Discover the great outdoors with our 4×4 rooftop tent vehicle and camping gears. Do you want to go on a camping holiday soon and you don’t like putting together a complicated tent? Then a rooftop tent is something for you.
Exploring Uganda the Pearl of Africa with 4×4 Rooftop Tent Jeep.
Save time and space in your car with the roof tents of dare to be different. The new experience of rooftop tent is one of the best self-guided adventures experience a traveler can ever take up while in Uganda.
We did a 19 day Round trip in Uganda and want to drive by our self. To book the car with 4×4 car hire Uganda was a very good idea. The car was old but very reliable. Good tyres, good batteries, we never had any problems with this car. The service was amazing, they brought the car to our guesthouse at time, and they picked it up at the airport. a wonderful experience.
The rooftop tents offer you a novel alternative to the conventional tent. Tired of the hassle of pegging out and fiddling with guy ropes? These sturdy roof tents mount on top of your own vehicle and they can be set up and collapsed in just a few minutes.
So, we did find any problem with it. You can open even the largest of your rooftop tents in around 5 minutes, or even quicker if there are two of you. Our hardtop tent, was fast. It used to open in less than a minute and then you just needed to extend the telescopic ladder.
You can set up your roof tent anywhere that camping is allowed. You have a choice of thousands of campsites around the Uganda, especially in national parks, or you can use any designated parking area that allows camping. You are welcome to take the tent anywhere within the Uganda during your hire.
When you are parked up and you climb into your rooftop tent, it is a static weight. Your car will have a much higher static weight limit for its roof, perhaps 5x or more the dynamic weight limit. This is because your vehicle isn’t moving, and so the roof and all the roof bar fixings only have to deal with the stationary weight of the tent and its occupants.
Because you don’t drive around with people in the roof tent, you only have to make sure that the empty tent is light enough for the dynamic weight rating of your roof & roof bars.
While with our 4×4 rooftop tent jeep we managed to visit four Uganda National Parks as below
Queen Elizabeth National Park
The best way to get an early feel for Queen Elizabeth National Park is to join the two-hour boat cruise up the Kazinga Channel, which runs between Lake George and Lake Edward. Bird life is fantastic but the whole journey, especially if you go at sunset, is filled with sightings of watering elephants, buffalo, hippos, crocs and various antelope. Queen Elizabeth is about 2000sq km and some of the outlying country (at greatest distance from the lakes) is extremely wild and barely traveled.
It can take some serious 4×4 self-driving to get to some parts of the park but is worth the mission if you have the opportunity to explore these areas. A definite highlight of the area is a walking safari in Kyambura Gorge where you can see several primate species – with undoubtedly the most spectacular being chimpanzees.
Kibale Forest National Park
I was told Kibale Forest was outstanding for tracking chimps. What I wasn’t told was that it was also outstanding for other primates – 13 in all. So, keep an eye out for other furry delights amongst the trees. Undoubtedly though, visitors come to this beautiful, dense forest to observe chimpanzees, first and foremost. And it is unlikely you will leave disappointed.
We tracked a family both on the ground, as they searched for fruits to eat, and through the forest canopy once they scampered up the trees. I got nice and close to a big male chomping on some fruit on the ground, which made for some excellent pics. It’s uncanny how they can look human at times, just with a small gesture or movement.
Lake Mburo National Park
Lake Mburo’s popularity has more to do with its location, conveniently situated between Kampala and several other national parks, than it does with its wildlife since many signature species, like elephants and lions, are missing.
On the other hand, I still highly recommend a stop because it’s the only place south of the Nile River with zebra and it’s a good place to see some of the more beautiful but less common antelope like impala, klipspringer, Topi, and roan antelope.
The real appeal of the park, however, is how you see the wildlife rather than what you see because there are plenty of opportunities to get out of your 4×4 rooftop tent. Most tempting are the horseback safaris, but there are also boat trips and bush walks. Night drives are allowed too.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
I love the approach to this park near the small characterful town of Kisoro as it’s always a thrilling journey on the stunning road from Kabale, which dips up and down with ever-better views of the Virunga Volcanoes. Three of these magnificent densely-clad peaks lie within Mgahinga, Mounts Muhavura, and Sabyinyo and they can be climbed, but it is the mountain gorillas that are the highlight (as the name suggests).
However, fewer people go trekking here than Bwindi as there is only one habituated family of gorillas. Additionally, given that the park is contiguous with the Volcanoes National Park (Parc National des Volcans) in Rwanda, this nomadic group may choose to go over the border from time to time.
As such the excursion is far from guaranteed which is why permits at Mgahinga are only available 14 days in advance. My advice is to consider the gorilla trekking option here only for late bookings and obviously check that the Nyakagezi group is around.
But even without gorillas, Mgahinga is an incredible vantage point to admire the soaring beauty of the Virunga’s, and the park also offers golden monkey tracking, challenging hikes, and fun and informative excursions with the local Batwa pygmy communities.
