Uganda, Africa | The Drive

Kampala to Soroti

Uganda: 9 hours ahead of Central time

Written: Monday, February 27th, 2012 

{Be forewarned-- almost every single picture in this post was taken through a car window!}

Driving through Uganda is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. WAY more interesting than roadtrips in the States! My eyes were wide & fixed out the window taking in as much as I could while we sped down the road. I couldn’t snap photos fast enough to capture it all! It was so hard to shut my eyes even when I was exhausted because I felt I was missing so much each time I did!

Kampala being the capital city is very, very busy. Driving through there can be tricky but we had a great driver. Vehicles maintain right of way with pedestrians slipping in & out of traffic to cross streets. Unlike our busy cities in the U.S. where people madly dash through traffic to cross busy streets, people here weave purposefully through the cars, vans, motorcycles & bikes at a normal pace. The main modes of transportation other than walking are bikes{boda-bodas}, motorcycles {pikis} & taxis {12 passenger vans that typically carry more than 12 people}. There are no traffic lights or signs here so at the major crossroads & intersections police help to direct traffic; blowing on their whistles or shouting. Gas is roughly $6 a gallon, though they sell it in liters. We passed a “car wash”... a.k.a. a stream at the edge of Kampala. Just pull your trucks right in and wash!

The roads through towns are lined with dilapidated shacks, brightly painted buildings, cubby hole sized Pubs, markets, homes, religious buildings, furniture makers, repair shops, clothing shops... so much. Over and over we passed people tinkering with cars & pikis-- Piki drivers would sit on their motorcycles in groups all over the place waiting to be hired. 

Anything and everything is used as a place to advertise- banana trees & palm trees, buildings, walls, gates, cars, large & small build-boards- you name it. Companies will offer to brightly paint an entire building with their advertisement... perks for the owner- a freshly painted building that didn’t cost him anything. Because of that, we passed a countless number of buildings advertising Coke, Sadolin Paint, Fresh Dairy, MTN, Mountain Dew, So-so Soft {fabric softener},Bell {Ugandan Lager} & many more. 

All of the people we saw are incredibly fit. Even now, after being in Soroti for 2 days, I’ve only seen 3 people that are even remotely over weight. Fashion is for the most part very Western. You will see women wearing more of a traditional style Ugandan dress but only periodically & it’s almost always the older generation. In the larger cities, there are many women {mostly younger} who wear pants {trousers} & more revealing clothing but the majority still wear skirts. I don’t recall seeing any guys wearing shorts, although I’ve seen quite a few wearing pants that cut off mid-shin. We did see one guy wearing an Armani shirt & aviators in the supermarket! Oh, and the Ugandans have completely passed me up in the mixing patterns department! haha Almost every clothing shop between Kampala & Jinja had at least 4-5 old maniquins sitting outside with {often ill fitting} clothes displayed on them.

Because Uganda was a British Colony until the 60’s {they are celebrating their 50th yr. of independence this year!}, almost everything is in English & most people speak English since it is taught in the schools. Though people have very heavy accents & you have to listen closely, it still helps us so much!

{Lake Victoria}

Once in the “country”, we drove past huge fields of tea & sugarcane, banana & plantain plantations & brick making swamps. Everything was green even though it had been a while since they’d had rain. All of the roads are stained red from the clay that is in the dirt & mud-- African dirt they call it. The southern part of Uganda is very hilly and the views are gorgeous. While driving through the Mbira Forest, we stopped by the side of the road to get drinks. As soon as we stopped, the car was “mobbed” by vendors with plantains, chicken on sticks, kabobs, drinks & bananas.  They were all crying out what they were selling but as soon as you spoke to one or two people and waved the others off, they ran over to “mob” the next car that stopped.

In Jinja we stopped at a little Chinese restaurant {so random!} to use the restroom & grab some spring rolls. I only saw one Asian looking person there- the rest were African!

So many religions have made their way here. I saw Hindu & Islamic mosques, Baptist churches, New Age video rooms, Mormon temples, Jehovah Witness buildings & Catholic churches. 

I had heard that it is common here to see men holding hands as they walk or talk and it’s true... I’ve seen many doing that. But no, they aren’t gay. It’s a sign of good friendship.

The roads were quite good for the most part but during the last leg of the trip- for at least 2 1/2 hours- we bumped & jostled along pitted dirt roads. Joshua was a very good driver though. Avoiding pot holes when he could & going gently through them when he couldn’t. Nevertheless, after several hours of that, we were so glad to arrive at Alfred & Carney’s home in Soroti & stretch our legs! Both they and their daughter Evelyn were incredibly welcoming! We had just gotten our luggage unloaded when the power shut off {they’ve been dealing with power shortages... Msevene and the corrupt government are selling it off to other countries} so we headed to the Soroti hotel for a dinner of fish & chips. It was a gorgeous cool evening!  Following the meal we all had either African tea, black tea or hot milk & ginger to go with our conversation. Soon after we came back to house to get settled in the dark with our torches & head lamps.

The following day we finally saw Soroti in the daytime & went exploring! But that is for next time:)