2-weeks self-drive roadtrip through Uganda

13.08.2023 | Africa, Uganda

2-weeks self-drive roadtrip through Uganda

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Our self-drive trip through Uganda was such a dream roadtrip! Uganda still seems very underrated compared to other East African countries, but it has so much to offer with less tourists around. We cannot recommend more to explore this country on a self-drive roadtrip! Uganda is the perfect African country for a self-drive roadtrip, we felt more than save all the time. You can explore so many different national parks, waterfalls including all the big wildlife animals like leopards, lions, elephants or hippos. As a special highlight Uganda is one of three countries, where you can watch the last mountain gorillas, and if that’s not enough you can see Chimpanzees in Uganda, too. In all national parks you are allowed to do game drives alone with your car, it’s nice to combine it with a guide here and there, who drives your car for little money and shows you the area.

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Take a flight to Entebbe (national airport) ✓

Get your 4×4 rental car (if you arrive late, stay at the guesthouse ViaVia Entebbe for a night) ✓

Drive to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary ✓

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1. Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Day 1-2

When you arrived in Entebbe, pick up your rental car and take some time to look at the largest lake in Africa: Lake Victoria. It’s so big that it feels like an ocean and it can get very dangerous due to storms and big waves in the middle of the lake. If your flight arrives late in Entebbe, stay one night in Entebbe – our recommendation would be to stay at the hotel ViaVia Entebbe. Otherwise you can drive directly to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in 4-5 hours depending on the traffic in Kampala. We would recommend to skip Kampala, unless you love big crazy cities. Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is the only place in Uganda, where you can find 36 wild rhinos and you can watch them with a guide during a walking safari! How cool is that? We even saw a mother with its baby.

Until the 90s, rhinos where completely extinct in Uganda, then they were reintroduced in the country to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary from Kenya and the population is now increasing very well. If they reach a number of 50 animals they want to put half of them back in freedom to Murchison Falls National Park. It’s so nice to be close to them by foot and your ranger will take good care of you! Also the rooms and the food were really nice! Since there is no fence, you will most likely be surrounded at the accommodation by rhinos in the morning. Did you know that rhinos can smell very well, but they cannot see very well?

What to do?

Where to eat?

Where to stay?

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Drive from Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary to Murchison Falls National Park in 4h ✓

Drive to the falls first (turning on the right), after that to the north of the national park with most accommodations ✓

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2. Murchison Falls, Day 2-4

Murchison Falls was our favorite National Park in Uganda! The landscape is so beautiful, parts of it look really similar to Masai Mara in Kenya due to the high yellow grass and the alone standing trees. When you drive to Murchison Falls, first stop at the waterfall itself. From the parking spot you can hike to the different viewpoints in 1 hour, where you can see the two powerful waterfalls from above. After another 30 minutes car ride you will reach the part of the northern national park, where most of the accommodations are located. We saw lions, leopard babies, elephants, giraffes, hippos and many more animals. We found the area around the airfield and behind the airfield most beautiful, since it looked like savannah. The hippo pool was really cool, too. During the boat tour on the Nile we got in such a heavy rain shower, and we were a little afraid to capsize between all the hippos in the Nile. Definitely bring a dry-bag if you carry a camera!

What to do?

Where to eat?

Where to stay?

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Drive from Murchison Falls to Kibale in 6h ✓

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3. Kibale, Day 4-8 (optional only 2 nights if you skip the community project Mwamba Kelele)

We liked Kibale a lot! First of all it’s known for the chimpanzee trekking and that was definitely a highlight! We went for the longer 4-5 hour habituation trek, which starts early and gave us a lot of time in the forest with the chimpanzees. In the early morning we saw them in the trees, then they came down to the ground and we were 2 to 3 meters close to them. They were so close that we could see all the similar behavior to humans in all their movements and care for each other. Their social behavior is really fascinating to watch. In the end of the trek they ran through the forest, one even grabbed my leg while standing up from the ground before running after the other chimpanzee. Overall they were pretty calm with us humans. I am so happy we were able to make this experience, it’s really worse the money!

We also highly recommend the Bicowa Community Walk! Two young and funny locals showed us their village. In a very authentic way they showed us the people who produce coffee, baskets, banana juice and gin and the medicine man of the village. We also danced all together and had a really good time! It’s a very nice way to support the community!

Isunga Lodge was the perfect place to stay for 2 nights! Although the streets to the lodge on top of the hill were a little bumpy, the lodge was so beautiful, had a wonderful view on the rainforest and the food was extremely good!! We are still dreaming of this place.

The last two nights we recommend to stay at Mwamba Kelele lodge, a wonderful community project. They are always happy about people who teach the kids something they don’t know yet. The school is financed by all the money from the foundation and the income they make from the rooms. Also they sell self-made bags and clothes or for example teach the kids how to use computers. They even established a dentist project in the village and so many other incredible projects. Even by staying at the lodge you can support this project a lot and you can additionally make a crater lake boat tour, since you can see the crater lake directly from the lodges. They also accept volunteers for 1 to 6 months.

