Public transport & lack thereof

Kampala is a city of a few million people (I've heard figures ranging from 1.5 - 4 million, depending on how you count it), and as one would expect, you can't get everywhere on foot. Because of this, I have gotten to experience another aspect of Ugandan culture: public transit.

There are basically four forms of transportation in Kampala:

1. Walking (most common): A vast majority of the citizens of Kampala do not own cars, and since there is no charge for walking, it's the easiest way to go. Since I'm still as frugal as ever, I walk whenever possible. The downsides are that sidewalks are rare, so you're normally walking on the side of the street - balancing between getting too far into the road and falling into the open "ditches" used to carry away rainwater (and occasionally sewage).
   
2. 14-passenger "taxi": When you say taxi over here, people think you are talking about the mutatu - a cramped 14 passenger mini-bus. Since there is no public busing system here (although there are talks of starting one), mutatu's are the way to go. The big problem: they have no set times or stops and routes tend to be improvised. They also do not move until they are full, a lesson I learned the hard way as I sat waiting in one for 30 minutes before it moved. Not the most comfortable option, but definitely something to experience. And oh the smells! :)
3. Taxi-cab: Taxi's, as we commonly think of them, are in Kampala, but they're just a little more difficult to find. You don't hail a taxi; instead, you have to know where to find them sitting - normally outside of major hotels and shopping areas. The one bright side: the drivers are very friendly and want your business. I have two taxi-cab drivers' phone numbers now: Jimmy and Frank (or, according to his business card, Captain Yankee).
4. Boda-boda: Picture the child of a motorcycle & moped, and you have got a boda-boda. These things are everywhere in Kampala. Unfortunately, they are anything but safe; I read a newspaper article that said 6 out of 10 hospital entries are due to boda-boda accidents. This is because the boda-boda drivers somehow are instilled with the belief that they can fit their bike into spaces that they physically shouldn't be able to navigate. And, somehow, they often manage to do just that as they skirt around the other cars and mutatu's that are stuck in traffic. They are fun to take, but only after haggling with the driver to get rid of the special "white-person tax" and then explaining that I won't pay him unless he drives slowly & safely. Still, I try to avoid using these unless they're my only option.

Moving around the city is definitely a test of patience (actually, just living in Africa is a test of patience for anyone used to US time standards). Traffic on the main streets is, more often than not, slowly creeping along due to a traffic jam (just called "the jam" over here). Because of the congestion, drivers are very aggressive over here too, so public transit is always an experience. And, since Uganda was a British protectorate, they drive on the opposite side of the road here...I still have to remind myself to look the opposite way before crossing any street.

The city is also in a very hilly region. It was originally built on seven hills (apparently some call Kampala the Rome of Africa...but that's a little bit of a stretch). This, among other reasons, has led to a city layout that is anything but the traditional grid layout that most of us are accustomed to. This is another lesson I learned the hard way when I thought I would walk a different route home one day. The bright side: I learned a new area of Kampala. The downside: it took me an hour to get back to my starting point and then walk my normal route home.

Finally, Kampala, in addition to being very hilly, has an altitude of about 4000 feet. Combine this with a 1.5 mile walk, uphill, to campus each morning, and I am one sweaty muzungu (local term for white person) by the time I get to campus each day! At least this will give me good grounds to exaggerate the story into a 5 mile walk, uphill both ways, by the time I have kids & grandkids :)

Cheers!
Chris



Pic: A woman rides on a boda-boda as the driver navigates between two mutatu's