Kidepo Valley National park is Uganda ‘s best safari destination for taking wildlife safaris / game viewing tours. Located in Uganda’s remote north-eastern corner, some 700km from Kampala and tucked between the borders with Sudan and Kenya, Kidepo Valley is our most isolated park. Lying in the rugged, semi-arid valleys of Karamoja province, the Kidepo Valley National Park is one of Uganda’s most spectacular parks. It harbours scenery unsurpassed in any other park in East Africa as well as great numbers of wild animals, birds and plant species. The vegetation can best be described as open tree Savannah which varies much in structure and composition. Mountain forest dominates some of the high places, while areas along the Lorupei River support dense Acacia geradi forests.

The park contains one of the most exciting faunas of any Uganda’s national park with 77 species of mammal, several of which are (in Uganda) restricted to the Kidepo and Karamoja region. Localized carnivores include the bat-eared fox, striped hyena, aardwolf, caracal and cheetah. Other carnivores present are lion, leopard, and spotted hyena. And black-backed and side-striped jackal. Less common ungulates include the greater and lesser kudu, Chandlers Mountain reedbuck, klipspringer and Guenther’s dikdik. Other large ungulates include elephant, Burchell’s zebra, bush pig, warthog, Rothschild’s giraffe, Cape buffalo, eland, bushbuck, bush duiker, Defassa waterbuck, Bohor reedbuck, Jackson’s hartebeest and oribi. Five species of primates are found in the park including the endemic Kavirondo bush baby.

The park boasts an extensive bird list of 463 species confirmed and 26 unconfirmed- second only in Uganda to Queen Elizabeth NP. A few species of note, at least in a Ugandan context, are the ostrich, kori bustard, secretary bird, carmine, little green and red-throated bee eaters, Abyssinian ground hornbill, Abyssinian roller and Abyssinian scimitar bill, yellow-billed and Jackson’s hornbills and the Karamoja apalis. Kidepo is also notable for its birds of prey. Of the 56 species recorded, 14, including Verreaux’s eagle, Egyptian vulture and pygmy falcon, are believed to be endemic to the Kidepo and Karamoja region. There has however been no comprehensive survey of birds in Kidepo and visitors stand a good chance of adding to the current list.

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