Going on a road trip across East Africa
A number of travelers have chosen to experience Africa on a master class road trip. Africa is a wide continent with some of the best attractions that can turn on your desire to explore this beautiful landmass.
With the diversity of natural wonders, Africa is attested for adventures. Choosing a road trip in some parts of Africa is not for the faint hearted. Rather it takes a real confident heart to traverse by wheels on your own. Starting from Cape Town in South Africa to central Africa then connecting to North Africa through the Sahara dunes to the Mediterranean Sea, is a journey that only a few have successfully completed.
For lack of better words; many people often come to Africa with already preconceived ideas of what a perfect 4x4 car for an overland trip in Africa should look like based on what they have read probably in a guide book.
Unfortunately, they are often surprised to find way older cars given as the only option for overlanding yet on a relatively bigger budget. There are reasons for that but we might not get into them since trip costing is not our focus today.
You just have to understand that a road trip is the best way to encounter and explore the beauty that dwells in the beautiful African continent especially with the right 4x4 vehicle.
Experiencing a classic African road trip The classic African road trips are often executed in Hilux double cabs, Land cruisers or the Land rover defender. These three are the classic icons for overlanding in Africa. However, given the fact that only a few complete an across Africa road trip, it is recommended to go for a regional road trip for familiarization purposes.
Each region has its own technicalities and for that matter, we choose to give you a 360 zoom into one of the top African safari regions of Africa, the East African region.
There are three options for road tripping in East Africa. Overland trucking (group travel with guide), Self-drive and car hire with a driver.
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 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 overlanding 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 A professional 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.
The East African road trip busks in a list of activities that many people always consider returning to for a second experience.
Major highlights of the East African road trip East Africa is gifted with several wildlife adventures. These include but not limited to gorilla trekking in Uganda and Rwanda, golden monkey tracking in Uganda or Rwanda, chimpanzee tracking, game drives through savanna 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.
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.
Get to meet the sought after 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.
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.
On a self drive in Uganda, 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 DR Congo.
From East Africa, you can also go chimpanzee tracking in several destinations in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Most popular destinations for wild chimpanzee encounters include Kibale national park in Uganda, Nyungwe national park in Rwanda and Gombe Island in Tanzania.
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 Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and other East African countries’ culture tours.
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.
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.
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 through East Africa is a must have! You can easily get started with planning a Master Class Road Trip in Africa and discover one of the most beautiful touristic places across East Africa.
