Month by month
Kidepo in March
March keeps the dry season's temperatures but starts writing its ending: rain roughly triples from February's total, even though the month still counts as shoulder rather than wet.
If you only want the answer
March is the last dry month worth planning around, hot and still tight on the Narus water, with the first real storms arriving toward the end rather than the start.
Where the numbers turn
The thirty-year average for March sits at 30.8°C by day, 19.5°C at night, and 78 mm of rain across 9 days, a sharp jump from February's 25 mm. Days stay hot and dry through most of the month; the shift usually shows up in the later dates, when the year's first storms typically break.
UWA's own brochure describes a single rainy season running roughly April to September, and March is the hinge before it starts. Expect January and February's driving conditions for most of the month, with a real chance of a changed picture by the last week.
On the ground before the switch
Game viewing is still built around the Narus pools this month, so the circuits through Kakine, Katurum and Nagusokopire keep delivering. The UK Foreign Office flags flooding risk in north-eastern Uganda from March through May, worth a check with your operator on road conditions if you are travelling in the back half of the month.
Bird numbers are already changing as the dry-country residents give way to early wet-season arrivals, useful if birding is part of your reason for coming.
The price line that matters here
Apoka Safari Lodge holds its high-season rate of $1,250 per person right through 31 March, then drops to $880 on 1 April. If budget is a real constraint and your dates have any flexibility, waiting two weeks changes the arithmetic more than almost anything else you could do.
Kidepo as a whole is not a park that sells out, so book March on a normal timeline rather than a scarcity one. One practical note: pack for both weathers, since a dusty morning drive and an afternoon downpour can genuinely both happen on the same March day.