Driving a car in Kampala can be hell. So people in the city have to find other ways of transporting goods. Bodaboda are popular options, and you’d be amazed at what people can pack on these little motorbikes. I recently saw one carrying about 60 pairs of shoes. He had tied each individual shoe to the bike to create a bouquet of construction boots, dress shoes, sandals and runners.
Transporting furniture on the bodas is also popular. Yesterday I saw a young man load up a coffin-sized closet stuffed with a garbage bag of goods. It was enormous. Two of me could have easily fit into it. The driver didn’t look the fazed, though, as he skillfully maneuvered through Kampala traffic.
Bicycles are often loaded up too. They get so weighed down sometimes that they cannot be ridden. Instead men sluggishly push the bikes along the road, advancing at snail’s pace. This man was struggling in the morning heat to push his bike up a hill.
The most common things you see on the back of the bikes are loads of charcoal (about two garbage bags worth), dozens of empty water jugs, huge bushels of plantains and raw sugar cane. If you’ve ever seen sugar cane raw you’ll know it’s about five feet long. They stretch horizontally on the back on the bodas or the bicycles and ride around the city selling cuts of cane to chew on. If you get stuck behind one of these guys, they are really tough to pass because the sugar cane is so long.
"Please let me pass, ssebo (sir)!"
Sometimes the things being transported on the boda or the bicycles aren’t particularly large—just odd. Other items I’ve witnessed include a windshield, brooms, about 30 plastic baskets, over 100 eggs, 20 or so wooden stools.
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