What to do?

Where to eat?

Where to stay?

↠ Read more: soon

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Drive from Kibale to Queen Elizabeth National Park in 3h ✓

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4. Queen Elizabeth National Park, Day 8-9

In Queen Elizabeth National Park we saw less animals than in Murchison Falls National Park. There are no giraffes or zebras. But there are many many lions, and you will see them a lot! In the evening we watched a lion family of 5 male and 1 female animal for 4 hours, the next morning we found and watched them again. The cutest moment was, when the female lion welcomed all the male members including a lot of cuddling. Our guide also showed us a leopard and we also saw a big herd of elephants. When you drive to Bwindi next, drive through the Queen Elizabeth National Park until you reach the South Ishasha region. There is a nice game drive around big trees directly at the south gate, where you can watch tree climbing lions.

What to do?

Where to eat?

Where to stay?

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Drive from Queen Elizabeth to Bwindi-Buhoma in 4h via Ishasha (South of Queen Elizabeth NP) ✓

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5. Buhoma in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Day 9-11

Well, if you dream of seeing the last mountain gorillas, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda is the place! It’s a very expensive experience for sure, but it was definitely worth it for us to see them once in our life. There are only 3 countries in the world, where you can see the last mountain gorillas: Uganda, Rwanda (double the price of the costs in Uganda) and Democratic Republic of Kongo (pretty unstable at the moment).

There are 4 different areas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, where different families of gorillas live: Buhoma, Ruhija, Nkuringo and Rushaga. Only a few of the 400 left mountain gorillas in Bwindi are used to humans. The trekking only goes to these animals and only one group with a maximum of 8 people are allowed to see one gorilla family per day. Therefore the animals are less harried and able to walk away from humans all the time. Buhoma is the most common place for gorilla trekking, but it might be nice to check out the other less touristic areas like Ruhija. The tickets for Buhoma are sold out very fast, buy them at least one month in advance since there are only around 5 families in Buhoma who are used to humans. You can decide between a long, medium or short trek – but it can vary a lot depending on where the animals move. We asked for a medium/long trail but found the animals after 45 minutes. But you can also search them for 4 hours. But no worries, the 1h with the gorillas only starts when they are on the ground next to you.

At 7:30am we started our trekking in Buhoma. We were assigned to a further away gorilla family Habinyanja with 13 members including two silverbacks and two young children. So we first had to drive 1 hour in the car through the beautiful hilly landscape to get to the area. After only 45 minutes walking in the deep rainforest, the guides told us they spottet them sitting together on the ground. We put on our mask to prevent the animals from getting humans diseases. Then we had exactly 1h directly next to the animals on the ground. We sat down 2-5 meters next to them, what a magical experience! They were so calm, looked us in the eyes and seemed to enjoy our company. We could watch two mothers with their young children and the two silverbacks leading the group. We saw them feeding, pet each other and even hear them farting very long :D. They made these deep humming sounds, which the rangers also used to calm them. Our female ranger Florence was very nice and experienced.

We also signed up for a Batwa community tour, be careful that you book the real Batwa Experience founded by the Kellermann foundation. It’s really important to learn about the situation of the Batwa people! The Batwa people used to live in the Bwindi Forest, but with declaring the forest as official national park they were simply cast out with no place to be and no compensation. Only 1993 Kellermann founded this foundation for the Batwa people, supporting them in having a place to live and giving them access to education. Today the kids are able to go to school and a few children even go to university. One is a law school graduate and started to build her own law foundation fighting for the Batwa rights. However, the two really nice women, who showed us around, told us, that Batwa people still have really bad chanced for a good job, they can’t become rangers and they don’t own any land. Which means they feel like they do not belong anywhere. Although we had some mixed feelings about their little show-village, hunting and dancing presentation, it was really important for us to learn about their background.

Most of the 700USD ticket for the gorilla trekking goes to the national parks all over the country, paying the rangers (so that they are not tempted to be paid by poachers) and building streets and infrastructure around Bwindi. Unfortunately, almost nothing goes to the Batwa people, the former owners of the forest. Also our host from our lovely local guesthouse told us, that the big tour companies block all the gorilla tickets, so that the small guest house owners can’t buy tickets for their guests anymore. Overall it’s good that they protect the beautiful gorillas, but the situation supporting the local people could be better. We had the feeling that the hundreds of tour companies exploit the country with supporting only big hotels and dumping prices and with leaving money at the wrong place. Our host told us it would be a lot better, if there will be more self-drive individual tourism. Therefore we would like to encourage you to do the same as we did!

What to do?

Where to eat?

Where to stay?

