Kidepo Valley National Park: One of Africa’s Best Destination
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The Kidepo Valley National Park is situated in a remote corner of northeastern Uganda bordering both Kenya and South Sudan, the park has rarely been visited by tourists due to expenses and difficulty of accessing, however currently getting more popular. The park is a true African wilderness destination for safaris adventure with rough mountains, often lost in rain clouds, enclosing the park.
Zebras and other wildlife sightings in the wildness
The word Kidepo comes from Dokoth verb ‘akidep’ meaning to “pick up” where the park derives its name Kidepo Valley National and is settled on 1442 square kilometer open also known for its unique culture the karamojongo. The tribe that dances to the beat of their own drums who defied the current civilization holding to the ancient way of life and locally known as pastoralists claiming to own all long horned cattle in Uganda. The park was established in 1958 as a game reserve and become a national park in 1962.
Kidepo national park was occupied by the mighty armed warriors the Karamonjongo and the Ik but was gazetted as a game reserve by the British colonial government in 1958 and in 1962 it was changed to a national park by Milton Obote’s government who was by then the Ugandan prime minister. The park has gone through several Management’s starting from the first Chief Warden Ian Ross.
The park can be accessed from different routes including Kampala Soroti through Amuria to the Kidepo park 592km/h, the route is the most rewarding with scenic view of wildness and the kejongos people in their communities along the way, watching the Manyatta and there chances of viewing half naked person on your drive through the region. From Kampala through Moroto to Kidepo covers a distance of 684km/h driving through Matheniko and Piena Upe game reserves and from Kampala through Kitgum to the park is 575km/h and park is raised at the altitude of 914mm to 2,750mm above sea level.
The most permanent source of water is the kanangorok hot springs found in the extreme north of the park in the South Sudan’s boarder. It has excellent wildlife viewing during the Dry season, featuring several species not encountered anywhere else in the country. The large, open plains make Kidepo feel more like parks in neighboring countries than in Uganda
Sunny days and thin vegetation make the Dry season (September to March) the best time to go for wildlife watching in Kidepo, this is also when animals go searching for a dependable source of water. An advantage of exploring Kidepo when the rains come is that the dust and heat tend to get washed away, and the birding.
This is a sole park in Uganda where visitors can sight both Zebras and Giraffes and on rare occessions you can sight the white Buffalos. There numbers of activities that tourist can engage in while in Kidepo Valley Nation Park from the two sections of the park, the Narus Valley with highest concentration of animals due to visibility of water throughout the year at Narus River and the best observation for games is Narus dam. The Narus valley is also endowed with over 500 bird species more especially on the river banks, some of the birds to be seen here are; Carmine, secretary bird, ostrich, Kori bustard, Abyssinian ground hornbill, yellow billed hornbill, Karamoja apalis, black breasted barbet, silver shrike, Nubian woodpecker, Vivacious bird, Hoopoe, scarlet chested sun bird, white bellied go away bird, singing bush lark and little Weaver to mention a few.
A female setting for a day meal, what a memorable safari?
And the Kidepo basin, this part of the park is mainly covered with montane topography and is rarely visited due to its far distance from the park headquarter at Apoka.
The park has arguably the most diverse fauna of any park in the country. It is particularly rich in predators, including lion, leopard and bat-eared fox, black-backed and side-striped jackal are both present. There are large herds of buffalo, twelve antelope species occur in the park. One hundred Uganda kob were transferred into the park (from Murchison Falls) in 2017 and there are plans to reintroduce white rhino in the future.
The park inhabits the big four games including herds of elephants, Buffalo grassing in the scenic savannahs leopards and lions on a special night game drive there chance to encounter them actively hunting accompanied by many other animals including tower of giraffes, herds of bushbuck, Uganda kobs, orib, zebras, warthogs, water bucks, Kudus, fox, hyena, aardwolf, Jackals, Jackson heart beast, eland, dik dik, ostrich, cheater, civet, hunting dog and very many great encounters.
Around are the indigenous interesting karamojongo people. It’s worth visiting these people, they are believed to be behind the time by the other of the people in Uganda. Besides being backward they cringed on their traditional beliefs like rejected other foreign religions in Uganda and insisted on their own Akuj god whom they believe gives them all the cattle they own. Visiting communities around Kidepo valley national park like Lurukul cultural community rewards with direct interaction and it’s an opening to explore the exotic practices and norms of the Karamojongo people, cultural entertainment like in traditional dances and the process of selecting a lover to marry.
Visiting the manyattas, the housing style of Karamojongos can have a camping overnight in the Manyatta testing their local beer will be an option to accompany while at the camp fire.
You love an adventure safari in a less crowded tourist destination, with no double kidepo valley is the best alternative for you