Kidepo Valley National Park
Kidepo is Ugand’s 3rd largest park situated in the far north-eastern corner of Uganda along the border of Uganda with south Sudan and Kenya. It is the most isolated of all parks in Uganda, the most distant from Kampala therefore very few people go for that long journey to this park. Despite all that, this is the most the most beautiful park of all wildlife parks in the country and it’s not just because it is less congested but also because it has got its own unique feature like a really vast savannah landscape that goes even beyond the gazette areas while on the end one can see the distant mountain ranges. This is why it is listed among Africa’s best wildernesses.
In 1962, this place was declared a national park. It is also name after one of the two valleys found within the park called Kidepo valley while the other is called Narus Valley. Kidepo Valley National Park is a large as 1,442km² wide and lies about 914m above the sea level on its valley floor to about 2,750m on the peak of Mount Morungole that dominates its horizon.
Within Kidepo and Narus valleys are two seasonal rivers that supply water to the park but usually dry up during the dry season leaving behind smaller pools of water bodies from which animals drinking from until the rains return. Water pools from the seasonal rivers are usually the sources of water to animals that live in this park for the largest part of the year because this park is located in a rugged and semi arid area. Its semi-arid kind of open savanna vegetation, the seasonal rivers and sometime small pools of water as well as Low Mountains makes the park look really beautiful.
The very low number of tourists that visit this park has in some way helped preserved this park’s beauty and continue to flourish as an untouched wilderness. This park has about 86 species of mammals living there and they are spread across however, their concentration in either Narus valley basin or Kidepo is certainly affected by the amount of rainfall received in each of the valleys. Narus valley seems to receive more rain that Kidepo. Narus valley has got a variety of plant species including the shorter red oat grass, the guinea grass and many more species. In the drier parts of Narus valley are common trees like desert dates, sausage trees and in line of the watercourse, you will find the fan palms. This kind of vegetation encourages the stay of so many animals like the buffaloes, elephants, wild dogs, Rothschild giraffes, the greater and lesser Kuddus, lions, jakals. Bat eared foxes, spotted hyenas, there are leopards and cheetahs. And this is the only park in Uganda where leopard, cheetahs do co-exist with ostriches. Within Kidepo valley are also some streams of water formed during the rainy season. There are scattered palms and around the higher altitudes there are lots of whistling thorn acacias bushes.
More to the wildlife are birds. There are over 476 different species of birds living in Kidepo national park including the ostriches. About 60 of these are only found within Kidepo national park and nowhere else in Uganda for example the rose –ringed parakeets, the clapperton’s francolin birds and many more others. There are like 56 different species of raptors but the most common ones are the eagles and hawks. There are plenty of vultures as well. Other birds include the northern carmine bee eater, the Absyssinian scimitar bill bird, among others.
Kidepo also has got one of the most interesting cultural tours which include a lot of interactions with and entertainment from the Karamojong people. It is the only time you get to meet them in their home and learn more about them and their life style.
Kidepo national park offers the best night game drives compared to any other park because there are higher chances of seeing the leopards in additional to plenty of other nocturnal animals. This also have got the best sceneries that even from your hotel balcony, you can sit and enjoy the vast savannah grassland that cuts across a large section of the park.
If you’re looking for a memorable experience, Kidepo national park is one of the places you cannot miss visiting. You can plan your trip any time of the year, you need to book especially the hotel/ accommodation where you will be spending your nights before the travel dates to avoid being disappointed since there are not so many accommodation facilities in Kidepo.