Driving need not be the chore that it has become for many of us as we struggle along stop-start commuter routes. It can be a brilliant way to explore a landscape and enjoy the sights en-route. To help inspire you, we have expertly selected 5 of the best areas to drives in East Africa with the 4×4 Rooftop tent car and other camping gears.
- Masai Mara National Reserve/Park, Kenya:
There’s little wonder that most African tourists and wildlife enthusiasts head to the annually in demand Masai Mara – a preserved savanna wilderness in southern Kenya, along the Tanzania border. This southern Kenyan reserve is so stunning and amazing that you will never wish to leave it at any one point once you’re there.
The Park is widely famed for its annual iconic migration of animals, popularly known as Wildebeest migration – which migrate in every July to October of any calendar year from Tanzania’s Serengeti Park to Masai Mara, the two Parks share boundaries.
This iconic and legendary migration of animals includes several wildlife species like almost 2 million of wildebeests, half a million of gazelles, and thousands and thousands of Zebras, Topis, Elands, among others – which makes the Park more stunning and attractive during these months (July to October).
Besides the epic wildebeest migration, there’s still plenty of other attractions to keep tourists enthralled as the park inhabits a substantial number of wildlife species including the in-demand ‘’Africa’s big 5’’ – lions, leopards, cape buffaloes, elephants, and rhinos, all spotted in elephantine numbers.
Masai Mara is really a must-visit place on your self-drive holiday in East Africa as there are untold attractions. There are much more enthralling activities to indulge in, such as; game drives and game viewing, hot air balloon safaris, memorable encounters with the Masai people who will take you deep in their fascinating culture, birding, nature walks, and many more.
- Serengeti National Park, Tanzania:
In simple terms Serengeti is a sister Park to Kenya’s Masai Mara. These two extraordinary Parks are very much known for their annual one-of-a-kind wildebeest migration that lure mammoth of tourists in the countries they reside in.
Serengeti is known for inhabiting a thumping number of wildlife species, in fact Serengeti is the best wildlife national park in Africa all-year-round. It is only bettered by Masai Mara during the months of the migration (July to October) simply because its animals are moving out of it (in great numbers) to look for the fresh pastures in the neighbouring Masai Mara. However, in November the animals return back to Serengeti when pastures have renewed till July, when they will gain go back to Masai Mara.
The major reason as to why Serengeti animals migrate to Masai Mara is absolutely because of limited pastures, a problem brought due to the very many wildlife species residing in the park. Meanwhile even during the migration, Serengeti is still a prime destination for wildlife safaris as the number of animals remaining in the park is still firm. Seeing the big five here is always a must!
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda:
This is absolutely the first Park ever coming to a person’s mind when talking about mountain gorilla safaris. The Park is among the only four Parks in the world still residing the endangered mountain gorillas – which are among the top tourist attractions on the continent, Africa.
Amazingly, among the four mountain gorilla refuges world-wide, Bwindi protects the largest portion of these precious species – almost half of the total population. The Park is located in southwestern Uganda and it’s absolutely the best Park in the world for mountain gorilla excursions.
- Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda:
No other primate park in Africa can come even at close quarters to Kibale Park talking of primate safaris. The Park is extremely spectacular and resides a total of 13 primate species – more than any other African Park, among which include the common chimpanzees. Kibale is situated in the western parts of the country, Uganda close to many other remarkable parks in the country like Queen Elizabeth (known for the unusual tree climbing lions), Rwenzori Mountains, and many more.
This is really a must-visit park especially chimpanzee and primate enthusiasts. The Park is a home to over 1,500 chimpanzees – a number bettered by no other African national park. Besides the chimpanzees, the Park’s other 12 primate species, are; olive baboons, red tailed monkeys, black and white Colobus, red Colobus monkeys, L’Hoest’s monkeys, Uganda mangabeys, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, Thomas’s galagos, eastern/elegant needle clawed galagos, demidoff’s galagos, and potos.
- Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda:
In case you’re one tourist who want to trek mountain gorillas privately in a very charm and quite society, then resorting to visiting Volcanoes Park is the most ideal option. This Park found in north western Uganda is simply a corporate Park for mountain gorilla enthusiasts as its gorilla permit is more expensive than that of Bwindi – costing US$ 1500 compared to that of Bwindi which costs US$ 700.
However, the expensive permit is really worth its price and none of our previous clients has ever complained about the permit being high, especially after trekking and seeing the gorillas. The gorilla trekking activity is an extraordinary one and definitely out of this world that every tourist to Africa has to take part into.
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