One of the best ways to see Africa on budget is with your own 4×4 rooftop tent jeep and camping.  This is the traditional way colonial visitors traveled through Africa, when you wake up to bird calls while watching the sun rise over the forest where the mountain gorillas live is one of the best experiences you could ever imagine.

Camping equipment includes: a comfortable set-up with high-quality tents, a dining tent, and campfire. It’s the best way to soak up the safari atmosphere and to feel part of nature. There is no better way to end the day in the bush than sitting around a fire under the stars, recounting the highlights of the day. Camping is also great for bonding with your family or other people on the tour, or with the support crew facilitating your safari, such as the driver and guide.

Kidepo Valley National Park

Slammed into the northeast corner of Uganda, and jutting up against South Sudan, Kidepo Valley is unique in Uganda. It’s probably my favourite park in the country and in my top 3 in East Africa. A 4-day self-drive safari in Kidepo Valley National Park Safari takes you to Uganda’s remote national park located in the rugged Savannah of Kidepo in Karamoja North of Uganda.

Two enormous Savannah valleys enclosed by rows of jagged mountains are often shrouded by thunderclouds. And in the valleys is plentiful wildlife including four of the Big Five. Other wildlife associated with the Narus Valley includes Rothschild’s giraffe, Burchell’s zebra, Bohor reed buck and oribi, while characteristic birds with a very limited distribution elsewhere in East Africa are Clapperton’s francolin and rose-ringed parakeet.

Game viewing is less reliable in the more northerly Kidepo River valley, but this is a good place to look for Uganda’s last wild ostriches and the much-localized Jackson’s horn bill and Karamoja apalis. Overall, while game densities are not quite on a park with Murchison Falls or Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo offers an excellent balance between good wildlife-viewing and the genuine wilderness atmosphere craved by most repeat safari-goers.

Kakine self- catering campsite

On your self-drive, camping can be offered at Kakine self- catering campsite, a budget accommodation facility catering for low-income earners. The campsite site is situated inside Kidepo Valley National Park and its of one the best camp site you get to have closer encounters with the wild.

Camping in Kidepo National Park is done on the ridges of the Narus valley. During the dry season, it’s the main source of water and all wildlife collect here to quench their thirst. On your self-drive wildlife Uganda safari, you are given an armed guide for protection from the wild animals. A fire is kept going through the night to keep away the animals from approaching the site.

Nagusokopire camp site

This camp site is located on the western side of the park. The site too has a toilet block with running water and huts from your cooking and storing of supplies. This camp site offers wonderful views of the Narus valley and the Narus valley plenty for wildlife can be seen as the day during your wildlife safari. Armed guide will keep the fire burning through the night.

What to carry while camping in Kidepo

During your camping in Kidepo, there are no bedding and tents provided. You will have to carry your own tent and you will also own meals, you should also carry some warm clothes as it gets cold in the evenings and mornings.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

In your rooftop vehicle, get the chance to visit Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park a UNESCO World Heritage Site in south-western Uganda and encounter the mountain gorillas in their habitat while on a camping safari. On a 3day, optional activities include mountain gorilla, the Batwa cultural experience, bird watching, forest and golden monkey trekking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

The trekking can be hard work depending on which gorilla family group you are allocated you can hike 5 to 7 hours but is totally worth it and being with takes approximately one hour. To be in such close proximity to a silver back is a wonderful experience and watching the youngsters play around is very entertaining.

Camping is done at selected safari lodges that offer camping grounds in Bwindi. Camping space is being offered at a small fee. Note that you have to book ahead with the campgrounds as they operate on a first-come, first-served procedure.

Top tips

• Wear gardening gloves (you will be grabbing plenty of branches for balance and pushing through the undergrowth)
• Use a walking pole (again for balance, particularly on the steep down slopes;
• Hire a porter – members of the local community will carry your bag and generally help you through the trek. The minimum cost is $15 (you can pay more if you like) and helps provide a source of employment to them.

Murchison Falls National Park

This highly rewarding national park which lies some five hours’ drive northwest of the capital Kampala is both Uganda’s largest and oldest conservation area, occupying just under 4,000 square kilometres in the far west of the country. It is named for the impressive cataract formed where the waters of the Victoria Nile squeeze through an eight – metre – wide gorge on their way downstream to Lake Albert, the shores of which also lie within the park.

