Roadtrip Uganda

Placement organization

Name of organization: Roadtrip Uganda
Town/city: Kampala
Country: Uganda
Website: https://www.roadtripafrica.com/

Student

Name of student: Marin Ritmeijer

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Car rental company
Organization’s activities: Car rental for self drive vacations in Uganda. Organizing permits for Gorilla or Chimp trekking, booking accommodations for pre-booked tours.
Target group of the organization: All people interested in travelling to East Africa/Uganda
Company culture: Roadtrip Uganda has a pretty informal culture. Employees are a mixture of Dutch (management) and locals (mechanics). The vibe in the company is very relaxed but everyone also works hard.
Number of employees: 10
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Marketing and online media.

Brief description of your daily activities: – To write content such as blog posts for the new website
– Taking pictures for promotional material on the website
– Develop instruction videos for the new website
– Taking pictures of the complete car fleet for the new website
– Post material on the Facebook page
– Send emails to returned Roadtrippers requesting feedback
– To help lay out the planning for departing / returning cars
– Send follow up mails to clients who booked but have not yet confirmed
– Sending mails for special occasions (bad road conditions due to heavy rain, for example)
– Manage the photo directory and select pictures for the website
– Configure lay-out for texts on the new website
– Arrange linking on the website
– Research and write SEO friendly content for the website
– Develop or improve several overviews (adding a tent schedule to the car planning for example)
– Take and collect photographs and videos
Brief description of your company assignment: To conduct a research on the need amongst roadtrippers for instructional videos for the new website. Analyse the data and write scripts according to the results. Shoot the material for the videos.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Supervision was amazing! Nice and friendly people, as much freedom as possible but enough supervision and guidance to perform well and learn a lot.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, teamplayer, social, hard working, ability to adjust to the Ugandan culture
Additional company requirements for this placement? SEO, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: Dutch is easy since the management is Dutch. But not necessary

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane and car

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself, with help of the company
How did you go to work every day? public transport (boda boda) or by car

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, officially a student/work visa, but tourist visa works as well (easier to get)
Do you need a work permit? Officially yes, but I didn’t have one.
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Visa can be arranged online (3 or 6 months), prolonging can be done at immigration in Kampala or by doing a border bounce.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? The first time and hour, the prolonging at immigration took me two full days there
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? Check GGD!

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € € 750
Accommodation (monthly): € € 300
Local transport (monthly): € € 60
General costs of living (monthly): € € 100 tot 150
Costs of visa: € € 43
Costs of work permit: € ?
What did the company pay for/to you? Accommodation

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did online research and asked people that had been there before about their experiences.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 140645@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Travel to Uganda with an open mind. Don’t travel around with a lot of obvious expensive stuff. Use your ‘street smarts’.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Kampala is an amazing city, definitely discover it by boda tour with 2 friends boda tours! in Uganda itself, discover the national parks, go to Ziwa Rhino sanctuary, go hiking, Gorilla and chimp trekking, or visit beautiful lake Bunyonyi or Sipi Falls. And there is so much more! Could definitely recommend the Bradt guide for information..

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link