Circumnavigating Kampala

[Grant L]

On Saturday, we went to a wedding at the First Presbyterian Church in Rubaga, on the other side of Kampala. We got lost on the way, and then followed a Prado through the areas of densest traffic to the reception on Tank Hill. We took our friend Jeff, and two of his children, since his defender is having a front half shaft replaced after it failed in Rwanda last weekend. He had to drive it back with the diff locked, after the local mechanic told him that replacements were only available in the Congo, but that was ok, since he had dismantled and repaired the gearbox, so he could drive it "in two wheel drive." Jeff's french was insufficient to convey the concept of full-time four wheel drive. I include Jeff's defender, pre-failure, next to a Rwandese derelict.

Jeff has a good camera and was able to capture some of the sights of Kampala. The next photo is of the local tow trucks, all series 3s, mostly petrol with home-made booms, waiting for custom during the storm. The final picture is of an innovation of mine. Demister for a defender with a heater bypass, and no cabin fan. Any ideas on how to fix the latter?

Grant

[Marc Lurie]

That middle picture reminds me so much of Kampala. When I arrived there in June/July 2001 it was raining heavily. I drove into Kampala from the Mityana side, and the area around the clocktower roundabout was under 12 inches of mud. And that incessant, heavy deluge of warm rain.

I have NEVER seen such traffic chaos ;) Taxis, cars, busses, and me - all slipping and sliding and making the mud worse. I thought I'd arrived in purgatory. I learned to love the place though. Well, everything apart from rush hour. :D

[Grant L]

The worse contributors to the chaos are the boda-bodas 50cc motorbike taxis that carry everyone, including demure Muganda ladies seated side-saddle, and everything, including broken boda-bodas and large sheets of corrugated roofing. They dodge in and out of the traffic, seeking every available space, the driver hanging on to my bull-bar to maintain stability while he waits for the vehicle in front of me to inch ahead.

Our first impression was the road from Entebbe in 2004. SWMBO was horrified, thinking "what have I done to my children?" South Africa suddenly looked very peaceable and orderly.

As you say, one learns to love the place, if one avoids rush-hour. I have never seen such blatant disregard of traffic laws, not to mention the laws of physics.

Grant

[K&S]

I have never seen such blatant disregard of traffic laws, not to mention the laws of physics.



What is it I wonder about every third world country in the world that has this problem? Perhaps that's part of why a country is stuck in the 3rd world scenario.

[Grant L]

What is it I wonder about every third world country in the world that has this problem? Perhaps that's part of why a country is stuck in the 3rd world scenario.

Hi Kevin,

It is a question of degree. Whenever we are back in SA we want to find the first Konstabel we see, give him a big hug and thank him for doing such a good job. On the other hand, we were overtaken by a BMW in the Northern Cape that must have been doing at least 230 km/h on a single lane road. Nobody can drive that fast in Uganda since the roads are so bad. Potholes save lives. Kenya and Tanzania refuse to licence boda-bodas, but Kenyans drive a lot faster and seem prone to hijacking. Kenya also refuses to licence imports if they are more than 7 years old, so they have fewer roadworthiness problems. Jeff tells me that the Rwandese roads are fantastic, and the traffic police very efficient, partly thanks to an infusion of UN guilt money after the genocide.

I once watched a travel programme in which a Vietnamese tour guide was teaching two Americans how to cross a street in Ho Chi Min City. There was an endless flow of boda-bodas, with almost no cars and no break in the flow, so you must just walk briskly across the street, expecting that the motorbikes and scooters will dodge around you. It made even Uganda look uncrowded by comparison.

There is one sense in which third world drivers are more responsible. Most vehicles carry as many passengers as they can. Minibus taxis often have live chickens tied to the roof rack and dead fish hanging from the radiator. So they move more people and goods per litre of fuel than in the west, where one-man one-car is the dominant model. We are also recycling the products of Japan's onerous MOT laws.

Grant

By the way, your land rover looks familiar. Did you deliberately buy one in BSAP grey?

[K&S]

Strangely enough even though I drove many grey BSA Police land rovers it was pure coincidence that I ended up buying one that looks like them; grey body and white (ivory) roof. Except that mine is the 4 door station wagon rather than the hardtop version we used in the police.

I suppose that was where my love of Land Rovers started, combined with the fact that there wasn't really any other 4 wheel drive vehicles around in such abundance and one grew up naturally making the link between four wheel drive vehicles and Land Rovers. I remember always seeing either police, military or civilian Land Rovers in large numbers everywhere.

[Jode]

As for fixing your demister - it seems to work fine!

Cheers.

[Grant L]

As for fixing your demister - it seems to work fine!

Cheers.

I can't help suspecting it would work better in Botswana.

Grant

[Jode]

The problem of course is the heat - when it rains here it's often very hot, and a demister is an absolute necessity (well, if you want to see out of your windscreen, anyway). But I suppose that Kampala is more humid than here - even in a heavy rain the humidity in Gabs is rarely above 50%.

Cheers.