Kidepo National Park

Scanning the landscape with the guide. 

Taking a boda-boda (motorcycle) from Karanga to Kidepo National Park was an exciting trip. The number of small villages and farmland decreased as we neared the park entrance, giving way to undisturbed open savanna. The ride in took about 20 minutes and immediately upon entering the first park gate, we began to see wildlife. The landscape was true to its name; the Kidepo Valley was set between two mountain ranges and the land appeared to go on forever with a massive sky above. I was immediately taken aback by the beauty of the place. 

I had low expectations for the trip regarding wildlife; although people had said it’s a great place to view tons of animals, I am well aware that you can’t force wildlife into view. I’ve gone on several “safaris” in different parts of the world and sometimes I was lucky to see animals (African elephants, Asian elephants and gibbons to name a few) though other times I have not been so lucky. I have learned to taper my expectations and simply enjoy nature reserves for what they are; vast undisturbed natural areas, which I can quite enjoy on their own.

You can see the tiny black dots are a huge herd of buffalo. They are found in herds up to 1500!

As we entered in the park roads the sound of the boda-boda spooked several groups of antelope, sending them jumping and gliding over the low vegetation. Huge herds of buffalo passed in the distance. A pack of zebras looked at us curiously. Because of my low expectations, the ride in was sufficient game viewing!

When we arrived at the lodge we were disappointed to find out the park charges a non-resident $35 per day. I was under the impression that it was a one-time entrance fee for the duration of the stay. Staying three days would be over $100 and that didn’t include accommodation or the meals that were naturally victim of price gouging. Accommodation was about $25 per night for a small hut with shared bathroom facilities and meals were about $5. The park ranger informed us there was a vehicle that could take us on a game ride for UGX5,000/km and we would also have to pay UGX50,000/$20 for a guide. We were a bit confused as we were told that the park had a vehicle they rented out for a bit cheaper than we were told though it later became clear there was some type of agreement and kickback between the private driver and the park. I was pretty annoyed since it looked like the game ride would cost well over $100, which meant we would only be able to afford one trip. Even worse, we were told that we were not allowed to walk anywhere without a guide. This makes sense since I’m sure many people don’t know how to respect wildlife and there is even the off chance someone could get eaten by a lion, but it was still frustrating.  I was frustrated with the park since they seemed intent on squeezing every shilling out of us; they had told us over the phone that it was “impossible” to get a boda-boda from Karenga and conveniently could offer a trip with “their” vehicle for about 5x the price of a boda-boda.

However, I knew coming to Kidepo would not be cheap and it was a seemingly once in a lifetime experience. After we scheduled a game ride for the next morning, we settled into our accommodation area and went to check out the up-scale lodge about 1km away, aka, go on an unregulated walk. The upscale accommodation caters to the wealthier clients and during our stay there was no one occupying the lodge, not even any employees were present in the facilities. The place was significantly nicer than our accommodation area and benefited from not being side by side with the employee accommodation. The employees were located directly adjacent to the dozen or so tourist huts and they were naturally quite noisy. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for! The nicer accommodations, called the Apoka Lodge (as opposed to the Apoka Bandas) offered a very nice vista. We enjoyed viewing some herds of antelope and deer while also viewing several different species of birds. We then retired in and slept quite soundly after our long journey to the park.

At a high point, we stopped to scan the landscape and see where to go next. 

The next day our guide was late, which was expected but annoying. The best time to view most wildlife is dusk or dawn and we had hoped to get an early start. The sun rose about a ½ hour earlier than in Kitgum so we already felt anxious to get out. After a slight delay we met our ranger, Dennis, and found our place on the roof of our driver’s 4x4 truck. The guide asked us what we were most interested in seeing and Ana told him that she was an avid birder and I replied that I didn’t really care. Ana was also particularly keen in seeing elephants though birding took precedent. Our game ride took us 70+ kilometers through the park and we were able to view several different mammal species, such as zebras, giraffes, antelope, pattus monkeys, baboons and antelope, and also an impressive 70+ species of birds.

Unfortunately the rainy season had caused the elephants to move deep into the forested area of the park and we were also unable to see lions (which are apparently somewhat common). Still, the game ride was absolute bliss. There were no other cars on the roads and the animals were tame enough to not get easily frightened by the vehicle, though not too tame to come up begging us for food. The landscape was absolutely stunning and I find the pictures fail to properly display the full beauty.  In fact, I gained a new level of respect for nature photographers as the majority of my pictures failed to come out clear with the low light. The morning light paired with the cloudy conditions made taking pictures nearly impossible but encouraged me to put down the camera and soak up the experience.

Ana and our guide trying to spot some wildlife in the distance.

I can't remember the name of these guys, but they were quite amusing.

Zebras, with some gazelles and antelopes in the background.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Kidepo though if I were to do it again I would rent my own vehicle (outside the park), forge Ugandan citizen identity papers (Ugandans are only charged $4 a day for the park fee), camp at one of the two camp sites (you have to bring your own tent but it’s only $5 a day), bring my own food, and stay for a week! If I were interested in seeing more wildlife I would come a few months earlier at the peak of the dry season so all the animals would be concentrated at the few watering holes. Although it would allow for more game viewing, I have a feeling I would miss the green landscape! 

Giraffes, in poor lighting.

A brief moment of sunshine on the green landscape.