Road trip is a form of traveling from one country or region to another with private rented 4×4 car with rooftop tent. This kind of traveling started in the southern African countries like Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Therefore, when you travel to Southern Africa you will find so many car rental agencies offering this kind of travel with the 4×4 rooftop tent cars and camping gears or while staying in the well affordable tented lodges and camps.
Therefore, Southern African countries where this mode of hassle-free traveling across the countries begun from, you will find that they do use or offer brand new 4×4 cars like Toyota Hiace Double Cabins and the Toyota Land Cruiser Hardtop of various models and the traveler choose depending on his or her traveling budget.
This kind of traveling is so price friendly and always offer you chance to discover new interesting places and also offers you to travel on long days and always road trips in Africa begins from 21 – days to months and above.
Road trip in Africa is all about traveling to beautiful landscapes and culture in various corners of the region or going to the gazette national parks and reserves for the interesting wildlife game viewing, bird watching, landscape viewing among others.
Therefore, have you been to Africa say in southern part of the continent and you have discovered the region fully or maybe you a new traveler to Africa? And you are interested in road trip with rooftop tent camping you can start with the East Africa where you will sport variety of wildlife, birds, culture and beautiful landscapes and to enjoy this amazing expedition contact our travel expert and will advise you the best time of the year to go, route to take and the suitable 4×4 car rental to hire.
For those that have been to southern Africa before and you have cruise the above two mentioned types of cars, that is the Toyota Hiace Double Cabins and Land Cruiser Hardtop and you happen to think of going to East Africa here our most suitable 4×4 cars to offer that include the Toyota Land Cruiser Hardtop, Land Cruiser V8 and Land Cruiser GX, Land Cruiser Prado TZ and suitably fitted with the rooftop tent camping and suitably maintained to take you around East Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania).
For sure exploring East Africa is another amazing experience that one wouldn’t miss from the travel list. East Africa after the beautiful southern Africa parks like Kruger, Okavango, Estoha among others you will visit the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Kilimanjaro, Nyerere, Ruaha, Tarangire and Manyara in Tanzania. The Masai Mara, Amboseli, Samburu, Tsavo East and West and the Mombasa beaches in Kenya.
Then the Kidepo, Murchison, Kibale, Queen, Bwindi, Mgahinga and Lake Bunyonyi and Jinja adventures in Uganda. Then lastly the Volcanoes, Nyungwe and the Akagera in the beautiful and smart Rwanda you can’t miss then while on your self-drive in Kigali exploring these mentioned parks and the beautiful cities that the footsteps you will enjoy the seeing of the green cover of the tea plantations.
Therefore, for so many years I and my family we have been planning to explore East Africa and Uganda being our number one destination to start with. In July 2020 we were thinking to first visit the Pearl of Africa such that we can take a 21-day road trip in a Land Cruiser Prado with pop up and we had booked with a friend of our auntie but unfortunately our auntie scumbled to Covid-19 and we had to hold the trip.
When we lost our auntie, we were almost losing the mood of our travel, but just after 3 month my daughter suggested we work again and then we plan for the self-drive holiday that is covering the entire region and we do it once and for all and she started doing research on how best we can go cheaper and interesting.
Our friends Eva and Nestor who had just come back from Uganda and on their road trip worked with 4×4 Car Hire Uganda that offered them a very affordable 4×4 rooftop tent car to explore Uganda’s wildlife, landscapes and the people and culture in the regions that makes up Uganda.
Again, last year I and my family of 04 people we contacted Moses and submitted to him our route of interest across East Africa and he advise us the best 4×4 jeep to hire suitable for the route and in several emails, we exchanged with him we reached an agreement and we booked 02 4×4 rooftop tent car, one with double tent and one with family tent camping for our road trip through East Africa.
With Moses you can discuss your trip in details and by the time you confirm your booking the entire is in your road. He has been to almost of East African places of visit and he confidently explains exactly what he knows.
From email, we started communications via the what’s app and every question that came to our minds regarding our route we easily reached him and he answers first and sincerely speaking he was so supportive towards the arrangement of our lifetime road trip safari covering Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Upon our arrival at Entebbe International Airport, we found Moses and the start at the arrival lounge ready waiting for us and then pushed our bags towards the airport parking lot and reaching our jeeps was the start of our journey impression, what can I say the jeeps were ready to go and well stocked with the camping gears and the family rooftop tent on top of the vehicle.
