
Tips for Fuel Efficiency on a Road Trip in Uganda
Thinking about how best you can save on fuel while on a road trip? Each year, fuel prices keep rising leaving many wondering how best they save the little they have for other things while on road trip. It does matter how fuel efficient your Uganda car rental is but what is important is for you to find out how best you can save some cash at the fuel station. These days the rate for fuel is causing alarm among travelers/drivers and it is one most frustrating factor.
Below are some of the tips to help you save on fuel
Plan your journey
For those who have driven cars for long before, you realize that driving a vehicle that has been just parked for a few hours its engine can be cold and it can use much fuel for the first 5 miles. To save on fuel costs, you need to find a way of cutting down the number of road trips you make each day. Most importantly, you can make one round road trip other than having many sort trips. When the engine is warm, it does work at its efficient rate while series of cold starts come will high fuel consumption rate although the total mileage can be same.
Schedule regular maintenance
For those of you with cars, it is important that you have a maintenance schedule for your cars. Whether your car is fuel efficient or new, by ensuring proper car maintenance, you won’t incur costs on issues that bring about poor fuel economy for instance old spark plugs, dirty air filters or low fluid levels and others. By ensuring that the car is in its better mechanical conditions, improves its fuel consumption rate.
Slow down
The faster you set off, the more aerodynamic drag is applied to your car and when this occurs, the end result is high fuel consumption. An example is when you drive at a speed of about 75 miles per hour on a highway; you can lose about 15% more fuel than if you reduced the speed to about 62mph. This won’t only save your wallet but also one safer way for everyone on board. You therefore need to slow down in the highest gear however, whereas there is a favorable speed, in most cases the road conditions and gradients may not allow you to do that speed and the best is for you to adjust your driving depending on the nature of the route.
Use cruise control
By the time you embark on a road trip, perhaps you should have made some calculation on fuel consumption and also attempted to live within your means. By opting to set the vehicle’s cruise control forces it to maintain a constant speed that doesn’t burn that much gas. This means whether you are setting off on highway to work or road trip, you get opportunity to save your wallet at end of the day. The cruise control is also believed to use more fuel especially when it is used all the time. However, it is helpful in fuel saving when it is on constant flat surface.
Do not buy premium gasoline
Unless the vehicle has a high performance engine which needs a higher octane rating, normally 91 or more, premium gasoline will not make a change in how a car runs. Avoid spending on costly gasoline in case it is of no use to you. However, if there is any sign of it to be used then do it.
Make sure that the car roof is clear
By securing things on the roof comes with additional storage capacity while traveling though it also increases the aerodynamic drag thus rendering the engine to work harder and hurting the fuel economy.
Maintain momentum
You need to keep your car moving however, this may depend on the traffic conditions and what is taking place on the road ahead. But by slowing down and having to accelerate again leads to high fuel consumption.
Lose your cool
If there is no use of air conditioner at a moment then do not put on because this takes much of the engine power and hence increase fuel consumption rate.
Read MoreWhat to Pack for a Self Drive Safari in Uganda
Guide to packing List on Self Drive Safari in Uganda
Car Rental Congo is among the reliable car rental companies that offer Self-drive Safaris in Uganda for holidaymakers or even car rental with experienced drivers. We have prepared a complete guide to help you plan a Self Drive in Uganda, the packing list for your uganda Safari.
It’s almost Road Trip time, and you’ve started to think about what exactly you need to pack to keep your show on the road. Whether you are doing a cross country road trip, driving through Uganda’s incredible destinations, you need to consider some things to pack.
All the Car Rental Congo fleets that are used on Self drive Uganda on short and long term rental, Our Uganda cars have a cigar lighter to power your devices, but you will need to bring your own audio and USB cables. If you use Spotify, do not forget to download your favorite road trip songs so you can listen to them offline. Audiobooks are also great fun to listen to during long drives, or whilst sitting around a campfire or lying in your tent (try a thriller!). Don’t forget to download Maps.me on your phone before you travel, so you can drive and walk around using GPS without needing to connect to the internet.
Take a look at the camping gear list on the car rental Congo website to see whether it contains everything you need. A power bank comes in handy if you’re going to be camping a lot. A fleece blanket is nice for chilling on the grass or covering up on chillier nights. Definitely bring insect repellent and sunblock, as these are available, but more expensive, in Uganda. The interior highlands are cooler in the evenings, so bring a fleece or jumper. Kampala, and to a lesser extent Entebbe and Jinja, have well-stocked supermarkets and pharmacies, where you can buy a lot of essentials in case you forgot something. Obviously, this is not the case in rural towns and villages.
From Kampala, always bring chicken stock, canned tuna, olives, capers, coconut milk, parmesan cheese, and chorizo (keeps well in warm temperatures for quite a few days). Good olive oil and truffle oil (makes every salad or pasta taste good). Couscous is easier to prepare than rice. For breakfast, I bring filter coffee, muesli, jam, and nuts. Pancakes are a good substitute for bread and milk and you can buy them everywhere.
Stocking up on supplies for some serious bush cooking. We’ve noticed that not many travelers cook their main meals when camping in Uganda. Either that or you just clean the utensils very thoroughly; This is understandable, as food at Ugandan lodges is generally good and cheap. We are personally big fans of cooking in the bush, and messing about while buying all the groceries is half the fun.
