Kampala has bodabodas

Hello again people,

It’s not common that we upload two articles in a day, but after seeing the photos of Kampala and Entebbe I felt inspired. I want to tell you a little about Kampala.

What can foreigner say about Kampala? From my point of view: IT RAINS A LOT! We stayed for two days and the sky was shooting water all the time, and when it wasn't raining it looks like it was going to rain. This have to be the reason why the city is so green and full of trees, at least in the place we were. The second thing a foreigner appreciate in Kampala is that there are a lot of 'bodabodas', you may ask yourself what the hell is a bodaboda. A bodaboda is a motorbike taxi that looks exactly like this:

So the idea is that they transform these bikes, usually of a Chinese brand, to fit two or three people. They add a sit to the small bike so the passenger can go behind the driver.

This is the how people that don’t have a car move around the city. Kampala, as Nairobi, also have ‘matatus’ but hey are not as popular as in the Kenyan capital. The idea of the bodabodas is that you walk from wherever you are to the well spread bodaboda stations. This "stations" are where the bodabodas of the area gather to pick up people and take them to their destinations. The size of these stations varies, from just 3 or 4 bodabodas up to 25 or more. A bodaboda stations looks exactly like this:

So when you want to go somewhere within the city you go to talk with the bodaboda-boys, as the locals call them, and tell him where you want to go. Before he takes you anywhere he will say how much he wants to charge you, this price can be discussed. After the price is established, he takes you to your destination and after you arrive you pay to him and he goes to another bodabora station.

Everyone tells you that riding a bodaboda is one of the experiences that Kampala has to offer to the tourists,
so we decided to try it out.

The first time we travel in a bodaboda was in the night. We were in one of the most crowded places of the city, it was kind of a street with an open market in it with hundreds of people walking, hundreds of cars in a traffic jam, some matatus making their way and hundreds of bodabodas just going everywhere, even in the sidewalk. Being in an African capital at the night is kind of scary but if you take care, don’t attract to much attention and don’t do anything stupid you are OK.

After walking a little we decided to take a bodaboda because we were far from Lucy’s house. We approach to one bodaboda station, we said our destination to one of the guys there and he said the price, which of course we bargain. Remember if you are a white guy and a tourist in Africa, ALWAYS bargain at least 50% of anything people wants to charge you. I will not lie, using bodabodas is dangerous. You know taxis are always in a hurry, well bodabodas are like taxis but in a bike and going in a hurry in a bike means going between cars, in the side walk or even the wrong way! Yes going in a bodaboda is dangerous, but as almost any dangerous thing, it is really fun! For people that take them for the first time at least. They are also really fast compared with going by car because they skip all the traffic jams, again, they broke quite a few transit rules, but if you want to get somewhere fast they are really useful.

OK guys, I just wanted to share with you this quick article about Kampala.

See you around guys