Driving in Uganda

Our trip started off with the phrase “we could never drive here” but Chris is now well on his way to being an expert 4×4 and combat driver!

Here are a couple of short clips to give you an idea of the sort of driving that is necessary in Uganda

Driving a car is a luxury in Uganda, with most people using the pubic taxi for transport, or the Boda Boda we have mentioned before. These are relatively inexpensive although the risk factor is rather high! When we travel into Kampala by ourselves we usually use these forms of transport however we use the car when we are going out with the family and sometimes for getting to and from school. At the start of our trip, Ivan took a trip to visit the Revival Centre’s sponsors in the UK, so Chris became chief driver for a few weeks. We are thankful we haven’t needed to drive since then, although it was a good (albeit daunting!) experience!

Our usual form of transport to get into Kampala is a public taxi.  These are sort of like buses without set stops, but they follow a particular route.  If you need one, you stand by the side of the road and wait for one with enough space (or not enough space – they will make room!) and get in.  Top tip – get a taxi that is as full as possible, as an empty taxi can add a lot of time to your journey while the conductor tries to convince every pedestrian to get in!  For 2500 shillings (about Aud$1.10) for a 12 mile trip to Kampala, a little extra time is not something we complain about!

Making friends inside a taxi! All these school kids shared the three seats in the back row!

The inside of a taxi – supposed to seat 14, we have experienced up to 20 people fitting in one!

We cannot do a blogpost about driving in Uganda without introducing you to Tom! Tom is a private taxi driver, who we came across on one of the very first weeks here. He was waiting outside the Garden City shopping mall we frequent, and asked if we needed a taxi. We already knew what rate we should be charged to get back to Matugga (the local rate!) and were impressed when he didn’t try to offer us ‘Muzungu’ prices! Since that day he has been our on-call driver every time we have done a little too much shopping for the public taxis (especially 5L water bottles!), or going somewhere a bit more out of the way, or just want to treat ourselves! We have met his family, two cute kids, and we enjoy his company while driving!

Tom and his car
Photo by Debbie Bognar

So far, Tom has also not run out of petrol while we’ve been traveling with him! This may seem like a small thing, but we are averaging once a month in terms of traveling in a vehicle that has run too low! It is not usual to ‘fill it up’ when you get to a petrol station, rather each journey requires a petrol stop with just enough for that journey being added. The reason being that the population lives on a day-by-day wage and a full tank would mean fewer groceries that day. It’s a common sight to see Boda drivers, taxis or cars stopped on the side of the road waiting for a jerry can to be bought from the nearest station. Luckily there are a lot of stations here!

This is the closest we got to a petrol station before running out – good effort!

Flat tyres are also a common occurrence on these roads!

Driving around using any form has given us great entertainment (when we haven’t been fearing for our safety!) in what Ugandans can transport on Boda bodas!

Best things we’ve seen traveling on a Boda Boda:

A Live Goat! The first time we saw this it was too quick to get a photo, but we were very surprised! The second time I couldn’t let the opportunity pass by!

Find the goat!

20 Jerry Cans – purely because the overload is amazing! Unfortunately no photo!

Fruit heading to the markets:

Pineapples!

Live chickens – see if you can count them!

Count the chickens

Wide Loads!

The width of a load never seems to be too much of a concern.

But the best of the best was a motorbike on a motorbike! This one we really wish we had caught on camera! A Boda must have broken down, but the solution of course is just to pick it up and put driver and bike on another Boda!!

Best views of other cars/trucks:

Tea Leaves make a great first class ride!

Logs! This never seems to be securely fastened down, and we much prefer not to be traveling behind such a load!

Whatever can fit on top of a taxi:

A taxi fare can include the roof of the taxi for an added fee.

Seemed to fit in this blogpost somewhere, a wheelchair!

And finally, come along with us as we take a ‘boda’ from the village back home