Apoka Safari Lodge

Apoka Lodge is in the remote Kidepo Valley National Park, on the border with South Sudan in the far northeast of Uganda. Lying in the rugged, semi-arid valleys of Karamoja province, Kidepo Valley is Uganda’s most remote national park, and has a spectacular savannah landscape of plains dotted with granite kopjes bordered by ranges of rugged hills. The terrain, climate, and vegetation are more aligned with Kenya and Ethiopia than most of Uganda.

Accommodation & Facilities
The lodge has ten en-suite rooms built of wood, stone, thatch, and canvas, and is set into a large granite kopje. The design takes its cue from rock, savannah and the natural landscape, and the lodge combines eco-friendliness with luxury, with big beds and Egyptian cotton sheets. Each room has an outdoor bathtub, and a private veranda offering superb views of this isolated wilderness. The main lodge has a big open plan dining room, lounge, and bar under a thatched roof, with excellent views of the waterhole, the savannah of Kidepo, and faraway mountains in South Sudan. There is a lovely big pool built onto the side of part of the kopje, which also has spectacular views.

Wildlife & Activities
Kidepo Valley is excellent wildlife habitat and has thousands of buffalo, herds of elephant and Nubian giraffe, and large numbers of warthog, Jackson’s hartebeest, oribi, defassa waterbuck, reedbuck, Uganda kob, patas monkey, baboon, and zebra. The birdlife is also superb with more than 475 species recorded. Activities at Apoka include wildlife drives, walking safaris, visits to the Kanangorok Hot Springs about six miles from the lodge, and the chance of visiting several nearby communities and maybe seeing the traditional Karamojong pastoralists who live in the area. Guests can also swim in Uganda’s only rock pool and watch animals visiting the water hole and enjoy the views from the deck on top of a redundant water tower.