dry season, the only permanent water in the park is found in wetlands and remnant pools in the broad Narus Valley near Apoka. These seasonal oases, combined with the open, savannah terrain, make the Narus Valley the park’s main game viewing location, especially with its dense populations of lions, Buffalos, elephants and much other wildlife.
Kidepo’s elephant population has increased from around 200 in the mid-1990s to between 650 and 1000 today. The African Buffalo population is now estimated at 10,000-15,000. The Rothschild Giraffe is very notable, breeding more than 50 individuals from the bottleneck of the mid-1990s population of three and supplemented several from translocation.
