What the heck is a boda-boda, anyway?

Boda-bodas are, hands down, my favorite way to scoot around the city. According to legend (and Wikipedia), these motorcycle taxis* originated in the 1960s and 1970s at the Ugandan/Kenyan border as a way for travelers to avoid the paperwork involved in crossing internationally. Bike owners would shout “border-to-border” to potential customers. Voila…boda-boda.

Kampala is overrun with bodas. They’re everywhere. They’re transporting passengers, they’re strategically placed at highly trafficked areas awaiting customers, they’re hanging out in groups at boda boda stages on the side of the road, they’re hooting at you when you’re walking to see if you want a ride.

With a boda, every ride is an adventure. I think it’s the adrenaline rush of knowing you could be launched into oncoming traffic or a gaping pothole at any given moment. While most women tend to sit sideways on the back with both legs on one side of the bike, I prefer looking awkward by swinging my leg over the just-a-little-too-high seat, for the added security of a thigh squeeze in the event of sudden bumps, breaks, or turns.

Bodas are a fantastic way to see the nooks and crannies of the city, to feel the wind blowing in your hair – not to mention a whole lot cheaper than getting a special hire or a taxi. I’ve learned to ask a trusted Ugandan how much I should expect to pay for any particular ride so that I can negotiate a fair price. They see a muzungu and double the usual.

My most memorable boda experiences thus far include getting caught in a torrential downpour less than 1k away from my destination (rain hurts when traveling at multiple km/hr), and the time when one driver decided to take a short-cut. Excuse me, “short-cut.” Insert images of us on a dirt path weaving in and out of dukas (informal shops), marketplaces, pedestrians of all ages, and, yes, chickens. Then picture us going up a small hill and encountering railroad tracks the driver couldn’t get over, at which point I was asked to get off, walk a ways, and remount. Awkwardly, as before.

Taking pictures of bodas is kind of weird (akin to someone taking a picture of you in a taxi), but, thanks to the zoom on my new camera, I did manage to creep this one of a woman paying post-ride while pretending to go for a landscape shot:

A hundred times better, although not my own, is this youtube clip of a ride through town on a boda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lk9W7yC160

I am not yet brave enough to dangle my camera off my wrist while weaving in and out of traffic. In anticipation of questions from the peanut gallery:

- The blue and white vans that you see everywhere are matatus. Uganda’s public transport system, if you will. Also a cheap way to get from Point A to Point B, but with the disadvantages of waiting until you’re packed in like sardines before leaving, having fixed routes, and lacking that coveted feeling of the wind blowing in your hair.
- Yes, we're in left side of the road territory.
- No, no one really wears helmets. Except me, when the box with my noggin protector arrives, because I’m one of those public health prevention types.
- Yes, traffic is that chaotic. Always. Everywhere. Yet somehow, it works. (Minute 00:52, where the matatu turns right in front of the boda, is particularly indicative.)
- That blue and yellow Lifeguard billboard you see around minute 01:12 is for our competitor’s condom brand. Eeks!

Cheers to oriadale for capturing this much better on video than I could ever do in words. And cheers to the boda-boda men around Uganda, for making life just a little more exciting.

*These started off as just bicycles, which do still exist, especially in more rural parts of the country. However, the norm in urban areas is now motorcycles.