The park is bisected from east to west by this river, and it is from the southern side that a loop road offers access to the top of the falls. The northern sector, by contrast, consists of more open Savannah and the game-viewing is excellent. During my recent visit, elephant, buffalo and the endemic Rothschild’s giraffe were all abundant, while antelope in impressive numbers included hartebeest, water buck, kob and the largest population of Oribi encountered anywhere in Africa.

The park has a good reputation for predators, with both lion and leopard being seen daily during my visit, and spotted hyena calling at night. Visitors should be aware that a car ferry transports vehicles between the southern and northern sectors, and should thus time their game drives accordingly: a slow morning start from a lodge in the southern sector could leave you at the back of a queue when heading to the northern sector; conversely, a late return may leave you missing the last ferry and stranded on the wrong side.

Perhaps the park’s most rewarding activity is a boat cruise on the river, with various options departing from besides the ferry crossing. Head east, upstream, for general riverbank game viewing, including large numbers of hippos and crocodiles, plus a great view of the falls. Head west, downstream, for your best chance of seeing a shoe bill, perhaps Africa’s most sought-after bird, and a denizen of the papyrus swamps at the Lake Albert Delta. Bird life is extremely rich throughout the park, including in the adjoining Budongo Forest reserve to the south, where there is also chimp tracking and a full range of other primates.

Camping at Murchison Falls National Park

At the top of Murchison Falls, the Uganda wildlife campsite offers a camp site that allows you to enjoy nature. With your own camping facilities, visitors are allowed to set up a camp, lightweight, easy to assemble, dome tents are the main accommodation used on our budget camping safaris. In general, they sleep two people and have a ground sheet and mosquito net. Depending on the tour, you will need to bring your own sleeping bag and, on some tours, your own sleeping mat.

On these safaris, where participation is expected, the tents will be erected by you. The first time you put it up, you may need a little help from the guide, but by the end of the safari, you’ll be able to do it blindfolded.

Lake Mburo National Park

While on a self-drive safari, one of Uganda’s few Savannah parks, Lake Mburo is easily accessible thanks to its central location off the main road that crosses between Kampala and the forested reserves and parks in the west. Numbers of game are not in the high concentrations as found at Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls, but nonetheless I have always found it a pleasant overnight stop midway between the capital and the gorillas.

The peaceful afternoon boat cruise from Rwonyo on Lake Mburo is excellent for bird and hippo-watching and seeing buffalo in the marshes. You can also enjoy the early morning walks from the lodges and a good chance to see the likes of warthog and impala close up and to stretch the legs before climbing back into the vehicle and traveling on. A striking feature of this park is the amount of zebra, often seen on the approach roads grazing alongside Ankole cattle with their enormous heavy white horns.

Camping in Lake Mburo National Park

Camping in Lake Mburo National Park is one of the best ways to experience enjoy nature, staying in tents, especially when you are on holidays. But due to the well-known meaning of camping, Lake Mburo National Park has also resorted to the addition of this activity in these wonderful grounds and had up a loud call to the camping companies, to come and find a place where they can rest and setup these camping sites.

Camping in this park makes it interesting and fun since its organized by the best team and it’s on a unique ground of Lake Mburo national park. 350 species of birds in the sky have made even more interesting and these birds includes the bee-eater, falcons, African fin foot, pelican, heron all that playing put in our camping, mammals, beautiful sceneries and many more.

There are three campsites but the best option is the attractive lakeside camp. This campsite is approximately 1.25 kilometers from the park headquarters. This campsite is very close to the park headquarters and because of its strategic location, the campsite has made many people to make use of it. Also has the scenic Lake side restaurant where people can have lunch.

Mantana tented camp is positioned in Lake Mburo national park. This campsite has a nice and clear view of the Lake and makes you refreshed with your eyes bubbled by the great view of hippos and crocodiles on the shores of the lakes, having fun in the pure blue waters of Lake Mburo national. The campsites have got mid-range accommodation.

The grounds of Lake Mburo national park are also haunted by Rwonyo rest camp; this campsite is operated by Uganda wildlife authority.  Rwonyo rest camp has got a good number of tents to favour the activity of camping in its premises, and again their bands which are cabins.  It has got basic accommodation, but still in Rwonyo rest camp you can experience a tented camp without the added price.

Leopard Rest Camp is also one of the popular ones in Lake Mburo national park. It has a good location overall and has a good sight position for watching wildlife in the park in you get to see animals grazing resting and many more.

Lake Mburo tented camp is located inside the park premises its most suitable for the budget. Lake Mburo tented camp has a unique style along with experience in carrying out camping activities and has got a sense of class and it keeps you in nature without you leaving it but having a night in Nature.