The Kidepo Critical landscape covers more than
10,700 km2 (approximately 6,557 km2 of which is in
Uganda).
The landscape lies in the north-eastern corner of
Uganda in the Karamoja region, rising dramatically from 900-1,200 m
at the border with Sudan to 2,750 m atop the forested Mount
Morungole. (see map in Annex).
The landscape includes the 144,745 ha Kidepo
Valley National Park (KVNP) with about 86 mammal species including
species of global conservation concern such as lion, cheetah,
leopard, bat-eared fox, wild dogs, African elephant, Rothschild
giraffe, Jackson's hartebeest, and Nile crocodile. 28 of these 86
species are not found in any of the other Ugandan parks. While
populations of Savanna wildlife in Uganda as a whole have been
reduced by almost 90% since the 1960s, and largely extirpated
outside PAs, the Kidepo landscape was spared due to its
inaccessibility during 20 years of civil war.
Kidepo Valley National Park is an important bird
area (IBA) with about 480 recorded species, the second-highest
total of any Ugandan protected area (IBA UG007). It is also the
only IBA located entirely within the Somali-Masai biome. It also
holds 16 species of the Sudan-Guinea Savanna biome, and four of the
Guinea-Congo Forests biome. There are also occasional records of
three species of global conservation concern such as Pallid
Harrier, Lesser Kestrel, Denham's Bustard and the Lappet faced
vulture.
The landscape falls within the Sudanian regional
centre of endemism1 (East Sudanian savanna), noted by WWF as an
eco-region of global importance2, with vegetation types including:
dry Vitellaria Combretum, Acacia savannas, forest-savanna mosaic
and open grasslands with over 1000 endemic species of plants. The
Acacia savanna merges in the south into a fire-climax grassland,
tree and shrub-steppe, and bushland, with c.2,000 ha of forest on
the higher mountain slopes. Water is very scarce in this area.
Kidepo holds surface water only during the wettest seasons
therefore; permanent water holes are few and far
between.
The area is noted for large scale seasonal
movements of Elephants, white-eared Kob, Tiang, and Eland, ranging
far beyond the boundaries of PAs, through corridors, across
community dominated zones, extractive industry concessions, and
across international borders.
