Kidepo Valley National Park | |
National Park | |
Name origin: from the Dodoth verb akidep, meaning ‘to pick up’ | |
Country | Uganda |
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Region | Northern Region, Uganda |
Subregion | Karamoja |
District | Kaabong |
sub-county | Karenga, Uganda |
Coordinates | 03°54′N 33°51′E / 3.900°N 33.850°ECoordinates: 03°54′N 33°51′E / 3.900°N 33.850°E |
Biome | East Sudanian Savanna |
Game Reserve | 1958 |
National Park | 1962 |
Management | Uganda Wildlife Authority |
- location | Geremech |
For public | fee-based |
Easiest access | air, road |
IUCN category | II - 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.
Kidepo Valley National park is located in Kaabong District, in the northeastern corner of Uganda. The park is approximately 220 kilometres (140 mi), by road northwest of Moroto, the largest town in the sub-region. It is approximately 520 kilometres (320 mi), by road, northeast of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city.
The northwestern boundary of the park runs along the international frontier with South Sudan and abuts against its Kidepo Game Reserve.
Dodoth pastoralists and Ik farmers lived in the area before it was gazetted as a game reserve by the British colonial government in 1958. 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 among the Ik, is cited in contemporary protected area management as an example of the unacceptable consequences of not taking community needs into account when designating reserves.
The newly independent government of Uganda under Milton Obote converted the reserve into the Kidepo Valley National Park in 1962. The first chief warden of the park was Ian Ross, a Briton. In 1972, Paul Ssali, a Ugandan, replaced him. Their handover and training was the subject of the 1974 American documentary film, "The Wild and the Brave."
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) AMSL.