Ugandan Transportation

It’s nuts! The driving here is insane. First of all, the roads are pretty narrow, and rarely paved. The highways and main roads are paved, but everything else is just clay roads. And these off-roads have huge potholes and divots everywhere. To get a sense of what it’s like, have you ridden the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland? You know how the vehicle is just rocking back and forth the whole time, with all four wheels rarely on the same level of ground? Well, driving in Uganda is about like that. And after it rains here, the potholes turn into lakes. Not puddles, lakes; and there’s no way of telling how deep they are. So not exactly the quality of roads we have in America, but who expected they would be? Not me.

But what threw me off even more was the crazy driving of the locals here. Aside from the cars, there’s “boda bodas” here, which are just like motorcycles that act as taxis. They’re actually a fairly useful way of getting around the city, but as for how safe they are … eh. The boda boda drivers don’t follow any rules, so they just come flying onto the main roads, swerving in and out of cars. Then there’s the fact that people are always walking along the side of the road and crossing the street “recklessly” (but I guess they know what they’re doing). And “bumper to bumper” traffic in America is nothing compared to this, especially in Kampala. It was literally one bumper right next to another. Most cars even have grills on the front of the car and on the back corners, covering the lights, so they’re protected, I guess. Oh yeah, and they drive on the left side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. Still getting used to that.

So it sounds crazy, but in reality, after a week here, I’m figuring out the safe way to walk along the side of the road, where to check for cars and bodas crossing, and the best ways to get around town (which is mostly walking). Yep, good ol’ transportation in the third world : )