The Natives in the vicinity of Kidepo National Park

The splendors of safaris into Uganda’s Kidepo Valley extend much beyond the mere observation of the abundant animals and exquisite avifauna. The customs, personalities, and ways of life of the native people in the Karamoja area make up a comprehensive tourism destination in Uganda. These people are an example of Africans who have a deep devotion to the way of life of their ancestors and who have long rejected “unnecessary” outside influence on their way of life.

The Kidepo plain grasslands have been home to the nomadic Karimojong community for generations, who follow the flugal rains in search of new pastures and watering holes. They and the wild beasts have lived together. Their sizable cattle herds share and graze next to herbivorous wildlife species’ herds at watering spots.

The extreme weather, which includes high temperatures, little precipitation, and semi-arid vegetation, has an equal impact on them as it does on wild mammals. Many travelers find it incredible that the Karimojong use science and logic to defend their livestock from attacks by carnivorous predators.

Exciting Uganda safari activities include visiting the Karimojong manyatta, where you may pretend to be a cattle herder, dance to the music, and hear their historical tales.

Fewer than a thousand people make up the Ik group, who have historically lived next door to the Karimojong on the outskirts of the Morungole Mountain range.

The Ik are traditional hunters of game, gathering nomadic groups of people from the woods. According to tradition, the Ik are impoverished and lack tangible assets. The Ik were an extremely polygamous society that married in their early teens.

The Ik searched for edible fruits, tubers, leaves, wild wildlife, and bee colonies while roaming throughout a huge portion of Kidepo Valley, including the park.

The ability to offer necessities for survival, such as a steady supply of bush meat, honey, temporary shelter, and other supplies, elevated men’s status in society and served as a sufficient guarantee for obtaining further wives.

The Ik people were forced to leave and relocate to a “strange” mountainous terrain when a portion of their customary home range was gazetted as a wildlife conservation area.

The Ik were only given rudimentary training in coexisting with other communities. Their ancient wilderness lifestyle was changed, but they were not totally integrated to the “alien” existence of cultivating food crops. When on a tour of the Kidepo Valley, tourists stop by the Ik village to learn about their way of life.