Uganda Destinations Kidepo Valley National Park

Kidepo Valley National Park is located 700 kilometers from Kampala, in the rugged, semi-arid valleys between Uganda’s borders with Sudan and Kenya. It was designated as a national park in 1962 and is home to a plethora of big game as well as over 77 mammal species and 475 bird species.

Kidepo is Uganda’s most remote national park, but those who travel north through the wild frontier region of Karamoja will agree that it is also the most beautiful, as Kidepo is one of Africa’s finest wildernesses. A savannah landscape stretches far beyond the gazetted area, towards horizons outlined by distant mountain ranges, from Apoka, in the park’s heart.

During the dry season, the park’s only source of permanent water is wetlands and remnant pools in the Narus Valley near Apoka. The Narus Valley is the park’s best game viewing location, thanks to its seasonal oases and open, savannah terrain.

PARK AT A GLANCE

  • Size: 1,442km2
  • The park’s altitude ranges between 914m and 2,750m above sea level.
  • The park contains 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.