Kidepo National Park
Kidepo National park is approximately 1,445 sq. kilometers in size and it’s a national park which is located in the Karamoja region in the Northeast part of Uganda. The park is a rugged savannah terrain which is dominated by 3000 meters on Mount Morungole, it’s transected by the Narus Rivers and Kidepo.
Kidepo National park is found near the Karenga region in the Kaabong District which is in the northeastern corner of Uganda. The park is approximately 300 Kilometers in the northwest of Moroto. This is the largest town in the sub-region, taking 530 kilometers by road to the northeast part of Kampala City the capital city of Uganda.
Kidepo National park, part of the northwestern park is along the international frontier with Bira South Sudan which is at the Kidepo Game Reserve.
Kidepo National park protects a number of wildlife species. The park has a hot spring in the north sector called the Kanangorok in Lotukei close to the south Sudan boundary. This spring is permanent in the park.
There is soil in the park called the clayey and it is black chalky clay and sandy clay with loam soil in it. The Narus valley has red clays and loams.
The Narus valley was named by the Amening Ketebo clan. These were the people who lived in the valley.
Kidepo Valley National park has primary grasses in the Narus valley which are red Oat grass and taller bunchy Guinea grass and fine thatching grass.
The park hosts over 90 mammal species which includes wild dogs, Zebras, African Buffaloes, Giraffes, Leopards, spotted Hyena, Rothschild’s giraffe, Bat-eared foxes, Cheetahs, Lions and many more. There over 500 bird species in the park.
The park is managed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and the USAID program had a hand in financing the improvement of the roads within the park sectors.
Kidepo Valley National park used to be home to a big number of Rothschild giraffes which were poached and only three remained in the early years. However, in 1997 there was a translocation of Giraffes from Lake Nakuru National Park.
You can enjoy game viewing on a dirt road that divides the western and southern of the park. Few of the roads are murram and one can use them in all weather conditions.
Kidepo Valley National park is located in the Rocky semi-arid Karamoja to the deep remote with harbor sceneries that cannot be found in the national parks of East Africa.
Kidepo Valley National park is bordered by Kenya and Sudan, with amazing breathtaking sceneries, which end in the rocky horizon. The park is recorded among the best areas for birdlife. There are over 500 species of birds, and it’s ranked as the second to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The bird species include yellow billed shrike, Broad-tailed warblers, Crimson rumped waxbillood, African Moustached, Marsh Tchagra, silver bird Superb Starling, Vinaceous Dove, Brown-backed Woodpecker, Hoopoe, Little Green Bee-eater, Long-tailed, Standard-winged Nightjars, White-bellied Tit, Mosque Swallow, Karamoja Apalis, Nubian Woodpecker, Red-fronted among other species. The ostrich though is the most sought in this park.
Kidepo Valley National park mammal species include Elephants, Buffaloes, lions, Beisa Oryx, Lesser Kudu plus Grant’s gazelle. However among the commonly seen species are Elephants, oribis, Burchell’s zebras, Jackson’s hartebeests, bush pigs, cape buffaloes, bohor reedbucks, warthogs, defassa waterbucks, Rothschild giraffes, bush duskier and elands, bushbucks, in addition to lions, common zebras, leopards, plus a number of small cats such as the side-striped jackal, Kongoni, black-backed jackal and spotted hyena.
Kayirondo bushbaby can also be spotted in Kidepo park. There other numerous Oribis that are within the Narus Valley. The dries thornier areas in the north inhabit the Guenther’s Dik Dik. There Senegal Galago and white tailed mongoose that visit the camps as well at night, however, their best seen at night during a game drive.
There a number of animal species in the park and in the year of 1971, there were over 80 mammal species and over 29 species can only be found in the Kidepo National park and the Karamoja region.
There is the support of rich diversity of reptile species, resting in the tree branches of the sausage trees which are found close to the Narus Valley, as you’re slopping to Apoka park headquarters.
In Kidepo National park, you will enjoy a hike to the top of the Lamoj Mountains, and it’s covered by Borassus palm forests. It’s a broad flatbed and it’s always dry during all seasons of the year. It takes over 12 Kilometers from Kidepo Valley where Kanangorok hot springs are located.
You can do cultural tourism by visiting communities where you’ll enjoy traditional dances and drummers such as the Emuya of the Nyangia and the Naporre ethnic group Larakaraka and the Apiti dances of the Acholi people, and the money collected is used for the welfare and uplifting. You will also visit the Karamojong and learn from there culture.
Kidep National park, is a wilderness in Africa, enjoy a great Kidepo Tour by booking your tour with us.
