The streets are a fascinating scene

Kampala streets can be a form of entertainment if you look hard enough. Sometimes you do not even need to look that hard.

I am afraid of using boda bodas in town and avoid them as much as possible. Only twice have I hopped onto one, clutched hard onto the seat and prayed that I arrive at my destination with my limbs still intact.

You can therefore imagine my amazement when I see a young woman, halt a boda, negotiate a fee, sit sideways on the back seat and open her bag to get out something to do as the rider speeds off, weaving through cars that are speeding just as fast.

How do they keep their posture even as the rider turns at an angle, passing between rowdy taxi drivers and huge trucks? How do they manage to apply lipstick and eye-shadow without breaking a sweat or messing their faces up?

Once I saw a girl open her laptop and read through, possibly a report, that was needed first thing in the morning. Such scenes fascinate me.
Talking about the traffic and public transport, taxi drivers too leave me staring at them in awe because of some of the things they do.

I truly believe that if you can drive a taxi into the Old Taxi Park and out, or drive downtown through Ben Kiwanuka and Luwum streets closer to the park, then you can drive anywhere in Kampala and do not ever have to be afraid of being bullied on the road or navigating your way through a mess when there is no traffic police to guide and every driver decides to follow their own rules on the road.

A few nights ago, we stopped at the traffic lights at Nakawa. As they usually do, the taxi drivers became impatient and could not wait to get ahead so they started squeezing between our car and a Progres parked on the side of the road.

The space between was small, but the taxis passed through, leaving just a few inches between us and them. How they managed to squeeze through at an angle and not scratch either car was a feat I would like to try sometime in the future.

I also hope that someday I will have the patience and forward thinking of the taxi conductor who got us out of a situation where many cars at a junction were trying to move forward without giving the other way.

Of course we ended up in a situation where none of us could get ahead because we had all blocked the other. Everyone was cursing and throwing insults, which was useless as it was not getting us anywhere. Suddenly a man in a yellow T-shirt came and started directing traffic.

He pacified the angry drivers and asked them to let some people go first. In less than a minute, the traffic was flowing better and we were able to move on. I looked back to see who this man who had saved the morning was, and I saw him hop into a taxi and shut the door as the driver drove along.

There was money to be made and he realised he was better off coming out to help clear the jam instead of sitting still in the taxi with everyone refusing to budge. He might have been a man with no formal education but at that point, he was the smartest man of us all.
Kampala streets – they never cease to amaze.

[email protected]