Not wasting time, we jumped into the jeep and drove towards Entebbe town to Cycads Guest House – Entebbe where we were supposed to spend our first night after the long flight from Australia to Uganda. Reaching the guest house, we were oriented about the jeeps and the camping gears and ticking everything that was provided as we had to return the same at the end of our trip.
Then the next day early in the morning we took our breakfast, after we embark our safari jeeps and start our journey to Lake Mburo National Park and with the new highway express, we drove to Kajjansi and then took the Katale – Buddo – Nabingo – Masaka highway and with this short cut saves you from Kampala city traffic jam towards the Uganda Equator and via Lukaya highway local market we enjoyed the roasted meat and banana.
Upon arrival at Lake Mburo National Park, we took the en-route game drive looking for the unique African wildlife and birds found in this park and thereafter we drove to the Leopard Camp where we were so much and happily welcomed by the camp manager and took us to the open camping ground of the jeeps and it took us few minutes to set up our soft rooftop tents and as family we enjoyed the stay as the staffs are so caring to every client in the camp.
The night was so interesting, the staff provided us with some logs and John helped us to set up a campfire and we spent most of the night here enjoying the stories from ourselves and other travelers that we found camping at the camp.
Then the next day early morning we took another game drive to spot more wildlife and birds that we missed yesterday. After we return to the camp for the breakfast and after accompanied with the other two jeeps found that the camp, and now in convey of 04 jeeps we drove to Lake Bunyonyi and upon arriving at the Lake Bunyonyi Overland we had our lunch and then in the evening took the interesting the boat cruise visiting the beautiful dotted islands and the Batwa communities on various islands.
After exploring Lake Bunyonyi, we decided to go to Kigali as Rwanda was part of our journey and it is from this point, we separated with the other two jeeps we came with from Lake Mburo and they continued to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Reaching in Kigali and from the developed infrastructures, you may think you are in Europe. Though we had the rooftop tent vehicles here we decided to spend our night in the Governor’s Residence a newly launched boutique in the Kigali city.
Early morning, we drove again around the Kigali city and it was so interesting exploring this well-designed city. Lunch, and after we took a 07hrs drive to Butare and here at Rwanda Petit Prince homestead we used our 4×4 car with rooftop tent for overnight stay and the locals at this home we so welcoming and supportive in every information we wanted to know about Rwanda and Butare province.
Visiting the Butare museum was so amazing and interesting from the Intore dance an international dance performance that we have watched several times on channels and seeing it with own eyes is so interesting to watch. After this 02-hour experience of the performance and the museum icons we started driving through the beautiful sites and view of the shores of Lake Kivu in Kibuye.
The self-drive along the shores of this volcanic Lake is so amazing and here we stayed at the Youth Discover Guest House in Gisenyi. At night relaxing at the shores of this lake is paramount, the set of Congo music is nice and with the view of the amazing lightings from the mount Nyiragongo you shouldn’t miss this while on your self-drive in Rwanda the land of thousand hills with beautiful landscapes, green tea plantation offering opportunities of agro-tourism and mountain gorillas in the mist.
From Gisenyi we took en-route visit to the Dancing pots that is also famously known for the beautiful Rwanda cultural performances and arts from different artisans and we did some shopping as a way of empowering their income generating economy.
Later on, we drove to Musanze province and upon arrival we visited to the Musanze caves and then to our Kinigi campsite and then in the evening we visited and experienced the Dian Fossey Museum and campus to get the conservation information about the mountain gorillas in the mist.
Though, Rwanda increased the gorilla permit fees from $700 to $1500 USD per person, you can enjoy other primate tracking like golden monkey tracking in the Volcanoes National Park with the experience of the Iby’Iwacu cultural village a well-organized community initiative for the eco-warriors who were once the gorilla hunters. From here we again started driving back to Uganda via the Cyanika border with en-route visit to the twin lakes (Burera and Ruhondo) that are situated at the foot slopes of the edge of the park and offering amazing view of the beautiful landscapes.
Upon arrival to Uganda we retired at the Kisoro Travelers Rest Hotel gardens with our 4×4 rooftop tent jeep and then the next day we started our journey to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and it is from this park we had unforgettable first gorilla trekking experience in the jungle and taking this experience from this park you will not regret missing gorilla trek in Rwanda as this is park of the Virunga massifs and the vegetation and the terrain is as the same as Volcanoes in Rwanda and Virunga park in Democratic Republic of Congo.
More so, visiting the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park you can to experience the golden monkey tracking at $100 and then the next day hike the Mgahinga Volcanoes climbing (Sabyinyo) that costs $80 per person.
