Self Drive in Uganda – Hire 4×4 Safari Vehicles for Self Drive in Uganda as a Couple or in Group with friends

In September of 2017, I and my wife organized a self drive safari in Uganda using a 4×4 car hire Uganda which hired us a good Land cruiser vehicle. We self drove Uganda using a 4×4 car hire Uganda for all our bookings.

We hired a Land cruiser car which we used for our tour in Uganda however the company offers other different vehicles including Prado, super custom, safari vehicle, Coaster, Rav4, Premio plus the Land cruiser which we hired for our self drive in Uganda ‘’the pearl of Africa’’.

We booked with a 4×4 car hire Uganda when we are still in our home country. This was possible since we were talking to the tour consultant of 4×4 car hire Uganda (Konde Moses) through emails who told us what is needed for our self drive in Uganda to be a nice one as it was indeed.

We booked for our tour three weeks earlier before we went there and we paid a deposit of 40% of our scheduled price for the tour.

On our arrival to Entebbe airport in Uganda, we were picked up from the airport by a 4×4 car hire Uganda’s professional and friendly guide who took us to where we found our vehicle which we used.

Before taking the vehicle for our tour, we first tested the condition of the vehicle and we confirmed that it was in the very good condition for our tour.

We then took the photos of the vehicle because you have to do so in that if you bring it back when it is not in its fine condition you have to pay for the damages which you will have caused on it. Since we drove carefully and took good responsibilities on our hired Land cruiser vehicle, we returned back from our tour without any damage on the vehicle.

We drove to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Kibale Forest National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park and these Parks are all found in western Uganda and then ended our trip in Kidepo Valley National Park which is found in the northern parts of Uganda (Karamoja).

In Bwindi we enjoyed the tracking of gorillas because we arrived earlier in the Park and we were able to get involved in the morning gorilla shift.

We found out that gorilla tracking in Bwindi is done in four sectors; Nkuringo, Buhoma, Rushaga and Ruhija though our gorilla tracking took place from Buhoma sector and we enjoyed viewing gorillas from this sector.

We discovered that Bwindi impenetrable forest national park protects over 400 mountain gorillas which are almost half of the world’s mountain gorillas. From this sector we were also able to see many bird species and we discovered that the Park protects over 340 species of birds.

Using our hired Land cruiser, we also visited Queen Elizabeth national park where we got surprised at seeing the tree climbing lions. We really enjoyed how these lions were climbing the branches of different tree species.

In the Park we also viewed a brilliant and beautiful Kazinga channel which is situated in the middle of the Park and here we were able to see various animals such as elephants, buffaloes, leopards plus the permanent residents which include hippos, crocodiles and aquatic birds.

In the Park we still enjoyed the brilliant view to over 600 bird species and we noticed that the Park protects the highest number of bird species in Uganda. Though the Park protects chimpanzees, it was unfortunate that we did not see even one.

We went over with our self driving to Kibale Forest National Park where we were able to see a large number of chimpanzees. Our chimpanzee tracking began at 08:00am and we were 6 individuals per group which is recommended in the Park.

We experienced how friendly these primates are to humans because on seeing us, they were eager at coming closer to us though it is not allowed in the Park since chimpanzees can catch human diseases like flu and cholera and the fact that they are wild animals though they are habituated.

We performed many activities from here including nature walking, chimpanzee tracking and bird watching because the Park protects over 350 bird species. We were also able to do game drives in every Park that we visited because we had our private car.

We ended our tour in Kidepo valley national park and we noticed that in all the four Parks that we visited, Kidepo was the most photogenic Park due to its landscape. We were also told by the Park rangers that it is apparently the most photogenic Park in Uganda and also one of the most photogenic Africa-wide.

The Park is made of the two seasonal Rivers which include Narus River and Kidepo River which makes it photogenic. Other things which make the Park very photogenic are the Narus valley, Morungole Mountain, its sandy soils plus the big number of bird species which ranges about 500 species.

The Park also protects almost every Africa animal such as Nile crocodile, Oribi, African elephant, Lion, giraffe, African buffaloes, cheetah, Jackson’s hartebeest, Defassa water buck, Eland, Bush buck, Ugandan Kob, Warthog, Bush Pig, Zebra and many more thus making it to be ‘’a true African wilderness’’. Apoka Lodge is one of the best luxury lodges in the Park.

After our self driving tour which took us 10 days, we then returned to Kampala (Entebbe airport) for a flight back to our home country and we were escorted by the 4×4 car hire Uganda’s professional and friendly guide.

We discovered and enjoyed various cultures in each Park we visited due to the different tribes of People who live in those Parks and we were able to enjoy their dressing codes, dances, songs and cultures.

We really enjoyed our self drive tour in Uganda using a 4×4 car hire Uganda because the company offers good cars which are in the good condition and ready for various activities in the Parks most especially the game drives whereby through this activity, we were able to at least view the most remarkable things in Uganda’s national parks.

We were able to clarify why Uganda is called the ‘’Pearl of Africa’’ after using a 4×4 car hire for our tour and after, we returned back home safely with a great experience in Uganda.