The roar of lions serves as a cock’s crow when waking up in Kidepo Valley National Park. 

Here, 100 to 120 big cats prowl the grounds where the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) accommodation bandas are.

They stroll by Apoka Lodge and the newly-built Savannah Lodge to guzzle water, hunt or relax after dinning.

“We are expecting a former US president, whose identity will not be revealed for security reasons. Kidepo is attracting royals, celebrities and political leaders, in addition to an exodus of back packers,” UWA executive director Andrew Seguya said. “The trend of visitors is steadily growing.”

The majestic Jackson Hartebeest can be found in Kidepo. Photo by Titus Kakembo

Access to Kidepo has been improved and the journey that used to take three days by road, from Kampala, now takes eight hours.

The routes to Kidepo are affordable and safe to navigate, day or night. Public buses and taxis are available, but a 4WD vehicle is recommended.

“The guns among communities living near the park are no more following the disarmament exercise between 2004 and 2014,” Seguya said, adding that instead, the locals in the manyatas (dwellings of 50-100 huts) have begun reaping from tourism by entertaining guests with traditional music, dance and drama at a fee.

Teenagers designing beads in preparation for marriage at Naoyangum Village,Kawalakol sub county in Kabong district. Photos by Titus Kakembo

The communities sell intricately woven beads and other artefacts that serve as gifts to take back home.

In addition, 20% of the park entry fees is invested in public services such as schools, roads and health centres in the area.

The Kidepo park area conservation manager, Augustine Masereka, says the prevailing peace in Uganda has enabled the population of elephants to grow. Given the civil strife in South Sudan, the beasts migrate to the Ugandan side during day and cross back at night.

“About 700 elephants come and seek refuge here,” Masereka said. “Generally, the number of wild animals is on a steady increase as we have a buffalo herd of more than 13,000, the biggest in the world.”

Buffalos in Kidepo Valley National Park

The parks tourism manager, Steven Nyadru, said Kidepo is isolated, which endows it with magnificence. 

“There are seasonal rivers, measuring 50 metres wide and animals that cannot be pirated or trafficked. We have the Rothschild giraffes, cheetahs, kobs, elands and zebras in addition to the Big Five (lions, buffaloes, elephants, giraffes and leopards),” he says.

For the amenities, Apoka Lodge charges $580 (sh2.09m) per night. In its neighbourhood is Savannah Lodge with a price tag of $120-$150 (sh432,000–sh540,000). This is crowned by the UWA accommodation facilities going for between sh30,000 and sh70,000 per night.

Dr Love (right) joins the Ikarangole Culture group entertaining guests at Naoyangum village, Kawalakol sub-county in Kaabong district

If I were to become an animal, I’d choose Kidepo for a home

Hilary Bainemigisha aka Dr. Love took a tour through Kidepo Valley National Park and, wowed by the beasts, wrote this:

If Hinduism is right, some of us may become animals in our next life. Hindus believe that a person’s spirit (atman) is permanent and cannot die. At death, it changes the physical body into a higher or lower version; depending on how good you performed while alive. 

If you are a very good person, you resurrect as, say, Muhoozi’s brother. But if you have been bad, like evicting people from their lands and stealing government funds, you return as a hyena or a dog.

You keep being promoted (or demoted) during samsara until your atman moves through the last Brahmin caste into the Hindu heaven, to finally rest along with the king of Devas, Indra and other beatified mortals.

If I was to be an animal in my next life and God gave me a chance to choose where I would want to live; it would certainly be Kidepo Valley National Park. Recently, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) took me on a tour of the park, from where I developed these reasons.

UWA Executive Director Andrew Seguya (right) with Johnson Masereka at Kidepo

Kidepo Valley National Park is 1,442 square kilometres, located in northeastern Uganda. It is rugged Savannah, dominated by the 2,750-metre Mt Morungole and transected by the Kidepo and Narus rivers. It also has the Kanangorok Hot Springs, 11km off the South Sudan border.

First of all, Kidepo is a true untouched wilderness where human tourists leave civilisation behind to go and feel at one with nature. Unlike other parks, which are rudely interrupted by human influx, Kidepo is closer to virginity than Olara Otunnu.

