Uganda · national park since 1962
Kidepo, the valley at the top of Uganda
Tucked between South Sudan and Kenya in Uganda's far north-east, Kidepo Valley is the country's least visited savannah park: two broad valleys, mountains on every horizon, and buffalo herds that fill the Narus swamps. Around 7,400 people a year see it. Most of Uganda's visitors never do.
Photo: Rod Waddington (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Start here
Everything you need to plan a visit
Entry fees
The official UWA rates: $40 entry per 24 hours, what game drives and walks cost, and why gate payment is now cashless.
See the fees →Lodges & camps
From UWA campsites and self-catering bandas at Apoka to one of Africa's most remote luxury lodges.
Browse lodges →Getting there
A 571 km drive from Kampala or a charter flight to Apoka. What the road is really like, and the flight myth to ignore.
Plan the route →Wildlife
Uganda's buffalo stronghold, a recovering Nubian giraffe population, and the honest story on Kidepo's lions.
What you'll see →Best time to visit
December to March is the real dry season here, whatever other guides say. Month by month, with the actual rainfall data.
Pick your month →Things to do
Narus Valley game drives, the wild drive to the Kidepo sand river and the hot springs, mountain hikes and Karamojong culture.
See activities →Our own research
We priced every park in Africa
We collect the official tariff of every park we cover, convert it, and hold each one to the same standard day. Twenty-nine parks are in the index now, the famous ones included. These three pages come out of that table.
The most expensive safari parks in Africa
Ngorongoro charges $278 for a standard day and $148 of that is the descent into the crater. The ranking straight down, with the line item behind each number.
See the ranking →The most expensive parks for self-drivers
One person, one car, no one to split the vehicle fee or the campsite with. Uganda's foreign-vehicle tariff turns the order upside down.
See the self-drive ranking →Africa's most expensive published safari beds
The highest nightly rates any camp in our network puts in writing, and why the real top of the market names no price at all.
See the rates →Kept current
Latest updates to this guide
Every change to this guide, dated.
- 2026-09-13 Nineteen new pages: costs with the foreign-vehicle trap explained, the Ik and the park's hard history told honestly, health and the remoteness, camping at Apoka, flying versus the long road, Kitgum, the green season, and a page for every month. See the page
- 2026-09-08 Added hire-car and flight links to the getting-there page, marked as paid links because they are. See the page
- 2026-09-06 All outbound lodge links on this site are now nofollow, so a listing here is information, not a traded favour.