Kidepo Valley National Park - Uganda

Kidepo Valley National Park is located in the rugged, semi-arid valleys of northeastern Uganda, near the borders with South Sudan and Kenya, approximately 700 kilometres from Kampala. Established as a national park in 1962, Kidepo is one of Uganda’s most wildlife-rich protected areas, hosting over 77 mammal species and around 475 bird species. Despite its remoteness, the park is widely regarded as one of Africa’s finest wilderness areas, with vast savanna landscapes stretching toward distant mountain ranges and offering a rare sense of isolation and scale.

At the heart of the park near Apoka, the Narus Valley forms the main wildlife concentration area, especially during the dry season when it provides the only permanent water sources through wetlands and seasonal pools. This open savanna setting creates exceptional game viewing opportunities. Historically, the area was inhabited by Dodoth pastoralists and Ik farming communities before being designated as a game reserve in 1958 and later upgraded to national park status. Kidepo’s early conservation history includes its first Chief Warden, Ian Ross, later succeeded by Ugandan conservationist Paul Ssali, a transition documented in the 1974 film The Wild and the Brave.