We set off on a 14-day Uganda road trip, camping under the stars and doing it all independently. We drove through Uganda’s safari parks on our own, hiked for two days through a mountain rainforest on the border with Congo, spent a full day trekking to see endangered mountain gorillas, and were stopped at military roadblocks roughly a thousand times along the way.
Uganda is a stunning country full of wonderful people, and we’d highly recommend it to any adventurous traveller. But we know how hard it is to find reliable information about Uganda online — especially when it comes to camping, accommodation, and all the various fees and expenses that are worth planning for in advance.
That’s why we’ve put together a short series about Uganda that’ll come in handy for anyone planning a trip there. You’ll find:
- an ideal itinerary, including national parks and stops along the way
- places to sleep en route, with links to book them
- a detailed expense breakdown across several tables, down to the last penny
- photos from the places we visited
- what it’s like to go gorilla trekking or on a two-day mountain hike
- #1: You Two Will Definitely Die in Uganda
- #2: When a Green Paradise Turns Into Hell
- #3: When a Gorilla Came to Check Us Out
- #4: Camping in Uganda — What Did It Cost?
Our Route
This time, we took planning a bit more “seriously” and mapped out where we should arrive each day and roughly what we’d be doing there. The plan changed several times along the way (mostly because Google doesn’t know that most roads in Uganda are unpaved, so a drive that’s supposed to take 5 hours actually takes at least 11 and a half), but in the end, we managed to tick off everything on our list — apart from the chimpanzees.
- Uganda is one of the few countries that really needs to be PLANNED IN ADVANCE. We used an excellent book called Uganda by Andrew Roberts — it’s the only proper guidebook you’ll find for the country and it’s well worth picking up.
Tips and Tricks for Your Vacation
Don’t Overpay for Flights
Search for flights on Kayak. It’s our favorite search engine because it scans the websites of all airlines and always finds the cheapest connection.
Book Your Accommodation Smartly
The best experiences we’ve had when looking for accommodation (from Alaska to Morocco) are with Booking.com, where hotels, apartments, and entire houses are usually the cheapest and most widely available.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Good travel insurance will protect you against illness, accidents, theft, or flight cancellations. We’ve had a few hospital visits abroad, so we know how important it is to have proper insurance arranged.
Where we insure ourselves: SafetyWing (best for everyone) and TrueTraveller (for extra-long trips).
Why don’t we recommend any Czech insurance company? Because they have too many restrictions. They set limits on the number of days abroad, travel insurance via a credit card often requires you to pay medical expenses only with that card, and they frequently limit the number of returns to the Czech Republic.
Find the Best Experiences
Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can book guided walks, trips, skip-the-line tickets, tours, and much more. We always find some extra fun there!
