Budget constraints are some of the main barriers when planning any trip in Africa. It is easy to identify a catalog of activities you can do until you realize that some of them are way above your budget. At times the budget is inflated by travel agents. For this reason, some people prefer going for self-drive safaris in East Africa.
The self drive safaris do not only give someone the liberty to travel at their own pace but also help a great deal in reducing the budget of your safari. To get the best out of a self drive trip, you might have to consider a cross-border safari but this also comes with its own technicalities. In this article, we discus the required documents to execute a hassle-free self drive safari in East Africa.
For an exquisite East African travel experience, one may have to move from one country to another. For example, One could have quenched the need to visit the tree climbing lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park but then spellbound by the positive reviews of; “The land of a Thousand Hills”. In order to satisfy to this new fantasy, it becomes inevitable to consider border crossing. But unlike crossing from one city to another, border crossing requires you to present a few documents short of which you will not be granted access into your desired destination
Here are the required documents for you to cross borders in East Africa during your self drive East African safari.
A valid passport
A passport is the easiest identification that one can possess as a tourist and thus a valid one should be put closer since it will be requested frequently. The passport is your primary identity document. Make it still has a validity of six months or more before traveling to Africa.
Visa
A valid visa is a must-have for your trip. This can be obtained from either online or at the border. It is important to note that Uganda no longer offers Visas on arrival but when you are using the land borders, it is possible to get the Visa at the border point.
On the contrary, Rwanda offers Visas on arrival. Therefore if you wish to avoid the hustle of applying for the Ugandan Visa online, you can simply fly into Rwanda and then drive into Uganda thus securing your Ugandan Visa at the border.
Yellow fever
For you to travel safely across the East African borders, you will need a yellow fever vaccination card from a recognized health center. Though none of the East African countries currently requires the Covid-19 certificate, the yellow fever card is must have.
Comesa Insurance Or Third Party Insurance
An insurance sticker is a legal requirement for anyone to travel within the borders an East African country. There are often two options; buying a third-party insurance sticker for each country or buying a yellow card (comesa insurance) that allows you to drive through all the East African countries.
Car registration
Every time you cross the border, you are given a temporary car importation permit and for this permit to be processed, they will need the car registration to collect the car details. The car registration is also used to verify the car ownership details to ensure that stolen cars do not easily exit the borders.
When the police stops you, they will often ask for car registration, COMESA insurance, temporary importation permit among several other things.
Driver’s license
A valid driver’s license will be required. This can be an international or national driver’s license which will still be valid as long as you are not spending more than 3 months in each country. This is one of the things that the police will ask for in case they stop you.
Authorization Letter From The Car Owner
When you hire a car in Uganda for self drive, you will need an authorisation letter from the car owner or the car rental agency that owns the car. That is if the car is registered in the names of the car rental company.
Without this letter, you will not be allowed to cross the border with the car. Their will be an assumption that you have stolen the car. Therefore you ought to present an authorisation from the car owner allowing you to use their car or even cross the border with it.
In conclusion, there are seven documents that you will need to cross the border during your self drives safari in East Africa. These include; Passport, driver’s license, authorization letter from the car owner, car registration certificate, COMESA insurance, Visa and yellow fever card.
