6 Days / 5 Nights – Kidepo Valley National Park

Meet your driver and transfer to Admas Grand Hotel. Admas Grand Hotel located adjacent the oldest Golf course in Uganda can be traced after a 10 minutes’ drive from the airport surrounded by the tropical green lushes. The hotel has different room types like the standard rooms, executive room, and deluxe rooms all designed to provide an exceptional experience and these are accompanied with a 24 hours reception assistance, swimming pool for refreshment, a delicious meal from the restaurant. The hotel also has conference rooms for hosting meetings, workshops and conferences.

Overnight at Admas Grand Hotel.

Your driver will meet you early in the morning to transfer you to the airport for your scheduled flight to Kidepo Airstrip. Upon arrival at the Kidepo Airstrip, meet your safari guide and drive for approximately 2 hours to Kidepo valley National Park with an enroute game drive.

Among all the national parks in Uganda, Kidepo Valley national park is the most isolated one in the far north of the semi-arid areas of Uganda bordered by south Sudan in the Northwest and Kenya in the eastern side by only 5km and 700km from Kampala making the park the most less visited but those who make through the long journey from Kampala always remark the experience offered by Kidepo as the most unique one ever.

Kidepo valley national park became a national park in 1962 hosting the big game like lions, leopards, and over 77 other mammals including cheetahs, hyenas, giraffes, ostriches. Kidepo valley national park is a home to over 476 bird species including the famous little green bee eater, northern carmine bee eater, ostrich , secretary bird etc.

Kidepo valley national park has two rivers – Kidepo and Narus Rivers that normally reduce to wild remnant pools during the dry season that act as a source of water for the wildlife, so around the pools you will find a population of animals like the buffaloes, elephant and lions among others.

According to statistics, Kidepo ranks among Africa’s finest wilderness as its slogan “True African Wilderness” and its game is notably increasing from 200 elephants in the mid-90s to 650 to 1000 elephants today and also the change in the number of the buffaloes from 10000 to 15000 and the increase in the Rothschild Giraffes.

Overnight at Apoka Safari Lodge, Apoka safari Lodge which is a very private and unique lodge located in the heart of the African Wilderness surrounded by vast plains and rocky outcrops and plenty of natural life. The lodge has 10 canvas cottages with private verandas providing the far reaching views of the vast fields of the dry savanna, enjoy the beautifully carved swimming pool and the outdoor rock tubs –soak yourself.

In the company of a ranger guide, embark on a morning nature walk in Kidepo Valley National Park where you will have the chance to venture along dry river beds, over rocky outcrops and through bush land to track the resident wildlife. 

Set out for an afternoon game drive,  Kidepo Valley National Park is rich with wildlife including cheetahs, lions, leopards, hyenas, giraffes, ostriches and elephants and hundreds of other mammal and bird species. This difficult to reach park, located in the far northeast part of Uganda, is best known for its abundance of predators, making it a spectacular place to find animals hard to spot elsewhere in the country. The vast panoramic views of Kidepo are truly spectacular and will give you a true sense of being in the wild, open savannah.

Return to the lodge for a relaxation and a lunch before proceeding for the afternoon game drive.

Kidepo Valley National Park Game viewing Safari provides guests with an opportunity to see some of the large collections of mammal species residing in the national park, including greater Kudu, Chandler’s Mountain reedbuck, elephant and bush pig to name a few. The game drives give you a great exploration of the dry savanna lands and magical sceneries of the Kidepo valley.

The area receives no rainfall making it dry most parts of the year, which makes animals move from one place to another for fresh pasture and water

Dinner and overnight at Apoka Safari Lodge.

This is a cultural visit to the IK people and it involves an all day hike up the scenic morungole mountains that are near to the Kidepo Valley Park. The Ik People are a small lineage between 10,000 to 11,000 in number. It’s said that they migrated from Ethiopia and first settled in Kenya and migrated to what’s now Kidepo Valley Park.

As you reach the townlets you’ll be welcomed warmly with traditional dancing. The Ik people are benefiting from tourism as it’s adding a bit of income for the community and actually may sustain the continuity of the Tribe as it has for the Batwa People in southwest Uganda. As you’re guided around the village, ask questions about the life of the Ik people, the caregiving of children is different there as it is communal, polygamy is part of family life and there isn’t relevance of a formal education besides learning to forfend for yourself.
Getting to the Ik village is no easy feat but thanks to a trail marked by the US Forest Service it has become easier. There’s indeed a path if you take hours lift by vehicle. Nonetheless it’s an every- day adventure over and down the steep mountains with interpreters who speak the Ik Language. You have to be physically fit to climb the mountains – the peak of Mount Murongole is 2,749 measures above and hiking above may be a torture for those who aren’t fit. The trail is 8 kilometers long (16 kilometer round trip) and quite a tough walk to the village.

Dinner and overnight at Apoka Safari Lodge.

The road drive offers lots of amazing sighting and views, you can as well stop over for a few photography moments if time permitting. Along the road expect to see the locals go on with their daily lives and how they run their business, the kids playing in the homesteads, the plantations of bananas and other crops along the hills and the raised platforms and you will be going through, stop over at the tea plantations and after like 8 – 9 hours you will have reached Entebbe. Overnight at Admas Grand Hotel.

Your driver will meet you at your Hotel and transfer you to the airport for your international departure flight.

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