Kidepo Valley national park, lies in the rugged, semi-arid valleys of Karamoja province on the extreme Northern border with Sudan, and is, therefore, Uganda’s most remote National park.
The spectacular beauty of this park impresses all that make tour Kidepo Valley. For birders, Kidepo Valley National Park offers a bird list of over 475 species. Kidepo valley is home of the dry, eastern “specials” not found in any other Ugandan national park and being some of East Africa’s rarest and most sought after birds are the Black-breasted Barbet and Karamoja Apallis among others. Kidepo valley Birds.
Over 80 species including 28 that are peculiar to only and only kidepo in Uganda have been registered including charismatic African animals such as Bat-eared Fox, Carcal, Cheetah and Klipspringer. Striped Hyena, Lesser Kudu, Grant’s gazelle, and Beisa Oryx are becoming locally extinct.
Other large mammals have shown a considerable recovery and there is now a healthy population of Buffalo, Elephant, Common Zebra, and Kongoni. Predators are common including Spotted Hyena, Leopard, and Lion. Oribis roam the Narus Valley, whilst the dry thorn thickets in the north accommodate Guenther’s Dik-Dik. Senegal Galago and Side-striped Jackal may be located in the rest camp at night and White-tailed Mongoose can easily be seen on a night drive. The park is also famous for a diverse reptile fauna.
For birders, the Apoka Rest Camp and Park Headquarters overlooking the shallow, southern Narus Valley is surely a great spot to begin your Kidepo birding tour. The attractive Silverbird and small bands of Yellow-billed Shrike are common in the thorn trees around camp, as does a number of other widespread species such as Vinaceous Dove Hoopoe, Nubian Woodpecker, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Mosque Swallow, Ruppell’s and Superb Starlings, Little Weaver and Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu. A small permanent water hole at the edge of camp is home to swallows and a variety of seedeaters including Yellow-rumped Seedeater. Its common night visitor is the Four-banded Sandgrouse, Buffaloes, Elephant and occasionally Lions. Clapperton’s Francolin, Black Coucal, African Moustached and Broad-tailed Warblers, Marsh Tchagra and Crimson-rumped Waxbill spotted in the grass along the normally dry stream bed neighboring the camp or along the track to Amok lodge.
Kidepo Valley National Park can be accessible either by road or by air. And the mostly used means is by road. The famous route is, from Kampala is Mbale, Soroti and Moroto route, an 840-km journey which takes a minimum of 12 hours. Furthermore other places include for example, Serengeti National Park, Murchison falls National Park, Rwenzori National Park, Mgahinga and much more places within east Africa.