Student Travel to Uganda

by Jesse Tattersall

giraffes we met on our travels in Africa

Traveling in Uganda

While we have been in Uganda we have traveled mainly on local transport. That takes many forms and is ruled by the unshakable principles:

1. We will be leaving ........ soon.

2. It is not far now

3. There is always room for one more in any vehicle

Traveling on from Kampala we got into the real spirit of backpacking in Central Africa.

From "Backpackers Kampala" we ordered a little taxi bus to take us to the Main Bus Station. Instead of a van a little 1200cc car arrived. We told him we couldn't fit but he insisted he could put 5 full backpacks into his boot and the hand luggage. Impossible but we let him try. Check the photos as it all happens somehow in Africa and everything and everyone gets there in the end. 5 of us with full luggage plus driver into one little car.

The bus trip to Fort Portal was interesting. You can see from the Fort Portal page that we are out in the back blocks there and we not expecting too much. Even on the bus from Nairobi to Kampala there was a formal warning sign that we should accept no food or drink from strangers or we may be drugged and wake up with all belongings gone!! Doing that seems to be the professional occupation of some locals.

We then travelled out to the crater lake, Lake Nkubra, in another 1200cc "Mini car taxi". It was even smaller and much more beaten up than the Kampala one and I still don't know how we fitted. On the way out there though over 24 km of rough dirt track we bumped into a mate of the driver so he moved himself onto the gear stick to give his mate a lift!! Luckily top speed was around 25 km/hr so risk was low but that is when we realized that "there is always room for one more" in Africa is not just words!

From Fort Portal we travelled by bus again down to Kabale. We booked the tickets before going to the lake to ensure we had a seat. As requested we reconfirmed the night we returned to town and were assured that the bus would leave from the bus line office at 7.00 am but do not be late or it is likely to leave without us. Slept in. 6.40 we woke up. Mad rush to the station (across the road from where we stayed). Arrived at 6.59. Caught our breath as the bas was late. Waited. Waited. 8.00 no bus.

More people arriving to get on it. 9.00 am no bus. Approaching 10 am bus arrives, already nearly full. No seats. Room for bags and to get on. just no seats. "Just wait sir, some of these will get off soon and there will be seat". "But", I say, "the bus originates here, how can it to so overcrowded". "Oh, people come to the garage. No problem. Seat soon. Just wait."

On the bus there were chickens. We were already used to that. We thought they excelled themselves though when a family got on and brought a goat with them. It was tied up and well behaved but it bleated a little. Also young children are free to travel but don't get a seat. If you are next to a mother of 2 or 3 they tend to overflow into your seat as you can see from the photo of Rachel on the bus.

When you are on the road in Uganda the bus stops at most towns and people get on and get off. Seats do become available. It all seems to work out. Each time you stop the bus is surrounded by vendors; drinks, snacks, crafts, local produce. Around meal times there are food vendors offering shashlik sticks with grilled chicken or beef or goat. As they are char grilled they are quite safe to eat and none of us had any ill effects from the food hygine. Also available is chapattis (Indian flat bread) freshly cooked and a meal of grilled chicken wrapped in fresh baked chapattis costs around AUD$ 80cents a serve.

Next place of stay was Lake Bunyoni. We arrived at a bus station and had arranged by phone to get out to the resort. What we had not understood was just what was involved. First we had to get our own taxi to take us 9 km over a mini mountain to the lake. Next, getting on towards dark, we took a dug out canoe, yes a dug out Australian Eucalypt, tree trunk canoe, for 40 min across the lake in the gathering gloom with all our luggage including 2 laptop computers. Beautiful scenery but where else than in Africa??? (Cost for 40 min of back braking paddling to get us there was a little over AUD$2.00 a head.)

I needed to get some more cash in my pocket and there is no Automatic Teller Machine on Lake Bunyoni so I took a dug out to the doc at 9.00 am, caught a lift with the guys from the camp into town (botting a ride with someone going your way is very much the done thing in Africa and they always have room for one more!). Then I caught the taxi to the next town which had a Standard & Charted Bank. Spent 20 min doing the banking and getting a drink then came back by bus. To get to the lake I took the other local transport, pillion passenger motorbike. Very exhilarating till he dropped the bike on a 45% incline at 5 km an hour. (It looks like my ankle WILL recover but the next 3 weeks it was very swollen with a definite limp.)

From Bunyoni we went down to Lake Victoria Via Masaka using local mini buses - Martatos, or, in Kenya, Martutus or if your are in Tanzania Matola. It is a 12 seat minni bus taxi that has a funny way of fitting in one more and one more. They start the trip by buzzing around the town till they fill up then they head off. The track they follow may well be 200 or 300 km. On the way they drop off passangers and pick up new ones.

Initially they start with around 16 in the 12 offical seats by adding an extra row in the front behind the driver facing back into the bus and they just seem to keep adding people. I thought the record was when we were in a bus with 23 but I am assured that 23 is well short of the record. I know for a fact that at 23 it is really full but people insist that 27 will fit. Once you have a seat though it is really quite an acceptable way to travel and you really do get to see a lot of Africa and have some fascinating conversations.

In Masaka we added travelling in the back of a ute to the travel list. We hitched a ride with the local plumber for 4 km but on other occasions we have all ridden in the back of utilities that are used for local bus-shuttle and will generally hold a dozen people in the back and more in the cap.

In Mawanza we had a delightful couple, Bridget & Bruce Daley , loan us a car to go out to another lake and we had the chance of driving ourselves around the Uganda roads.

From there we moved to Tanzania


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