Are you planning to visit one of Uganda’s best wilderness destination, Kidepo Valley national park on a small budget? At Wilder Africa Holidays we will arrange for you a tailor-made package to meet both your budget and expectations with help from our expert safari consultant.

About Kidepo Valley National Park

Kidepo Valley National Park is located furthest in the North Eastern parts of Uganda and bordering south of Sudan and Kenya. The park covers an area of 1442 square Kilometers which is dominantly covered by savannah grassland and overlooked mount molongore, Narus Valley and the seasonal kidepo valley river. It can be said that this is one of the remaining virgin national parks as it is not yet explored that much mainly because of its proximity from Entebbe Airport and Kampala where trips start from but with now the availability of flights to the park this is changing and bringing the park even closer than before.

Kidepo Valley National Park was gazetted into a national park in 1958 to prevent the park from further poaching of animals and clearing bushes for tsetse fly control. The displaced communities faced a lot of famine in the region and many moved to neighboring areas of Kenya and Sudan while others moved to the designated communities for relocation, among the communities that lived here included the Ik and Karamajong communities. Ever since gazetting the park it has blossomed with over 80 mammals species and of those 28 being indigenous to the region and over 450 birds species, which makes it a good spot for safari regardless of your interests.

The following are the  5 Budget things to do in Kidepo Valley National Park.

1.Game drives and Wildlife Viewing

Kidepo National Park is one of the most famous and never disappointing national parks in Uganda when it comes to game viewing with over 80 mammals’ species and 28 mammal species endemic to the karamoja region, travelers to Kidepo Valley National Park are in for a fist for the eyes. The terrain being flat, sighting is much easier here. There is no defined time to do games and it can be either morning evening or even night game drives to look for the nocturnal species.

Among animals to spot are lions, leopards, cheetahs, zebras, Uganda Kobs, Oribs, kudus, buffalos, Oryx, elephants, giraffes, stripped hyenas, reedbucks, waterbucks, duikers and crocodiles among other animals. The game drives are done in the Narus Valley as well as the Kidepo Valley, you will need more time while visiting to completely explore the park and increase chances of seeing animals on different days.

2.Cultural experiences.

Cultural encounters is one of the budget activities to do in Kidepo Valley national Park. With the indigenous communities around the park, the cultural experience around this region is one of the best and undiluted to visit with the Karamojong who are herdsmen and live a nomadic type of lifestyle. They are cattle keepers and they roam around while grazing the cattle and stay in homesteads called Manyatas. They pride in keeping large herds of cattle and use it to symbolize wealth and prestige in the community. Also this cattle is used in customary ceremonies for marriage as bride price. While in Kidepo a day visit and experiencing there life style is something not to miss as it will get you close to the way of life and culture of Uganda, with a fee that is charged for this, it goes back to the community to provide clean water in form of construction of boreholes as water is a huge challenge here because of the semi-arid nature of climate in the region.

Ik people. They stay further in the North and they are the indigenous people who occupied the ranges of mount Molongore. They were relocated when UNESCO gazetted Kidepo Valley National Park as a National heritage, they are just numbered about thousands and endangered culture of people. They lived the lifestyle of hunters, fruit gatherers, leaves and roots and beekeepers. They have quite a high number of teenage marriages and the ability to get a marriage partner is based on one being able to provide basic survival needs. They live in polygamous families and children as seen as a blessing from God. The community being poor those planning to visit are encouraged to carry them gifts and presents to support them and also hire an indigenous guide to take you through the community visit.

3. Bird Watching.

The park is boosted with a variety of birds’ species and given the nature of terrain and vegetation, sighting is easier here. There are more than 450 bird’s species in the park making it a good spot for the bird lovers to visit. The birds to look out for include; Ostrich, Secretary bird, little Green Bee-eater, Kori Bustard, Pygmy Falcon and Karamoja Apalis. Kidepo is notable for its 58 species of birds of prey including the Verreaux’s eagle, Egyptian Vulture, and Pygmy Falcon, crews and owls.

4.Visit to Kanangorok Hot springs in Kidepo.

The Visit to the beautiful hot springs is a budget activity you can enjoy in Kidepo Valley National Park, the indigenous African community and culture have attached different meanings and values to the hot springs which are worth experiencing.

Where to stay in Kidepo Valley National Park

Most of the accommodations in Kidepo Valley National Park are located within an hour from the Airstrip and they come in all budget options. For those looking at luxury options Apoka Safari Lodge is one to look at, it’s the best lodge in the park with the best service and gives value for money. For mid-range options Kidepo Savannah Lodge, Nga Moru Wilderness Camp and Adere Safari Lodge and those looking for a budget place to stay the Apoka Uwa Bandas are the place to stay for very budget travelers.

Best time to travel to Kidepo Valley National Park.

Trips to Kidepo Valley National Park can be done all through the year with services available but the best time to do this trip is during the drier months of the year which is July, August, September and December-January. This is so because with the heat the animals tend to come out and stay near water sources which are not many in the park and these water sources become good spots for viewing wildlife, it’s also dry and the roads become much easy to navigate compared to the wet season when the roads are muddy and slippery which contributed to an unpleasant experience.

Travelers to Kidepo are advised to spend at least a minimum of 4 days in the park to be able to enjoy it and visit some of the best sites it has to offer as it’s not good to rush. Unlike other national parks, the chances of siting cheetahs and leopards in Kidepo are quite very high compared to other places. A tip for anyone booking a tour to Kidepo Valley National Park is always to remember to consider using a 4×4 Land cruiser for the trip due to the nature and terrain of the park whether during the dry or wet season.

How to get to Kidepo Valley National Park with

Kidepo Valley National Park can easily be accessed by road from Kampala/Entebbe which is about 9-10 hours but we always encourage to break the Journey in Gulu with an overnight. The drive from Kampala/Entebbe can start from the Airport /hotel and with stops for Lunch and Photography. The journey is enjoyable and there is a lot to see on the way.

There is also an option of flying from Entebbe international Airport or Kajjansi Airstrip and the flight is about 2 hours into Apoka Airstrip. There are scheduled flights departing every day with Aero link Uganda and other flight companies, charter flights are also available. Only 4 persons are allowed to fly by Areolink on specific days to Kidepo. Contact us to tailor your Package to Kidepo National Park for a great budget experience.

Why book with Wilder Africa Holidays to Kidepo Valley National Park.

Wilder Africa Holidays offers amazing experiences Kidepo Valley national Park, the rest of Uganda and the East African region as a whole.  Contact us on info@wilderafricasafaris.com for our discounted packages and also tailor-made trips for travel with Kids. Our magic in organizing authentic experience stems from the fact that we have overtime assembled a team mixed with young and energetic staff guided by well experienced mature managers and directors who are Ugandans and passionate about what they do. Book today