↠ Read more: soon

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Drive the beautiful small roads through tea plantations from Buhoma to Lake Bunyonyi in 4h ✓

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6. Lake Bunyonyi, Day 11-13

First of all the ride from Buhoma along the small roads through the hilly tea plantations is so magical and beautiful! Staying at Lake Bunyonyi for 1 or 2 nights gives the roadtrip the perfect variety next to safari and animal watching. The lake is located 1.950m above sea level and it’s just such a calm and meditative place! From the little boat jetty near Kabale, a motorboat, organized by the lodge, will bring you to Byoona Amagara Lodge on the little Itambira Island on Lake Bunyonyi in around 10 minutes. Isn’t that cool sleeping on an island in the middle of a lake? You can leave your car at the jetty for 1-2 USD at the secure parking space.

We had such a great time in our cute little bird nest, watching the birds on the lake and the sky in the night. We even got a nearly full moon – just magical! The island is so relaxing and refreshing.

What to do?

Where to eat?

Where to stay?

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Drive from Lake Bunyonyi to Lake MBuro National Park in 3.5 hours ✓

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7. Lake MBuro National Park, Day 13-14

The last destination of our trip was Lake MBuro National Park before we headed back to Entebbe and our next destination Kenya. Since we only booked accommodations in Uganda and planned to camp with a rooftop tent in Kenya the whole time, we booked this last night at the beautiful Rwakebo Rock Lodge. We got such a nice room and the view from the dining area on top of the rocks was superb! There are no elephants or lions in the park, so it’s possible to book a guided walking tour. But we saw a leopard and many giraffes, zebras and hippos. The national park was more dusty than the other ones, but together with the great accommodation it really was a nice experience!

What to do?

Where to eat?

Where to stay?

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Drive from Rwakabo Rock back to Entebbe in 4.5 hours ✓

Return your rental car and fly home ✓

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How to get around? And why you should book a self organized roadtrip!

We rented a 4×4 Landcruiser Prado with a Pop-Up roof with “4×4 Uganda” for 70 USD per day plus 150 USD insurance. The communication with the company was okay and although the car was very old, we overall had a very good time. But there might be better companies, “Go Further 4×4” seemed really nice + cheap and Roadtrip Uganda looked good but more expensive! However, a lot of companies charge 100 USD or more a day, so the car we got might be fine for 70 USD. The pop-up roof was really nice for the national parks, you can also ask for a rooftop tent and sleep on camping grounds. You definitely need a 4×4 for the national parks! In the National Parks you can book a guide for 20 USD per day, who drives your car and shows you the animals. Keep in mind, that the best time to see animals is for sunrise and sunset, since the temperatures are less hot. Over the day lions for example only relax and sleep in the shadows.

We highly recommend to not book your trip via a travel company. Uganda is very easy to plan yourself and the traffic on the streets is pretty doable! Just text some car rental companies and ask for a self drive rental. It’s not only cheaper and you can stop wherever you want, but it’s also a lot better to support small local hotels and guest houses. Tour companies always book with the same big hotels, which have to offer their rooms for dumping prices to get in the tourist agency cycle. Small local hosts can’t participate in this cycle. We spoke with a few hosts and they always told us the same, it’s hard for them to exist with this tour company overload and they hope for more individual tourists in the future. Also tour companies block hundreds of tickets for the Gorilla and Chimpanzee trekking, and even if they don’t manage to sell them, they are blocked for the year. Therefore local hosts often aren’t able to get tickets for their guests. Overall in our opinion, you help the country a lot more, if you travel individually. Trust us, it’s more than doable! Uganda is such a save country and the streets and traffic is very good!

When is the best time to visit Uganda?

Dry seasons: December-February and June-August
Wet seasons: March-May and September-December

The months listed above were the dry seasons in the past, recommended as the best time to travel through the country. Unfortunately, due to climate change, locals told us you can’t rely on that anymore these days. The last few years sometimes May was dry and June was wet. Every months was a mixed season. We were told, that some streets in the national park and even some treks for gorilla trekking can be closed if they get too muddy. When we visited in the end of June we had a few rain showers here and there but also a lot of good weather. Keep in mind, that it can rain every time in the rainforest the whole year. Just bring a rain jacket and trousers and a rain cape four your backpack. You can visit Uganda the whole year, but in the “dry” months it might be easier.

How expensive is Uganda?

Well, East Africa is definitely not a cheap country. Compared with Tanzania and Kenya it’s still cheaper. With a few tricks you can make the trip as cheap as possible:

1€ was equal to 4.040 UGX when we visited. Take enough cash with you, since some hotels don’t except cards. The National Parks mostly have working credit card readers.

We visited Uganda in the end of June and the beginning of July 2023.

Anzeige / ad: Most of the hotels, restaurants and companies we mentioned above didn’t sponsor us. All our recommendations are always based on our own opinion.

Watch wild gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, leopards, elephants and many more animals!

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