KIDEPO VALLEY NATIONAL PARK is in the northeast, along the Sudanese border, and has the most stunning scenery of any protected area in Uganda. The rolling, short-grass savannah of the 1442 sq-km is ringed by mountains and cut by rocky ridges. The best time to visit this park is the months of November to January when you might see some of the biggest Buffalo herds in Africa. The rainy season (August to September) has tall grass that impedes viewing and it can also be problematic accessing the park on the muddy roads but you are sure to see lots of animals at any time you visit this park.
Kidepo is most notable for harbouring a number of animals found nowhere else in Uganda, including Cheetahs, Bat-eared Foxes, Aardwolves, Caracal, and Greater and Lesser Kudus. There are also Concentrations of Elephants, Zebras, Buffaloes, Oribi, Guenther’s Dikdik, Senegal Galago, Grants Gazelle, Bushbuck, Bohor Reedbuck, Giraffes and Waterbuck. Predators are plentiful; Lions, Side-striped Jackals, leopards, Spotted Hyenas and White-tailed Mongoose are common but more likely to be found on a night drive.
Amazingly, most of these animals, including even the occasional lion, are content to graze and lounge right near the park’s accommodation, so you can see a whole lot without going very far: it’s a safari from a lounge chair. One particular Elephant called Bull-Bull by the park staff, has taken a liking to the local brew and is sure to be seen up close and personal. But don’t get foolishly close; he seems tame, but we’ve seen him charge people.
The bird checklist is fast approaching 500 species( second among the national parks only to larger Queen Elizabeth National Park) and there are many Kidepo specials; bird such as Ostrich, Kori Bustard, Pygmy Falcon, Secretary Bird, Kalamoja Apalis, African Swallow tailed kite, Eastern pale chanting Goshawk, Fox Kestrel, Stone Partridge, Clapperton’s and Heuglin’s Francolins, Yellow necked Spurfowl, White Bellied and Hartlaubs Bustards, Violet-tipped Courser, Black Headed Plover, Four-banded Sand grouse, Bruce’s green Pigeon, Rose-ringed Parakeet, White Crested Turaco, White Bellied Go-away bird, white-face scops owl, Long-tailed and Standard-winged Nightjars, Little Green Bee-eater, Abyssinian Ground and Rufous-crowned Rollers, Abyssinian Scimitar bill, Abyssinian Ground, Eastern Yellow and Jacksons Hornbills, Red Fronted and Black-breasted Barbets, Brown-Backed Woodpecker, Singing Bush lark, Red winged Lark, Ethiopian Swallow, Pied, Isabelline and Heuglins Wheatears, African Grey Flycatcher, Foxy and Red Pate Cisticolas, White Bellied Tit, Northern White Crowned and Yellow Billed shrike, Slate Colloured Boubou, Fan-tailed Raven, Superb Starling, Red Billed Oxpecker, Eastern Violet backed, Pygmy and Beautiful Sunbirds, Rufous and Chestnut Sparrows, Yellow-spotted Petronia, White-headed and white billed Buffalo-weavers, White-browed and Chestnut crowned sparrow-weavers, Grey-capped social and Speckle-fronted weavers, Orange-winged and Red winged Pytilias, Black-bellied and Black-faced Firefinches, Steel-blue and Straw-tailed Whydahs, Brown-rumped Bunting, Cardinal Quelea, Black-winged and Northern Red Bishops, Fawn Breasted Waxbill, African Hawk Eagles and many more interesting species in Kidepo Valley National Park.
