Road Trip: To Kampala
Last week I took a road trip to Kampala to sort out some issues with my visa. I needed to extend my two month tourist visa for an additional four months. I was a bit upset because I was advised to get a "visa on arrival" at the airport when I arrived and I was told it would be valid for three months. For some reason the immigration officer only gave me two-months (even though I explicitly said I would be there for three) and I, in an amateur move, I failed to double check it before I left the immigration checkpoint.
Taking a look on the bright side, it gave me the opportunity to go to Kampala and actually get a feel for the city. And for me, the journey is half the fun, as anyone who has been on a long-distance bus ride in a developing country will tell you. I previously took a private car upon my arrival so I was anxious to get a feel for the public transport. I was pleased to find that one of the finest bus services in Uganda operated out of Kitgum. Homeland Express offered two daily bus journeys to Kampala for UGX 30,000 (about $11). The journey was promised to be about six hours; naturally it ended up being about eight. I went the day before to purchase a ticket and found I could choose my seat. I was even happier to see that I was the only person to have pre-purchased a ticket in advance so I had many options. I chose a window seat near the middle of the bus, close to where the door was located.
The bus was scheduled to leave at 8AM. I was really pleased that there was a scheduled departure time as many developing countries simply have a "leave when full" policy. I arrived at 7:50 and still ended up waiting about a half hour until we departed. While I waited I observed a local making tortillas, or as they are called here, chapati. I decided to risk it and eat what they call a "rolex." It's kind of like an omelette rolled up in a tortilla, hence the name "roll eggs"/rolex. I really enjoy when cheap street meals have the same name as overpriced designer watches. You might think I referred to it as a risk because it was street food, though the real risk was having the rolex prompt a visit to the toilet, which is difficult to find. Even worse, if there was a delay, I'd be stuck on the bus and have to make the bus stop so I could crap in the bushes (as someone did later in the journey).
The bus was packed, not one seat was empty. The bus was a nice coach bus and was relatively clean. Obviously it did not have air conditioning and when it was moving the breeze was nice, but the dust from the road was not. After two hours we arrived in Gulu, one of the bigger cities and a major hub in the north. Some passengers got off while others jockeyed for position to enter the bus. Apparently they never know how many people will be disembarking at Gulu so if you want to ride the bus from Gulu to Kampala, it's first come, first served. As you can imagine, it's a pretty aggressive fight to get on the bus.
After the Gulu stop it was pretty much a straight shot to Kampala. There was once bathroom stop and a few stops to let people off. At these stops the local hawkers were well prepared.
Taking a look on the bright side, it gave me the opportunity to go to Kampala and actually get a feel for the city. And for me, the journey is half the fun, as anyone who has been on a long-distance bus ride in a developing country will tell you. I previously took a private car upon my arrival so I was anxious to get a feel for the public transport. I was pleased to find that one of the finest bus services in Uganda operated out of Kitgum. Homeland Express offered two daily bus journeys to Kampala for UGX 30,000 (about $11). The journey was promised to be about six hours; naturally it ended up being about eight. I went the day before to purchase a ticket and found I could choose my seat. I was even happier to see that I was the only person to have pre-purchased a ticket in advance so I had many options. I chose a window seat near the middle of the bus, close to where the door was located.
The bus was packed, not one seat was empty. The bus was a nice coach bus and was relatively clean. Obviously it did not have air conditioning and when it was moving the breeze was nice, but the dust from the road was not. After two hours we arrived in Gulu, one of the bigger cities and a major hub in the north. Some passengers got off while others jockeyed for position to enter the bus. Apparently they never know how many people will be disembarking at Gulu so if you want to ride the bus from Gulu to Kampala, it's first come, first served. As you can imagine, it's a pretty aggressive fight to get on the bus.
After the Gulu stop it was pretty much a straight shot to Kampala. There was once bathroom stop and a few stops to let people off. At these stops the local hawkers were well prepared.
In this shot you can see sticks of meat, as well as my favorite innovation, the bottled water stand on a stick. Totally genius, I love it.
This guy is selling live chickens. And apparently, they are a popular purchase. At least five chickens were purchased by the passengers in my vicinity. Their legs are tied so they thrash around, periodically feeling the need to voice their discomfort with howling clucks. Sometimes they poop and pee and it drains in the surrounding area, aka, my feet.
The journey was pretty comfortable, albeit quite hot during the peak hours of the day. Coming into Kampala at 4PM was difficult as traffic was in full force. It's such a tease to be within the city, yet still an hour from getting to the bus park. There was quite the scene when we pulled into the bus park and our aggressive driver refused to wait for some buses to clear. We took a very tight turn next to a bus that left me very impressed with my bus driver's skills.
The ride back to Kitgum was a bit uneventful and similar to the trip down. I got a seat in the front of the bus and got a chance to document the "shrinking road" conditions. I wrote in an earlier posting that the road was pretty good outside of Kampala but slowly shrank and deteriorated until you reached Gulu, at which point it was then a dirt road.
The road starts off nice and paved, even allowing for two way traffic.
The road then kind of shrinks with the sides of the roads victim of erosion. This causes a tense moment when two large vehicles (such as in this picture) cross paths. Both vehicles have to have one wheel on the shoulder which can lead to a lot of tire punctures.
Eventually the road becomes more dirt than pavement. And soon after that, it's all dirt!
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