Uganda is very fertile and you can buy a lot of tasty vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, and tropical fruits such as pineapple, mango, and passion fruits from small food stalls along the road. Many people use Swahili spices in their food, so you can easily stock up on things like coriander, ginger, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. Kampala also has a lot of well-stocked supermarkets where you can buy all kinds of western products, whereas provincial towns obviously have less variety. However, you should be able to find canned/dried foods like beans, rice, pasta, and noodles as well as eggs, milk, water, and of course… Coca- Cola. Quite impressive how they’ve organized their distribution with outreach to even the smallest villages deep in rural Africa.
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Uganda Online Car Rental Tips and Guides
Hiring a rental car in Uganda is an ideal way of traveling in the country.
Whether you are going for a short self-drive wildlife safari in Uganda or a longer Ugandan vacation, we make it easy for you to hire any type of vehicle.
Uganda’s online car rental option is the order of the day for visitors and Travellers in Uganda.
The increase in business travel and the need for short-term transportation for family trips has made the use of the Internet for booking car rentals an important aspect of travel planning.
Companies like Omega Car Rental Uganda and Car Rental Uganda have extensive car rental booking sections on their web sites, allowing consumers to book most types of cars for a relatively low price up to a day in advance.
However, there are a few important tips for those who are new to booking car rentals on line to remember before diving in.
An important point is regarding the rental cost of the car, which is usually different from just the cost of driving the car.
The final price will always include everything from the fuel costs to insurance monies.
Availing temporary auto insurance is a wise thing to do in case you do not have any other general car insurance.
This can be done during the course of the booking. There are additional charges that include local and federal taxes, following the state you are in. But most car rental companies do offer prices with no hidden charges.
Usually, the price that is advertised is not actually what you end up paying… There are additional charges that creep up.
Another important consideration in booking car rental online is what type of vehicle is best suited for the consumer. Ranging from economy to passenger vans, car rental web sites offer a wide range of options.
Remember to take account of the number of passengers, cargo and other factors, because it’s best to reserve a car with the next highest capacity.
So, if you have four passengers and three large pieces of large luggage to take along, you should opt for a five-seater with the capacity for four large luggage pieces.
One of the most important thing to take note of is, a 4×4 car is a must to have a safe a stress free road trip.
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Pros of Ground camping on self-guided safaris in Uganda
There are various ways you can enjoy an adventure trip to Uganda. These can range from; a normal pre-planned Safari package with a tour company to back packing, self-drive safaris as well as outdoor camping.
However, camping is becoming popular and considered one of the cheapest ways one can feel the closer touch to the natural gifts of fauna and flora that the ‘pearl of Africa’ offers. Camping is much popular in wildlife parks of Kidepo Valley National Park, Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls among others as well as forest reserves.
It isn’t a must that to get a memorable camping experience, you have to contact a travel agent to organize for you a fully packaged trip. There are other various ways such as planning yourself a self-guided trip either alone or with family and may be friends. The best way here however would be hiring a vehicle for self-drive as well as the necessary camping gear.
A number of Uganda Car hire companies also do camping equipment rentals. However, before choosing a car to hire, you have two decide on which mode of camping you would prefer on either ground or car top.
With Ground camping, you hire a car of your choice for instance a Rav 4, Land cruiser or Safari Van and camping gear separately. This mainly comes with a ground tent that is pitched to the ground plus other stuff required for camping such as Cooking gas, cooking utensils, cutlery, tables and chairs, bedding among others.
On the other hand, Car top camping requires hiring a vehicle option with a car top/ roof top tent. This also comes with the same other camping equipment.

Rooftop camping is gradually becoming popular in Uganda of recent
With both options, the only difference is in the style of the tent and many have different opinions on which form could be better than the other. Though Roof top camping is gradually becoming popular in Uganda, here are some of the reasons why many visitors to the country still stick to the ordinary ground camping option on camping trips.
Advantages of Ground Tents over Car top tents
- The ground tent can be better in times when you want to set up for instance a week long camp in the same place and then use your car to go for excursions. This is because you can’t set up your roof top tent and drive away. You have to pull down the tent each time. It also becomes hard if you need to leave something in your campsite to hold your spot since you will be moving with all your essentials along with the vehicle.
Therefore, if you want to set up a tent for several days and move the car in the meantime, a ground tent would be better.
- To some point though minimal, the roof top tent would negatively affect the driving of the vehicle mostly on roads in poor conditions as it raises your center of gravity. This may affect some driving instances such as in high-speed cornering.
- Price of renting a rooftop tent vehicle is a bit higher than that of hiring separate vehicle with camping gear. Taking the same example of a Land cruiser TX or TZ, when it comes with a rooftop tent, it can be hired at around $85 per day whereas renting it with separate camping gear can be at around $75 ($65 for the vehicle and $10 for camping gear). It is also possible to hire a smaller cheaper car such as a Rav4 with camping gear.
- Ground tents can take any number of people at the same time as compared to the car top that are limited. Most Car top tents available in Uganda cannot take more than 5 people; i.e the tent capacity of the Single tented Land cruiser only takes two people while the double roof tented cannot accommodate more than five. With ground tents, you can get any size you want right from the single to one that can accommodate 8 people or more.