During our park drive, we stumbled upon lions mating and pitched camp for about an hour to watch and learn. By the end of that hour, another team on a park drive had joined us to watch the lions do their thing in peace. 

Elephants in Kidepo

But had it been in Masai Mara or Murchison, for example, that one hour would have attracted about 60 vehicles. I would never want to be an animal who makes love with 600 humans watching me!

Kidepo has a few predators such as lions, leopards and hyenas, which, unlike humans in Kampala, move freely assured of a meal, courtesy of the tired herbivores. My chances of returning as a lion are slim because that is reserved for ruffians like Kitatta. 

My humble nature would afford me a resurrection as a Jackson hartebeest. I would live my life eating Karamoja grass, mounting as many females as I want and looking forward to being eaten by a lion so that I can come back in my next life as a human. In other parks, predators are so many that their prey keeps in hiding and that denies tourists a chance to see as many buffaloes, zebras, antelopes and ostriches.

A girl sucking milk from a goat

Poaching reduced, visitors increased

The UWA executive director, Andrew Seguya, told us that Uganda is the only country in the world where the elephant population is growing. 

According to Kidepo’s chief warden, Johnson Masereka, poaching in Kidepo has gone down considerably. The current population of wildlife is estimated at 500 bird species and 77 different mammals, with an impressive collection of the rare ostriches, hartebeest and giraffes. 

Masereka, who has worked in seven other parks, says: “This uniqueness at Kidepo cannot be found elsewhere, with all these species in a single park, at the same time. This is the best of Uganda.”

As an animal, I would love to feel protected from invisible snares and an unwelcome poacher’s bullet. UWA has over 120 rangers in the field doing extended patrols to curb poaching, according to Masereka.

“The communities are also mobilised to appreciate the benefits of conservation because they participate in tourism investment and gain from it. There was a problem of serious armed poachers from South Sudan. We retrained our rangers and gave them a serious resistance. We have not had clashes with them for over a year,” Masereka said.

Kidepo actually extends into South Sudan where it is called the Kidepo reserve, but it is managed by the South Sudanese army in the same way Mukiibi managed his schools. That is why I would want to be an animal in the Kidepo of Uganda.

Masereka said Kidepo gets about 7,000 visitors a year and this has increased from 2,000 10 years ago. He expects the number to rise because, for the first time ever, people can actually drive from Kampala to Kidepo, around 700km, in just one day. You can also fly in from Entebbe on regular scheduled flights by Aero Link, which take about two hours. Charters can easily be arranged as well by Aero Link, Eagle Air, Kampala Aero Club and Ndege Jju.

We set off from Kampala at about 8:00am, had lunch in Gulu and reached Kidepo around 6:00pm. The roads are good, taking you through different communities, the urbanised and the rural, all depicting various modes of lifestyle.

A monkey on a huge rock

Simplicious Gessa, a communications officer at UWA, said the authority has imported modern tourists buses to take people from Kampala to Kidepo at a reasonable price. Once launched, they will cut down the cost of accessing Kidepo. 

For park entrance, Ugandans are charged less (sh15,000), while foreigners pay $40 (sh144,000).

Tourists can visit the park any time throughout the year, even in wet seasons of January to May and October to December.

It has numerous lodges notably Apoka Safari Lodge, Nga Moru Wilderness Camp, Savannah lodge and low budget accommodation at Apoka Rest Camp managed by UWA.

A carcass abandoned by a leopard on a tree

DID YOU KNOW?

Kidepo nominated for global award

Kidepo was once nominated in the World Travel Awards as Africa’s leading national park for the year 2017. The prestigious annual awards recognise organisations in Africa that push the boundaries of excellence in the tourism and travel industry. 

It competed with Kenya’s Masai Mara, Central Kalahari Game Reserve (Botswana), Etosha National Park (Namibia), Kruger National Park (South Africa) and Serengeti National Park (Tanzania) in the national park category. 

Kidepo also received accolades from CNN Travel for being the third best wilderness park in Africa.