Kidepo Valley National Park

Kidepo Valley National Park is in northeast Uganda. It covers 1436 km² and borders onto South Sudan. Less discovered by tourists, Kidepo Valley protects unique flora and fauna that is quite different from other Ugandan national parks.

Understand

The park contains unusual, not often sighted predators such as the aardwolf, bat-eared fox, caracal, cheetah, hunting dog and striped hyena. the park also contains the usual plains animals such as lions, leopards, giraffe and other common herbivores. Small cats are also found within the park.

Before the area was gazetted as a national park, there lived the Dodoth pastoralist and Ik people who used their own land communally for keeping cattle, farming, and at the same time their hunting grounds. Later, the area was gazetted as a game reserve (Kidepo valley Game reserve) by the British colonial government in 1958. This was to aim to protect and conserve the animal life from hunters and control tsetse flies in the area. In 1962, the newly independent government of Uganda under the late Milton Obote declared Kidepo valley game reserve a national park to become the present-day Kidepo Valley National Park. The first chief warden of the national park was Ian Ross who was later replaced in 1972 by Paul Ssali.

Landscape

Open tree savannah.

Flora and fauna

Herbivores include elephant, Rothschild giraffe, Nile buffalo, burchell's zebra, oribi, klipspringer, Uganda kob, greater and lesser kudu, warthog, bush pig, topi, grant's gazelle, eland, bushbuck, common duiker, bush duskier, roan antelope, beisa oryx, dik dik, Defassa Waterbuck, jackson's hartbeest, Chandlers Mountain reedbuck and Bohor reedbuck. Carnivores include lion, cheetah, leopard, carcal, serval, spotted hyena, stripped hyena, aardwolf, African hunting dogs, black-backed jackal, side-striped jackal and bat eared foxes. Primates found in the park include the endemic (found nowhere else) Kavirondo bush baby. 465 species of bird have been recorded in the park and 58 of these are birds of prey and 14 of these are endemic to the region.

Get in

By car

Approx 700 km from Kampala.

By plane

• 1 Kidepo Airport. An airfield near the old park headquarters is served by several charter companies, including Eagle Air, Savannah Wings and Ndege from Entebbe and Kajjansi Airport. (updated Jun 2022)

Fees and permits

All visitors must pay entrance fees. The fees are assessed per 24-hour period. The rates valid until the end of 2013 are:

Age	Foreign Non- Resident	Foreign Residents	East African Citizens
Adult	US$40	US$25	USh 10,000
Child age 5-15	US$20	US$10	USh 5,000
Student in school group	NA	USh 2,500	USh 2,500

Additional fees are due for all vehicles entering the park. Ugandan-registered vehicles are charged USh 10,000 to 30,000 and foreign-registered vehicles US$50 to 150. Details and updates are available from UWA's website

Get around

Kidepo is remote area with little infrastructure and many hazards. Roads are poor - many routes may have sand, mud, washboards, stream crossings and deep ruts that require vehicles with 4-wheel drive and or significant ground clearance. During the rainy season expert off-road driving skills are required to navigate the deep, slick "black cotton" mud of all but the main tracks. Localized heavy tsetse infestations make closed vehicles with sealable windows preferable.

Driving off-track is prohibited and hazardous. Driving anywhere North of the reintroduction boma, including into the Kidepo valley, requires a ranger escort.

The presence of dangerous game dictates that most travel within the park is by vehicle. Walking tours are possible with an armed ranger escort. Escorts can be arranged through the lodges or UWA offices.

Sleep

Camping

Two campsites can be booked through UWA. A ranger escort is required. A water tank, pit latrine and two open rondavels are provided at each site.

Budget

• UWA Bandas. Government-run rustic huts. A shared kitchen is available for self-catering. 

Mid-range

• 1 NgaMoru Wilderness Camp (Afrimax), ☏ +256 785 551 911, fuglys.limited@gmail.com. Private cabanas; full restaurant and bar. $95. 
• Kidepo Savanna Lodge offers comfortable accommodation

Splurge

• Apoka Lodge. Pre-booking required. 
• Adere Safari Lodge is one of the latest new additions to Kidepo, as of 2022.

Go next

• Murchison Falls National Park via Kitgum
• Mount Elgon National Park via Moroto

Crossing directly into South Sudan is prohibited. The nearest official border post is at Nimule. The nearest crossing into Kenya is via Moroto to Lodwar.