Kidepo Valley National Park

Kidepo Valley National Park is a 1,442 square kilometres (557 sq mi) national park in the Karamoja region in northeast Uganda. Kidepo is rugged savannah, dominated by the 2,750 metres (9,020 ft) Mount Morungole and transected by the Kidepo and Narus rivers.

The Karamoja sub-region is a region in Uganda. It covers an area of 27,528km and comprises the Kotido District, Kaabong District, Karenga District, Nabilatuk District, Abim District, Moroto District, Napak District, Amudat District and Nakapiripirit District. 

Kidepo Valley National Park is located near Karenga in Kaabong District, in the northeastern corner of Uganda. The park is approximately 220 kilometres, by road northwest of Moroto, the largest town in the sub-region. It is approximately 520 kilometres, by road, northeast of Kampala, Uganda’s capital and largest city.

The northwestern boundary of the park runs along the international frontier with Bira, South Sudan and abuts against its Kidepo Game Reserve.

The Ketebo or Mening are the original inhabitants of the area, who had been living here since 1800. It was gazette as a game reserve by the British colonial government in 1958, and the people were evicted. The purpose was both to protect the animals from hunting and to prevent further clearing of bush for tsetse fly-control. 

The eviction of the resident people and the resultant famine, especially the Ketebo people who were forcefully relocated to other areas within Bira such as Napotpot, Kalo Kudo, Namosingo, Loriwo and Naurkori in South Sudan, was cited by park management as an example of the unacceptable consequences of not taking community needs into account when designating reserves.

Government of converted the reserve into the Kidepo Valley National Park in 1962.

The park consists of the two major valley systems of the Kidepo and Narus Rivers. The valley floors lie between 3,000 feet (910 m) and 4,000 feet (1,200 m) .

Kanangorok, Kananorok or Kanatarok is a hot spring in the extreme north of the park, in Lotukei, South Sudanese boundary. This spring is the most permanent source of water in the park.

The soil in the park is clayey. In the Kidepo Valley, black chalky clay and sandy-clay loam predominate, while the Narus Valley has freer-draining red clays and loams.

Most of the park is open tree savannah. Because of differences in rainfall with annual averages of 89 cm (35 in) in Narus and 64 cm (25 in) in the Kidepo valleys, vegetation and animal populations vary between the two valleys.

Narus is a name given by the Ketebo or Mening or Amening Clan which were the people living in the Valley. Primary grasses in the Narus Valley are the shorter red oat grass and taller bunchy Guinea grass and fine thatching grass. 

Common trees in the drier areas are red thorn acacias, desert dates, and to a lesser extent drumstick trees. Sausage trees and fan palms line the water courses. Euphorbia candelabrum and the shorter monkey bread and Buffalo thorn trees are also present. 

Perennial water makes River Kidepo an oasis in the semi-desert which hosts over 86 mammal species including spotted hyena, lion, cheetah, African leopard, African wild dog, African bush elephant, giraffe, zebra, African buffalo, bat-eared fox, Rothschild’s giraffe, and almost 500 bird species.