Thereafter, we continued with our route to Bwindi Forest National Park and from Kisoro we went straight to Nkuringo – Rushaga sectors and we booked our camping space at the Mutanda Lake Resort and with our raised rooftop tent we had cool and nice viewing of the volcanic lake and with this resort we took an amazing boat cruise at the shores of this volcanic lake.
Today, we took a second gorilla trek experience in the mist and after both experience the comparison was so amazing and the only difference is that Bwindi is so impenetrably thick and adventurous to hike while following the gorilla trails. After this we returned back to the hotel and we had cool evening relaxing as we wait for our next day to leisurely drive to the next destination.
Thereafter, experiencing Rwanda via the Rusumo border continue your road trip journey to Tanzania and you can first as the route taken visit the southern circuit and start with the visit to the Dar es salaam city beaches and remember this is the former capital city of Tanzania and it is well developed and with your jeep you can suitably visit any place of interest that you may find it on google maps.
Though, seems to be long journey from Dar es salaam to Ruaha National Game Park, it is so interesting to discover the park and it is about 130 kilometres (81 mi) west of Iringa. The park is a part of the 45,000 square kilometres (17,000 sq mi) Rungwa – Kizigo – Muhesi ecosystem, which includes the Rungwa Game Reserve, the Kizigo and Muhesi Game Reserves, and the Mbomipa Wildlife Management Area.
Discover the Ruaha interesting landscapes and the wildlife species and among the animals found in this park are East African cheetah, East African lion, African leopard, wild dog, spotted hyena, giraffe, hippopotamus, African buffalo, and sable antelope. You can spend as many as days as you can to explore more of this park. With the suitable 4×4 rooftop tent jeep you can spend so many days as you traveling on an economical style and you spend less on accommodation.
After exploring in detail, the Ruaha you will proceed the journey to Nyerere National Game Park and this being with the wildlife corridor to the Serengeti you will have high opportunity spotting more wildlife from the big5, great wildebeest and much more.
Nyerere National Game Park is home to several species of wildlife: lions, wildebeests, giraffes, zebras, hippopotamuses, rhinos, antelopes, hyenas, African wolves, and a large number of crocodiles in the Rufiji River. Most notably the park is also known for its prolific population of African wild dogs.
Previously and even now, Selous Game Reserve and by extension, Nyerere National Game Park, was home to a large number of elephants but due to poaching, the numbers have dropped somewhat and it is now hoped that converting part of the reserve to a national park will help control and minimize poaching. Therefore, while on your self-drive in Tanzania you will experience more in details once you visit this park.
After exploring the southern circuit transfer to the northern circuit and here you will visit the all-year round parks that tourists go for the great wildebeest migration and big cats’ safaris and staying in Tanzania tented safari camps.
For the best experience to explore this circuit you can start with the visit to Tarangire with your camera you will leave with the great memories of the wildlife, birds, landscapes and then combine it with the visit to the Lake Manyara offering the unique African tree climbing lions in the branches of the fig trees. On your game drives you will spot so many big herds of elephants and towards the lake enjoy and relax at the hot springs.
After Lake Manyara you can visit the Lake Eyasi that is located in Karatu district of Arusha region in north Tanzania. Lake Eyasi is the largest body of water in Arusha region. Therefore, if you are visiting Tanzania, these are more places to like the Ngorongoro conservation area with the interesting and not miss the Ngorongoro crater where viewing the wildlife is so much close to the client’s eyes.
After being filled with the stunning view of the crater undulating landscape cross the central Serengeti but don’t miss to visit the Olduvai gorge where the remains of man were discussed.
The Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropological localities in the world; the many sites exposed by the gorge have proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evolution.
Therefore, with your rented 4×4 car in Africa you can’t miss visiting such wonderful places and from here enter the central – southern Serengeti and on your game drive spot the various pride of lions and the leopards, cheetahs, elephants among others.
After our two days in the central we had to cross to the northern sector and here between July – Mid-October it is dramatic season to experience the Mara crossing of the wildebeest through the Mara River and though it creates sad image but here you enjoy crocs fetching the slow and tired beasts in the water. Definitely to fully enjoy this sector you can spend minimum 2 nights here and you can visit various crossing points.
From the northern Serengeti via the Isabenia border connect to Masai Mara, Kenya and here you will experience again the arrival of the wildebeest from the Serengeti to Mara.
More of the places to visit in Kenya includes the Naivasha, Ol Pejeta, Nakuru, Hell’s Gate, Samburu, Amboseli and then the East and West Tsavo National Parks.
