East Africa is the birthplace for safaris in Africa, the variety of wildlife is attributed to the bio diverse Eco systems spread across the region. The fact that, the region is where thick ancient rain forest of central Africa meets with the East African savannah means that the region has both forest dwelling wildlife like Gorillas and chimpanzees and Savannah dwelling animals like the big five. In addition to the diverse cultural heritage, political stability and relatively good road network, a number of tourists flock East Africa for adventure packed self drive road trips that are nowhere else in the world. In this discussion, is the guide to your successful road trip across East Africa.
Book with a reputable car rental agency
East Africa is got a number of car rental agencies across major cities and towns but not all are reliable and trusted, the car rental agency reputation is obviously its stories from past clients, social media engagements, a highly transparent pricing, valid physical address, flexible cancellation policies, reasonable terms of agreement, contacts and affiliates. Under normal circumstance a strong reputation for reliability, fairness and client’s satisfaction is often a hallmark of a reputable rental car company. Established car rental agencies like Drive East Africa limited, have been serving clients for over 10 years are surely tested and can be trusted to provide reliable 4×4 adventure cars in the best mechanical conditions for your successful road trip across east Africa.
Book the right car
Basically, for you to choose a right car, start by looking what you need from your trip to ease your search options. Getting the right East Africa car rental allows you access your preferred destination without restrictions because you travelled with the right car. Consider renting a car with the right fuel efficiency or fuel consumption that probably suits your budget. There are variety of adventure rental cars available for hire online and are categorized into budget 4WD Toyota Rav4s, 4WD Toyota Minivans to mid-range and luxury 4×4 Land Cruisers TX, VX, V8, GX, Toyota Hilux and 4×4 Land cruiser 78, 79 series and Safari Omni buses all offered at varying rates and conditions. Hire a car in East Africa that suits the number of people on board and can handle the upcountry terrain and national park tracks that you will be visiting. With this guide to your successful adventure road trip across east Africa, you order a car with a pop up roof to enjoy beautiful East Africa landscapes if you plan to visit Savannah Parks in the region.
Choose an adventure style
It is very common that travelers choose to go on scheduled adventure trips and follow their day by day itinerary be it on normal expedition trips to self-drive camping safari. All these travel styles can give travelers unique adventure experiences as well as lasting memories. However, there is a new adventure travel style, the mid-range camping adventure. This is a trending thrilling active adventure style, where you rent a 4×4 car with a rooftop tent and travel anywhere. Whereas other travel styles have specific pre-designed itinerary, vehicle rooftop tent camping gives you freedom and flexibility to travel anywhere and sleep anywhere including in the middle of the wild, as long as a car can park in the area, where you enjoy great thrills of sights and sound at its most. This new travel style that will make your dream a reality and is not only efficient but cost effective as well. These rooftop tents were designed ranging from one of two persons or a couple to a family tent 4-5 and small groups of four persons.
Obey Traffic regulations
While you in East Africa please drive on the left side in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Then drive on the right hand side in Rwanda, Burundi, D.R. Congo and South Sudan. Always wear your seat belt, Observe roadside signs to avoid over speeding in cities, towns and highways. Unlike in Rwanda where there are speed cameras on highways, in other East African Countries there traffic police men and women on highways with speed torch guns and can stop and issue you a speed fine ticket. Take caution and over take only in designated climbing lane, do not over load the vehicle and most importantly don’t forget to carry your driving permit or passport for identification in case you fall into the hands of a traffic police officer.
Park Entrance & Vehicle Entry Fees
Most of East Africa adventures take place in the national parks, reserve and mountain hiking, among others. Visitor and vehicle entrance fees vary from one park to another across East Africa parks. Entrance in Ngorongoro crater and Serengeti in Tanzania is not the same as Masai Mara in Kenya and Murchison Falls in Uganda. While there is not entrance fee for Bwindi Impenetrable, Volcanoes, Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks and Kibale ancient forest as they are included in the issued primate trekking permits. There are parks in Uganda whose entrance can be as low as US$40 per 224hrs like queen Elizabeth National Park. Other local attractions like Museums and cultural centers, entrance can go as low as US$ 10 per person per day. So, before you decide on the destination to visit make a research on their visitor and vehicle entrances in that tourist destination to guide your successful adventure road trip across East Africa.
If you are planning of a road trip adventure in East Africa 2025 and still wondering what to do and whether to go self-drive or not, what to avoid, where and with whom to book, then the above guide to your adventure road trip across East Africa can help you make the right decision for a successful road trip around through East Africa. We hope these road trip adventure tips will help you enjoy a safe and comfortable Self drive adventure across East Africa. To rent a self drive 4×4 vehicle in East Africa, simply email us to info@driveeastafrica.com to get in touch with our reservations team.
