Roof Top Tent

Land Cruiser TZ with a Rooftop Tent

US$90 per day Book Now

Land Cruiser V8 with Double Rooftop tent 

US$130 per day Book Now

Land Cruiser GX With A Rooftop tent

US$110 per day Book Now

4×4 Car Hire in Uganda with a Roof Top Tent + Camping

What They Do Not Tell You About Rooftop Tents- Pros And Cons

Camping safaris are often the best way to go when trying to experience the best of African wilderness safaris. Whenever you mention camping safaris; there are a number of things to put into consideration ranging from tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, camping light, and a lot of things that come along with the camping gear.

There are always a number of options to choose from when you consider camping on your trip some of which we have identified above. But let us zoom out on the different camping tents you can consider of your trip and also explore the pros and cons of choosing a particular kind of tent for your camping safari.

Uganda Rooftop Tents Selfdrive Hire

A rooftop tent is a tent that is locked on top of the car giving you an opportunity to use the car top as the camping ground. Anyone that is not comfortable sleeping on the ground during their wilderness camping safari, would prefer a rooftop.

However, there is a number of rooftop tents out there and you have to be specific on which type of rooftop tent you would wish to go for. One of the things to consider when choosing the rooftop tent is the mattress size, the number of people it can accommodate; which all influence the cost of hiring a particular rooftop tent.

Ikamper Sky camp 2.0 (Hard Shell)

It comes with an expandable king-size mattress that can offer enough space for four people (Average sized people). It is often preferred by most people because of its hard shell that makes it easy to set up. It has three window spots also offering a sunroof kind of window to allow in extra light. It is opened by unfolding the sideways.

Roofnests Sandpiper

The sandpiper offers ample space for two adults; rectangular appearance. It can carry extra weight on its top of up to 100 pounds. Unlike most of the rooftop tents, sandpiper simply pops up. It has a total of 4 windows

Feldon Shelter Crow’s Nest

A rooftop tent offers enough sleeping space for two people. It also has a 180^o unfolding making it not as fast as the Ikamper or the Alu-cab to set up.

Alu-Cab’s Generation 3

The tent has 3 point access with a door and window on either side.  It has a 45^o pop-up style to open up the tent with a hard shell structure just like the Ikamper; this makes it one of the quickest tents to set up.

The tent can also carry extra gear on tops such as kayaks, solar panels to help you have some power for phone charging, and other simple accessories.

FSR High Country Edition

Known for reliability, It can sleep up to three adults and also offer you a total of three windows. It has a 180^o unfolding unlike most of the other tents such as Ikamper Sky camp.

Hardshell VS Softshell Rooftop tents

Rooftop tents can be classified into two types, hardshell rooftop tents, and soft shell roof top tents. Most of the hardshell rooftop tents have either a pop-up opening format while the softshell rooftop tents have a 180^o opening style. Out of the above-shared options, some are hard shell while other a softshell rooftop tents.

Pro’s of Hardshell Rooftop tents

• They are easier to set up compared to soft shell rooftop tents. It can be set up in less than 5 minutes.
• Some hard shell rooftop tents have vertical walls that create more ample space inside the tent.
• They can carry extra luggage on top of the rooftop tent, unlike the soft shell roof top tents.

Con’s of Hardshell Rooftop tents

• They are heavier than soft shell roof top tents, so they are not as common in Uganda road trips as the softshell.
• They are also the most expensive; therefore any company that considers the competition in the market would often prefer the softshells since they are often cheaper compared to hardshell rooftop tents.

Pro’s of Softshell Rooftop tents

• They are lighter thus easier to install on the car
• Very common on Uganda rooftop tent safaris unlike the hard shell rooftop tents.
• They are cheaper compared to the hardshell rooftop tent, thus you can easily get it from any self-drive car rental company.

Con’s of Softshell Rooftop tents

• It might take more than 5 minutes to set up or close after set up

Rooftop Tents Vs Ground Tents

Below are some of the pros and  cons of rooftop tents vs pros and cons of the ground tents

Rooftop tents pro’s and con’s

Rooftop Tents Pro’s	Rooftop Tents Con’s
Raised from the ground giving up better views More comfortable Easy to set up compared to a ground tent Does not require a flat ground Gives you more storage space in the car More secure in case of animals walking in the car in the middle of the night Saves you from being interrupted by the rain runoff	Expensive compared to a ground tent Requires a Ladder to enter inside the tent  You need to first fold the tent to head anywhere with the car Affects the road handling of the car Too short to stand-in

Ground Tents Pro’s and Con’s

Ground Tent Pro’s	Ground Tent Con’s
Cheaper compared to the rooftop tent Some are high enough for you to stand in case you need to do some simple exercise such as yoga Does not require any ladder to move in, making it easy to move in and out	Takes a lot of space in the Trunk Interrupted by animals walking in the middle of the night around the campsite Requires a flat ground Cannot stand running water on a rainy day

With the above comparisons, the only reason you would opt for a ground tent is the ladder required for you to enter the rooftop tent which might be a little bit inconvenient and its cost is more than triple of a basic ground tent.