The most isolated of all national parks in Uganda is Kidepo Valley National Park which is located in Kaabong District, in the North-eastern part of the country, covering about 1,442 square kilometres. The park lies in the rugged, semi-arid valleys between Uganda’s borders with Sudan and Kenya at about 700km from Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Exploring Uganda’s Most Isolated National Park is a truly exciting adventure and you can go by land or air and it is interesting to start your Uganda safari from this park.
The permanent source of water in Kidepo Valley National Park is the Kanangorok hot spring, located in the northern part of Kidepo on the boundary with South Sudan. The two rivers of Kidepo and Narus form two valley systems whose floors lie between 3,000feet and 4,000feet.
To avoid the long journeys from Kampala to Kidepo, take a domestic flight from Entebbe and easily access this remote park. These flights are arranged in advance to avoid inconvenience. The park is home to over eighty animal species, some of which do not exist in any other Uganda national park. Some of the rare animal species found in Kidepo include; cheetah, bat-eared fox, hunting dogs, striped hyena, roan antelopes, klipspringer, Beisa oryx among others. Other animal species in Kidepo Valley National Park include; lions, leopards, cape buffaloes, elands, bush duskier, elephants, bush pigs, bohor reed buck, Rothschild giraffes, Defassa water bucks, warthogs, oribi, Burchell’s zebras, Jackson’s hartebeests among many others.
Kidepo Valley National Park is home to over 460 species of birds, notable among which are the ostrich and the Kori bustard. Some of the bird species in Kidepo include; the Egyptian vulture, the pygmy falcon, varreaux’s eagle, Abyssinian ground hornbill, yellow-billed hornbill among many others.
Indulge the culture of Kidepo people. The Ik are one of the most reclusive tribes in Uganda and still live in a very high traditional manner. They live on top of the Morungole Mountain in seclusion.
A visit to the Ik tribes takes about 12-hour round which includes hikes. They are hospitable and prior bookings to visit them are made.
The Ketebo people who currently live in Torit in South Sudan also known as the Mening people while in Uganda are the inhabitants’ farmers and hunters of Kidepo Valley National Park and they lived in this area since 1800. The Katebo people are the sub tribe of Lango people in Uganda who are mostly referred to as the “Bira” people by the Europeans and also the Didinga call them the “Loceha/Loceka”. In 1958, it was made as the game reserves by the British administration so that to protect the animals from being hunted and further clearing of the bush in order to control the tsetse flies. The process evicted the residents who migrated to other areas like the Katebo people relocated to places of Bira like Napotpot, Kalo Kudo, Namosingo, Loriwo and Naurkori in South Sudan.
Take early morning game drives starting at 6:00 am; evening at around 4:00pm depending on how you have organized with the guide and lastly the night game drives starting at 7:00pm. Early morning game drives makes visitors catch the sun rise behind the mountain before flooding the valley then off for the whole day game drive to the ostrich farm and it is not any man made occurrence, but given the massive number of the birds one would compare it to this along, then we shall be able to view herds of elephants, cape buffalos, giraffes, lions, Cheetah, Leopards, Hyenas waterbucks, bat-eared fox, Bohor reedbuck, Oribi , aardwolf, dik-dik, caracal and then the hot springs at kanangorok. Use 4×4-wheel drive Safari Land cruiser.
The game drives are commonly done at Narus valley and Kidepo valley. So, at Narus valley, wildlife is most active very early in the morning (6:00am) and evening times (4:00pm). Kidepo Valley is short on big game but massive on scenery and the drive to Kanangorok Hot Springs passes some magnificent landscapes.
Kidepo offers breath-taking open savannah which is surrounded by spectacular mountain landscape nowhere to be seen in Africa! Kidepo Valley National Park is Uganda’s second biggest National Park and one of the Africa’s finest wilderness areas.
