Mara Safari Lodge is conveniently located within 1 km and 2 minutes’ drive from the main gate Kalokudu of Kidepo Valley National Park. This proximity allows tourists to immerse themselves in the breathtaking beauty of Kidepo Valley National Park in minutes of stepping out of your room. Click here to view mountain gorilla trekking safaris 

Mara Safari Lodge Kidepo is where luxury meets sustainability. The name Mara is gotten from the Ik people of Uganda, which means “how are you?"—a r reflection of the commitment to the local community and culture. Click here to see our recommended mountain gorilla trekking tour.

Mara Safari Lodge is a social enterprise that offers unique, state-of-the-art hospitality and customized experiences for tourists. The Lodge is passionate about conservation and mindful of the community in which they operate.

Mara Safari lodge materials are locally sourced and heavily rely on green energy like solar for water heating, running fridges, and lighting. Mara Safari Lodge uses eco-friendly stoves from solar and volcanic rocks, making it one of the most sustainable lodges around Kidepo Valley National Park.

Mara Safari Lodge is a comfortable accommodation offering a stunning view of the Kidepo Valley, where you will feel right at home in the heart of nature. If you’re looking for relaxation or adventure, Mara Safari Lodge has everything you need for your unforgettable stay in Kidepo Valley National Park.”

Mara Safari Lodge offers the best coffee served with traditional pots in a ceremonial style that creates a lifelong memory for many tourists. Your dinner at this lodge is accompanied by a free Mara Coffee ceremony from either Mara Restaurant, the campfire, or even Bush Diner. The coffee is brewed to taste on a local charcoal stove.

Game drives

Kidepo Valley National Park offers lush semi-arid and savanna vegetation that becomes brown during the long dry season. Kidepo Valley National Park gives tourists the best game drive experience in Uganda because of its wildlife diversity and amazing landscape. An experienced tour guide will take you to the park’s wildlife hubs, where you will come face-to-face with the fiercest mammals, birds, and cats in their natural environment.

Encounter nature in the purest majesty and reminiscent of unspoiled magnificence. What makes Kidepo Valley National Park unmatched in terms of uniqueness and unparalleled diversity is that this park offers 28 of the 86 mammals that are endemic to the Karamoja region and cannot be spotted in any other game park in Uganda.

The best times to start off for the game drives are in two sessions at 6 am with the opportunities to see the nocturnal animals in abundance and at 4 pm in the evening when these animals are retiring for the night. Game drives in Kidepo Valley National Park take place along the Narus Valley, which is the only oasis in the semi-arid park, with a chance to see wildlife species such as lions, cheetahs, buffalos, zebras, leopards, hartebeests, giraffes, waterbucks, and many bird species. Kidepo Valley National Park offers four of the Big Five wildlife animals, like the African buffalo, lions, leopards, and elephants.

Sundowner experience

The sundowner experience gives tourists the freedom to watch the golden sun melt the savanna grassland before it sinks to its orbit. If you have ever watched it on the scenes in the movies or read about them in romantic books, but here in Kidepo Valley National Park, there is a chance for you to experience it firsthand.

Bird watching

Kidepo Valley National Park protects over 480 bird species, which makes it the second-highest destination for bird watching in Uganda after Queen Elizabeth National Park. But that’s not all—12 bird species out of the 50 birds of prey live in the Karamoja region of Uganda, giving Kidepo Valley National Park a competitive advantage over other national parks in Uganda.

Bird watching in Kidepo Valley National Park is best done on the fringes of the Narus and Namamukweny Valleys, with higher chances of catching a glimpse of rare bird species such as the Abyssinian Roller, Black-breasted Barbet, Purple Heron, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Clapperton’s Francolin, and Karamoja Apalis, which can only be seen in Kidepo.

 Nature walks and hiking

Kidepo Valley National Park is a paradise for nature lovers, with beautiful, breathtaking landscapes and diverse wildlife. Kidepo Valley National Park offers a range of nature walks and trekking trails that allow tourists to discover the park's beauty up close.

The Lomej Mountains are among the popular hiking destinations in Kidepo Valley National Park. Hiking Lomej Mountains starts at 7 a.m. and takes about four hours to reach the summit. A shorter guided nature walk takes around two hours through the Narus Valley, which is situated 5 kilometers away from Mara Safari Lodge. Tourists can wander along the beautiful Kidepo River Valley within the banks of attractive Borassus palm forests. Namamkweny Valley is located one kilometer from Masa Safari Lodge. Travelers can also experience the IK tribe during the hikes to the Morungole Mountains outside Kidepo Valley National Park.

Kidepo Valley National Park experiences two climatic seasons, such as the dry season and the wet season. The long dry season lasts from June to September, and a short dry season begins from December to February, and the wet season also has two wet seasons from March to May and another from October to November.

Kidepo Valley National Park is categorized with rocky semi-arid valleys. It can be visited throughout the year, and the best time for wildlife spotting is in the dry season, when many animals can easily be viewed at the water points in the park. Kidepo Valley National Park protects animals such as buffaloes, zebras, elephants, lions, waterbucks, leopards, and giraffes, among others.