Kidepo Valley National Park

Kidepo Valley National Park

Kidepo Valley National Park lies in the rugged, semi arid valleys between Uganda's borders with Sudan and Kenya, some 700 km from Kampala. It was gazzeted as a national park in 1962, it has a profusion of big game and hosts over 77 mammal species as well as around 475 bird species.

Kidepo is Uganda's most isolated 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 Wilderness. From Apoka in the heart of the park, a savannah landscape extends far beyond the gazetted area, towards horizons outlined distant mountain ranges.

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 prime game viewing location.

The park contains two rivers-Kidepo and Narus- which dissapear in the dry season, leaving just pools for the wildlife.

The local communities around the park include pastoral Karamojong people, similar to the Masaai of Kenya, and the IK, a hunter-gatherer tribe whose survival is threatened.