Public transport: Boda Boda

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The other public transport we use are boda bodas, motorcycles which zoom around the city at all times making “bodabodabodaboda” sounds. Probably the most lethal form of transportation ever invented, especially in rush hour – you have not experienced Kampala without riding on a boda in rush hour, weaving in and out of cars with your legs just barely brushing the huge matatus. Prized for its flexibility and ability to navigate quickly in traffic jams (which happen everyday, including Sunday), bodas are an indispensable part of public transportation. Legally, bodas can only take one person in addition to the driver, but we usually travel in twos. Take your pick: squeezed between the driver and your friend or at the back, ready to bounce off if the driver zooms over a particularly large pothole. Boda drivers are notorious for quoting ridiculously high prices to mzungus. I often ask to see what price they give me, even though I know the local price. Helpful if you tell them you would give 500 more shillings than the negotiated price if they drive safely and slowly. But don’t forget, boda drivers have to pay 70,000 shillings a week as rent; most of them work day and night, often sleeping on their bodas on the side of the street.

Oh, by the way, there are only 60 registered bodas in the city of Kampala.

And rumour has it that 4 to 5 people die each day from riding on bodas.

The last day I was in Kampala, there was a crackdown on boda drivers, no wonder everyone was wearing a helmet and driving super fast to escape the police.