A number of travelers have chosen to experience East Africa on a road trip. East Africa is wide with some of the best attractions that can turn on your desire to explore this beautiful landmass.
With the diversity of natural wonders, East Africa is attested for adventures. Choosing a road trip with rooftop tent through East Africa is not for the faint hearted. Rather it takes a real confident heart to traverse by wheels on your own.
You just have to understand that a road trip is the best way to encounter and explore the beauty that dwells in the beautiful East Africa especially with the right 4×4 vehicle.
Self-drive road trip in East Africa
A self-drive road trip in East Africa gives you the opportunity to explore East Africa by yourself at your own pace without the need to stick on the itinerary.
The East African road trip is Africa’s most rewarding road trip as far as safaris are concerned. The East African region hosts some of the most exceptional wild moments with award winning tourist destinations in place; talk of the annual great migrations from the plains of Serengeti National Park in Northern Tanzania to Maasai Mara national reserve in Southern Kenya, mountain gorilla trekking that is only possible in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda and the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda, the unique cultural experiences and a lot more.
However, to better experience the East African road trip, proper planning is a prerequisite; that is, where are you going to fly in from and where are you going to depart from.
These two questions will highly affect your budget; it is therefore recommended that before you confirm your flights, you secure a good car rental with rooftop tent deal in whichever East African country.
Once you have the best car rental deal, you can then proceed to book the flights to the country where your East African overland trip will start.
Overland trucking road trip
The basic budget option for road tripping in Africa is the over landing truck option where you travel in a group of 15 people or more. In this kind of road trip, your will not travel in comfort since you will travel at the back of the truck.
You will have a professional tour guide and sometimes a professional chef who will prepare food for you when camping. However, you will also have moments where you will spend nights in decent accommodation. It will therefore be a mixture of both.
In this kind of road trip, you will pay the tour operator to handle each and everything concerning your trip apart from flights and Visas.
Road trip with a professional driver guide
The 4×4 car with driver guide can either make or break your trip experience. Once you are able to bond with your guide at the start of your trip, you can easily explore the best of East Africa without any fear of getting lost or scammed.
The driver guide saves you the safari fatigue of driving yourself for more than 5000km. You will also travel worry free about mechanical breakdowns since it will all be under the care of the professional driver guide.
East Africa is gifted with several wildlife adventures such as gorilla trekking in Uganda and Rwanda, golden monkey tracking in Uganda or Rwanda, chimpanzee tracking, game drives through savannah national parks in Murchison falls national park, Serengeti national park, Kidepo valley national park, Masai Mara game reserve among several other top East African national parks.
Get to meet the endangered mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. You can also track the mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park and the Virunga National Park of Democratic Republic of Congo.
Get to meet the endangered mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. You can also track the mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park and the Virunga National Park of Democratic Republic of Congo.
You can also climb to the roof of Africa while in Tanzania. The Kilimanjaro Mountains are among the top attractions that adventure seekers do not miss. While in East Africa, you can also hike the highest, 2nd, 3rd and 4th highest peaks of Africa.
The annual great beast migrations cross from the plains of Serengeti reserve in Northern Tanzania to Maasai Mara reserve in Southern Kenya brings live wild safaris to reality. You can witness this annual migration from the comfort of an open roof safari vehicle.
Meet the big cats on African safaris through various national parks. See live the predators such as the Nile crocodiles getting set to catch reluctant beasts crossing river Mara.
Community tours are also a major highlight in all the East African countries. In order to experience true culture, you might have to set aside a whole month for self drive in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and other East African countries’ culture tours.
Mountaineering is also one of the activities to consider during your East African road trip given the fact that the region hosts the top five highest places on the African continent. That is Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Kenya in Kenya plus Rwenzori mountains in Uganda, and the Democratic republic of Congo.
Religious and historical tours are often a neglected part of East African road trips but worth every penny. On top these; marine tours in Zanzibar, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam still remain major highlights of East African road trips.
You will never run of activities road tripping in East Africa but you might run out of time. To better plan your East African road trip, please consider the services of a professional local based tour operator.
With great experiences that await you, a road trip with rooftop tent through East Africa is a must have! You can easily get started with planning a best route taking a road trip in Africa and discover one of the most beautiful touristic places across East Africa.
